Muse @ Stade de Suisse, Bern, Switzerland
The weather didn't seem inviting, as dark grey clouds gathered over our heads. We had already caught some rain in the highway and showers were to be expected, the forecast said. Swiss logistics were, as always, very efficient - in spite of the tens of thousands of people visiting Bern that day we managed to park easily (for those who don't know, Bern is the capital of Switzerland but has only ~120K inhabitants). People all around moved towards Stade de Suisse, the only venue in Switzerland that Muse chose to play during their whole summer 2010 tour. As we entered the stadium, The Big Pink were still playing. I won't comment on it, as I didn't pay any attention - I focused instead on analyzing the megalomaniac stage that had been put in place. Initially, I wondered if it was part of the stadium, but then I realized I was about to witness something big - something most likely in the line of a Pink Floyd or U2 show - big, ambitious, perhaps lavish. My expectations were about to be exceeded, I should confess.
The Big Pink finally left, and it was the time for Editors to step in, and warm up the crowd. The first drops of water started falling from the sky, and for a moment I feared the night would be totally spoiled by bad weather. I'm not sure what was worse, the rain or the music; I'm not a big fan of their style of music and "Papillon" was the only track I had heard before, but I should say they're nothing special live whatsoever.
Final sound check - I realized how big was the stage, spanning the whole width of the "building" - "Why is there such a large space between the stage and the crowd?" some people asked. Surprises were to be expected.
And it didn't take very long till we found ourselves in the middle of what I would call a "festival", a carefully produced stadium show, with a concept, almost a story... something that is not that far away from a broadway musical. A red-hooded figure enters the stage, "what's going on? how did this guy get there?" His face is covered, he's all dressed in red. He raises his hand up in the air, exposing a flare - a whole mob joins the stage, armed with signs, they're all dressed in red too, distributed in such a way that we cannot see behind them. : "We will be victorious", I can read in one of them, and as they finally lower their banners and flags, they're already there - Muse are at their places. The synthesizer bass line of "Uprising" starts, and the crowd explodes, jumping and clapping hands. We could now notice the "windows" of the "building" were actually screens - really big ones. Normally, outdoor concerts suffer from the lack of visuals due to daylight - this was not the case, and the screens behaved perfectly (maybe the cloudy sky contributed).
The set list for such a concert has to be be carefully planned - each song plays a specific role, much like a football player. Arranging these songs in the best way possible is sometimes difficult, and sacrifices have to be done. "Supermassive Blackhole" is for sure one of the greatest hits of Muse, and playing this card right after the opening song could have been a mistake, hadn't they had such a rich and powerful repertoire. The classics "New born" and "Map of the Problematique" followed, both cult songs, but not at all stadium anthems - perfect for warming up. The show took a slightly "poppier" trend afterwards, with songs such as "Neutron Star Collision" and "Guiding Light" (the former being the main theme from the soundtrack of the latest Twilight saga movie). This was perhaps my least favorite part of the concert, but fortunately it didn't last too long... A quick trip through "Hysteria" and the oldie "Nishe" (that I didn't know) led us to one of the tracks I was most curious about hearing live, the very much Queenesque "United States of Eurasia". Even if it's not, in my opinion, a very elaborate song in what concerns its lyrical content and concept, it is instrumentally very interesting, resembling very much the style of their older compatriots. Matt Bellamy started the song sitting at the piano, in a very "Mercurial" way ("We are the Champions" comes to my mind), and the whole performance compensated perfectly the absence of the string arrangement that decorates the album version. "I Belong to You" is very radio-friendly, clearly pop-rock, but, let's admit it, a masterpiece. The inclusion of Camille Saint-Saëns' "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix" (from "Samson and Delilah") gives it special touch, an air of sophistication that not even Bellamy's horrible French pronunciation manages to spoil. It was a very special moment for me, even if it kind of gave the show a bit of an ambiance of a 1960's Eurovision contest.
And then, for the high moments. It's not their song, but Muse's interpretation of "Feeling Good" has almost acquired the status of Jeff Buckley's cover of "Hallelujah" - they are the authority right now, and the mythical "megaphone song" still amazes those who are not so familiar with this particular version. It was the perfect prelude for the second half of the concert - the "Festival".
Just in front of the stage, there was a circular platform, where two very peculiar cymbals had been placed. As "Feeling Good" finished and Bellamy took a break, Dom Howard (drums) and Chris Wolstenholme (bass) positioned themselves on it. As they started playing (the cymbals lighted up as they were hit), the platform started rotating and slowly moving towards the audience. The crowd went crazy of course, finally understanding what was going on. As they stopped jamming, the platform returned to the initial position, and Bellamy joined in, armed with his keytar - "Undisclosed Desires" followed, but this time the platform went up as well, with the band ending up rotating above the crowd. I should confess I hate the song, but this was a very good moment, mainly for its ambitious and creative nature.
"Resistance", the title track of the latest album, features Bellamy playing a double neck guitar, ingeniously tapping two voices that intertwine in a display of virtuosity, and "Starlight", the hit single of "Black Holes and Revelations" is already a classic, a true stadium anthem that makes hand clapping mandatory, and so is "Time is Running Out", slightly older but not less powerful.
The encore started with "Unintended" - lighters held up in the air, hands waving, if there's a ballad Muse will be always know for, that will be it; but the theatrical moment of the night was still about to happen: from one of the corners of the stadium, at the right hand side of the stage, a UFO-shaped ballon emerges above the crowd, graciously sliding, held by cables. On the stage, they play the "Exogenesis Symphony", a mainly instrumental, kind of new age, orchestral track from the album; as the song explodes, something comes out of the "UFO": it's a dancer, a ballet dancer twisting and whirling like a trapezist, needless to say the crowd went wild again, as she came down almost to touch the tips of their fingers. That was totally unexpected, really.
Things get a bit harder, as the opening riff of "Stocholm Sydrome" takes us back once again to the "Absolution" period - what a great piece of heavy rock. Once again, the band leaves the stage.
A KAOSS pad shows on the big screen, the sequencer pattern of "Take a Bow" starts playing, and all of a sudden, Matt Bellamy is on the stage, wearing what seems to be an LED suit, with little red lights blinking in a sliding pattern, very much in the Daft Punk style. He takes the platform once again, slowly navigating through the audience - and then, as the climax of the song builds up, so up goes him, in a spectacle of light and sound that those who attented the conert will hardly forget. And, of couse, "Plugin Baby"... that's mandatory, I should have been expecting it. The concert ended with "Knights of Cydonia", once again with a lavish light show crowning this unforgettable performance. Giant "eye balloons" were thrown to the public, passed around in slow volleys, a last present before Muse finally abandoned the stage, leaving an amazed mass of people wishing time had gone slower.
Could it be better? Certainly. I would have loved to see "Citizen Erased" performed live... but well, maybe next time. The most important part is that the concert was truly entertaining, musically flawless, and well worth every cent I paid.