Rock band Muse performed a show in Milton Keynes at the National Bowl last week on their Will of the People World Tour. Celebrate:MK website editor Charles Crook was in attendance, and has written this review.
It is safe to say that more people are in attendance here than Muse's last visit to the Milton Keynes Bowl.
In May 2010, the rock band hired the venue for 2 weeks for rehearsals ahead of a European stadium tour, with the nearest to a crowd being a handful of people who gathered on the redway behind the venue and a few who snuck in before chased out by security.
June 2023's visit, by contrast, sees Muse welcome somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 fans to the venue, for the largest UK show of the tour and one that brings the big epic rock and roll show the band has become known for.
After a brief video clip of statues in a post-apocalyptic city being torn down by way of introduction, the band go straight into the title song of last year's album Will of the People, band present and correct in matching silver face masks and hooded jackets with a burning logo comprised of W, O, T and P arranged into a symbol on the wall behind.
The foot-stomping chant-led rocker makes for a fun opener, and shows off the in-tune dynamics of frontman Matt Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme, drummer Dom Howard and new extra musician Dan Lancaster straight away.
Things then push into overdrive. The masks are removed and the band duly dive straight into Hysteria, in the process starting up a vibrant crowd bounce that continues through following tracks Psycho and Bliss.
Won't Stand Down's ferocious hyper-distorted bass translates well to a live setting, kick-starting a full-on metal track that also features the reveal of both a huge masked figure and a barrage of fire cannons.
Compliance struggles to get quite the same traction, even if the burst of green and blue streamers is a lovely touch, while Thought Contagion and Time is Running Out are full-throated tracks that get singalongs going, and lockdown romance ballad Verona holds up surprisingly well in between those two.
You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween is arguably the new song that sounds best, with a tightly knitted display of multiple influences coming together to an exhilarating rock track, with the profane fire-cannon associated We Are ***king ***ked also excelling, and giving way to the openly mad sight of Bellamy playing slide guitar on the giant figure's shoulder during a following instrumental interlude.
Naturally, in a gig like this, it's big hits that get things really moving for the crowd. While Bellamy giggles at some rowdy fans creating a circle pit to the slower first half of electro-pop love song Madness, the solo and loud final chorus are a cue for an emotional singalong, before a rush to the end of big hitters.
Supermassive Black Hole remains an excellent song showing off influences from at least 5 different genres, Plug in Baby's shredding riffs remain effortlessly excellent, Uprising's glam-rock agit-protest song is the cue for a full-on roar of defiance and the ethereal love ballad Starlight ends the main set on a nice singalong.
Except the band aren't done there, in more ways than one. Just before Supermassive Black Hole started, the masked figure retreated back behind the curtain, and in it's place for the encore emerges a Spinal Tap-worthy tall animal-headed demonic figure with light up necklaces and eyes. Raucous metal track Kill or Be Killed is supported with something almost like a vision of hell, with that demon, omnipresent red light and a gargantuan fire show, and is all the more riveting for it.
After that comes the usual full stop, as Wolstenholme plays a harmonica as the lead for a Morricone score before Knights of Cydonia. The sprawling western-inflected prog track may be a bit played out by now as a show closer on paper, but in venues, it makes for a suitably grandiose finale with solos and more fire, and that's the lot.
So what of the show? Well, as ever, Muse very much remain an act that see the stadium show as a suitable playground. The band are an excellently put together outfit with a tightly knit and efficient groove, able to playfully dispatch songs of various genres making the most of a sound system that could be heard all over the city.
There are some set quibbles, which is perhaps part of the nature of the beast as someone who has seen Muse a lot before. There are so many checks to the momentum in a show with five separate 2+ minute instrumental interludes, not least as a fully instrumental song like The Gallery or Unsustainable would've served a similar purpose, while until Uprising, the moments where Bellamy leaves guitar parts to Lancaster feel thinner than when Bellamy picks up the axe.
It also feels slightly odd to have a customised light-up piano for someone who can clearly play it well, but then only use it for a pair of intros, while the nature of being a big fan means that in one's head, there's a list of about 6 or 7 songs I'd have been hoping for that weren't played and one or two that could've been skipped, although such is the nature of the beast given this isn't a by request show and you can only fit so much into two hours.
Nevertheless, the Muse live experience in 2023 remains an excellent one. It has the mighty tunes, a band that look happy to be entertaining the hordes that follow them to the venue, the impressive stage show and all the rest. As a way to bring the National Bowl back to gig venue status for the first time in 7 years, it's certainly an excellent way to go about it.
Before Muse, Royal Blood came on, having previously played at the Bowl before Foo Fighters back in 2015. Having earned some recent mocking for Radio 1 Big Weekend crowd taunting, they are on familiar ground here, with bassist and vocalist Mike Kerr looking happy to be supporting a band he lauds during a break as idols as a new musician. The groove between him and drummer Ben Thatcher - in an Elton John t-shirt as a homage to the concurrent Glastonbury headliner - is as tight as ever, and they deliver a solid 45 minute set.
A healthy crowd size was also in place early on for The Warning, with this one of the first UK dates by a band made up of 3 Mexican sisters. The Villarreal Vélez sisters look suitably happy to be there, geeing up the crowd. The sound system does take a song or two to warm up, but when it fully clicks, it makes for a great start to the show, with both lead singer Daniela and drummer Paulina taking it in turns to have some crowd interaction and each member getting a chance to show off their excellent musical panache.
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