Critiques

Sat 16 Jun – Muse
Muse are, for anyone that is deluded about this, the best band in the world. There is no arguments, and if you still feel like arguing you are sadly wrong, and missing out. They are the best band since The Beatles. They are our The Who, our Pink Floyd, our Queen. A genuine world-class band for my generation. Our generation. And now, they've just been promoted to Wembley fucking Stadium. A round of applause, please.

The lights go down, and steam arises from a stage in the middle of the pitch. Muse arise in a suitable spectacle, their backs to each other, facing the crowd. They walk down a walkway, cheered on like the heroes they are.

And this is where it starts to go wrong. For about six minutes.

Now, I haven't seen Muse since Blackholes & Revelations came along and blew everyone's socks off. Twice I had tickets last year and couldn't go to either, for various reasons I won't go into here. Needless to say, I haven't heard any of the new material performed live.
…

As the Muse exodus, South for most people, to London approached, rumours flew wild. There were hints of an orchestra, later refuted by Wolstenholme, a statement of 25 songs from the band. The big question was however ... would it go down well, and would it top Earl's Court 2004?

As I changed at Wolverhampton, I was thankful that my connection was late, as my previous train had been. Things had been going rather well, and they continued to do so. In Euston, there wasn't much hint of the upcoming pilgrimage later that day. Were people not staying in Central London or Camden? That seemed rather strange, considering the 90,000 people travelling in and out each day solely for the Muse concerts.

While others were less fortunate I should imagine, I was only one Underground stop and 15 minutes away from Wembley Park tube station, and another 15 from said station to the stadium. The journey there was surprisingly quiet, plenty of room to sit down for that short period. …

Sat 16 Jun – Muse

Short version
:
Weather: changed from bad to good, thank God
Wembley: scares me
Rodrigo y Gabriela: are very talented
Dirty Pretty Things: should fire whoever set up their sound
The Streets: got the crowd moving every now and then
Muse: were absolutely brilliant

Long version:
Right, so we left home at about 1.30, went by car, took a wrong turn somewhere, got stuck in traffic for a bit. It was raining cats and dogs, which kind of made me think of Glastonbury. I was told that the new Wembley had a roof, much to my relief. Anyway, we decided to find a parking space as close as possible to the stadium. Usually, £10 for parking would seem obscene, but this is London and it was for half a day… bargain!
When we got out of the car, it was hardly raining anymore. We entered the stadium at about 3.30pm. It doesn’t look that big from outside. As soon as you approach it, you can hear loud music. I guess they’re doing that to make sure you can’t actually hear…

Sat 16 Jun – Muse
I did enjoy the atmosphere - but the sound quality at Wembley was very poor. It was hard to discern a single word because the echo's from the stadium made everything like mud.

Lets get technical. I work in TV and believe that the speakers were actually phase cancelling - because every 15 seconds of so the sound got clearer and brighter. It probably didn't help that everything was set up perfectly symetrically to enhance any unwanted reflections. Only acoustic guitars seemed to be clear and as expected. Certainly the piano solo's were muddy too.

This spoilt what was visually a triumph.

Also, for those of us standing on the pitch the stage was so low that you couldn't see the band except when they entered. I therefore enjoyed watching the DVD mostly....!

Not bad - but if you think thats the best gig ever then you're probably in for some nice surprises later....

Sat 16 Jun – Muse

First, Wembley the venue: amazing. It’s huge, certainly one of the biggest stadiums in the world. The architecture is amazing, and the giant load-bearing arch means that there are no columns or pillars required inside for support, thus no obstructed views. The seats are steep and high. Being on the concourse is like being in an airport, they’re so huge and shiny. Toilets are plentiful, and are still sparkling clean, with vases of flowers inside. There are plenty of helpful staff. Food and drink is plentifully available, although food is exorbitantly expensive (the smallest non-snack item is a cheeseburger at £7.50).

I met the rep from the other company there. The area we were seated in was Club Wembley. This meant that we were under the north roof (although it didn’t rain during the gig yesterday, luckily) in wider, cushioned seats with padded armrests. Being in a cushioned seat rather than a hard plastic one is definitely worth it if you’re going to be there for 7 hours, as we were.
…

Sat 16 Jun – Muse

I hate to sound as though I'm exaggerating, but this was the single best musical experience of my life, and I'm sure that's an opinion that the majority of the other 80000 people there will share with me.

I've been to see Muse 3 other times before, but even the excitement of all 3 events put together doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the euphoria, togetherness and sheer exhileration that I felt surge through the crowd when Muse took to the stage after rising up through jets of confetti, and striking the glissando that marks the beginning of the epic Knights of Cydonia.

Unfortunately, the gig was so good my brain turned to mush and I can't remember much about it except for ejaculating in my pants a few times, reaching enlightenment, and Citizen Erased, which is one of my favourite Muse songs.

The support acts were good, although I really didn't rate Dirty Pretty Things' performance much. I didn't expect The Streets to be well-suited to the crowd…

Sat 16 Jun – Muse

There are sure to be many, many reviews for this event. Maybe some will be negative, but I can assure you that the majority will be journals by people who have realised that on Saturday 16th June 2007 they saw the best musical spectacle of their lives.

It's mid-afternoon, and the drenched but fairly upbeat crowd are clapping along to the Hispanic strummings of Rodrigo y Gabriela. This two-piece ooze talent as they slip a couple of covers into their set of flamenco pieces. Obviously delighted by the opportunity to play to such a huge crowd, their happiness was echoed by the fans; who were pretty much amazed by their ability and the fact that the wall of sound entering their ears was coming from just two guitars.

Dirty Pretty Things were up next, and unfortunately didn't live up to the sound of their 2006 debut album. They seemed at times distracted and not sure of what to think of the crowd in front of them. The stadium sound was not in favour of a band like them…

Sat 16 Jun – Muse

The first act was a pleasant and cheery warm up as the crowd entered the stadium. Their enjoyable Brazlian-beated suited the warm weather and excitable atmosphere perfectly, and the obvious talent and energy of the two guitarists was welcomed with cries and cheering from the crowd. Dirty Pretty Things were the next highlight; the Carl Barat fronted band added to the excitement with their friendly and upbeat indie set. Finally, the Streets brought their own suburban glamour to the stage, with Mike Skinner teasing the crowd with his own brief rendition of Time is Running Out, a much-loved Muse number. Legendary Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe entertained the crowd between sets, spinning through a set of chart pleasers which wouldn't go amiss at any indie disco.

As The Streets left, the stage was by no means empty, as a large troop of roadies began preparing for rock's biggest event of the year. Lights flashed and set pieces moved in final checks for Muse's performance…