Muse @ Steel Blue Oval, Perth(19/12/10)

Tue 21st Dec, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Perth witnessed the end of one of the most ambitious stage shows ever attempted by a rock band as Muse brought to a close The Resistance Tour at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday night.

Approaching the oval it was apparent something big was planned. Looming over the horizon was a vertically indulgent stage, under its canopy stood three constructs; 10 metre tall towers, each three metres square, in the design of skyscrapers.

In front of these monuments were a group of young Scottish rockers, the awkwardly named Biffy Clyro, who had been supporting Muse on the Australian leg of the tour. Already several thousand had filtered through the gates, though many were still sitting and drinking or lining up for merchandise as guitarist and vocalist Simon Neil poured out his Albannaich soul.

The volume still at late evening levels, the loudest things on stage were Neil’s hot pink and bassist James Johnston’s cobalt blue pants. Playing a setlist comprised entirely of songs from their latest album Only Revolutions there was little variation in the audience response from any one song to another. Though performing with a fair bit of prowess and the pointy precision of a band that are capable of rocking, the crowd were barely swayed. Only a small proportion seemed familiar with the group, most ears only pricking when they opened with channel 10’s choice of AFL advertising backtrack, their tune The Captain.

Even the majority of the considerable throng centre stage, though dutifully fisting the air, seemed to be less interested in the band than staking a prime piece of real estate for Muse. Hopefully patience was amongst their virtues as for over an hour after Biffy Clyro finished there was nothing to watch except the setting of the sun and the swelling of the crowd.

Finally, when the stadium was suitably dark and 10,000 fans were compacted within, the lights dimmed and the skyscrapers became illuminated from inside. Rapturous applause was engulfed by a confused hush and muffled cheer when greeted with the eerie intro track We Are the Universe. An unending procession of silhouettes ascended the skyscrapers for several minutes before a section of the facade of each tower fell away and there they were. Three mild-mannered Englishmen from Devon County, now, stood one a-piece within the towers.

Collectively known as Muse, rock band, they are also now standing atop the pinnacle of modern stadium rock. Their song subjects have drifted over time from the inter-personal to the conspiratorial, the latter lending themselves to the intimidatingly awesome live production they were about to bestow. As the opening beats of Uprising spread across the field frontman Matthew Bellamy, clad in a disco-ball suit and louvered glasses, directed at will with a mirror, from a concentrated beam at his feet, rays of greens lasers to points of his choosing, while on the towers the band stood upon and below were projected 3D images of gigantic, swirling mitochondria. This was a musical performance on the grandest of scales.

As Uprising gave way to Resistance , the song, there had been time to become accustomed to the initial overwhelming effect of the stage show and appreciate that through it all, even standing on individual towers several metres apart, there was amazing musical chemistry between the members. They possessed the ability to take an already grandiose studio album and enhance it with a pompous, yet impassioned, masterful live performance.

Their platforms gradually lowering during the time-proven New Born, now Bellamy could approach and address the audience on a more personal level. No longer battling both piano and guitar duties on the song (leaving the former to regular session musician Morgan Nicholls ), Bellamy paraded amongst the flurry of lights and lasers that shot from monstrous computerised eyes.

Being the last show on the tour, there was some question as to whether any special allowances would be paid in the form of not so frequently rotated tracks. Whilst it was not to be, for the most part maintaining their structured song list, they did slip in Bliss their one time standard set closer from 2001’s Origin of Symmetry but the response was fairly muted in comparison to the hits from their latest three albums.

Aware of their current commercial standing, Muse lauded their ever expanding list of alternative radio behemoths from the pop rocky Undisclosed Desires and Supermassive Black Hole to the thrashing Hysteria. They allowed everyone to get involved with the vocals of Time Is Running Out, the response being emphatic, prompting Bellamy to confess “you guys are very loud when you sing, probably the loudest in Australia”. The mood best captured in the moment during Starlight when Bellamy stood, fist raised in salutation, upon the completion of the audiences astonishingly well attended and remarkably well timed refrain to the song.

Instrumental sections between songs, many being nods to other rock greats, helped scale back the preposterous theatrics to moments reminiscent of a less frilled rock show and their associated charms. None more so than the entitled Helsinki Jam which highlighted the rest of the Muse formula, the integral backbone that is Dominic Howard on drums and Chris Wolstenholme on bass, though even during this performance they were on a 360 degree rotating platform. It seemed low key, however, when it followed Bellamy sitting upon his pedestal, leading on grand piano the Queen-esque epic United States of Eurasia and wresting back to rock Feeling Good from Michael Buble’s insultingly suave tones.

Enormous eyeball balloons bounced and exploded their red confetti insides over the audience as Bellamy reflected the spotlight into the crowd from his shiny, red guitar during Plug In Baby. The riff, which was recently awarded the somewhat dubious honour of being Guitar magazine Total Guitar’s “ultimate guitar riff of the past decade” inspiring Bellamy to smash his glittery, little guitar in a moment of true rock spirit before leaving the stage, momentarily.

The all too brief encore began with the haunting Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 1, squeezed in Stockholm Syndrome and ended with Knights of Cydonia, the explosive riff and anthemic final verses closing in a rush of unified euphoria a late entrant and definite frontrunner for Perth’s concert of the year, even as U2 played just a few suburbs away.