British band, Muse, played
their first Detroit area show in 3 years on Saturday night with one of the
biggest light show concepts currently employed by any rock band. Supporting
their sixth album, 2012’s The 2nd Law,
Muse played to a very diverse audience filling about 75-80% of the Joe
Louis Arena’s capacity. The three member band opened the show with “The 2nd
Law: Unsustainable” with a half bowl-shaped stage covered with LED-screens that
most bands would lust over. Following that the real fun started, a reverse
pyramid 5-level shapeshifting light system descended from the ceiling, one of
the most sophisticated pieces of lighting technology in existence.
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Muse played
the songs that made them famous, as well as songs from their new dubstep
influenced album, The 2nd Law.
Earlier singles “Resistance” and “Supermassive
Black Hole” joined the funked-out bass-line from new single “Panic Station”, all playing in the first 30 minutes of the hour and 45 minute performance.
The visual elements of the show and the bands musicianship were what really
made the show. Unlike other arena filling bands with similar sized stage shows,
lead singer, Matt Bellamy, barely addressed the audience to build any type of emotional
connection or rapport with the audience. Instead, the audience was just there
watching Muse do their own thing, but Muse do their own thing well enough not
to miss the attachment.
The evening
continued with “Knights Of Cydonia”, and two songs from The 2nd Law,
the Nero produced dubstep ballad “Follow Me”, and the new longest running #1 song
at Alternative Rock radio, “Madness”. Throughout the performance, the lighting ornament above the stage changed shapes and colors through just about every
song. Some of the ornament’s visuals featured CGI-styled graphics, while at
other times it was live shots of the band. The show carried on with their US
breakthrough single, “Time Is Running Out”, the sexy “Undisclosed Desires” and the
anthemic “Uprising” all playing before the encore. At this point, the inverted
pyramid lighting contraption actually became a real pyramid mounted to the
stage. Muse closed out the show with encores “Starlight” and “Survival”
bringing in cheers upon cheers. I can only hope that Muse care enough about
their fans (or money) to slowly work on adding some personal elements to their
live shows.
Female
fronted, hard rock band, Dead Sara, opened the Joe Louis Arena show. The Los
Angeles based band have released one self-titled album so far and received
success with their singles “Weatherman”, “We Are What You Say” and “Lemon Scent”.
Dead Sara were last in Detroit opening for 90’s punk band The Offspring in late
August.
