During the first of three shows at Los Angeles Staples Center, U.K. rock band Muse captivated the audience equally with its dynamic musical performance and an impressively extensive light show that continually transformed the stage with an array of moving video screens. Although Muses live shows are not necessarily contingent on anything but surging renditions of their beloved albums, the band seems aware that an innovative and compelling visual component is what can ascend a rock group to the next level — particularly when they tour arenas.
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In essence the stage set was simple: Screens surrounded the edge of the stage like a video bowl and lined front of the stage as well as Dominic Howards elevated drum kit. As the show opened with Unsustainable (also known as that dub-step song they did on recent album The 2nd Law), the screens relegated at this point to the lower portion of the stage filled with the footage from the tracks music video, offering the effect of an eventual future where the world around us is so replete with screens that we are always surrounded. And that could have been enough. But after an urgent rendition of Hysteria, from 2003s Absolution, an inverted pyramid composed of more screens descended from the stage ceiling like a spaceship.
Throughout the nearly two-hour show, Muse employed these screens to imaginative effect, each song receiving an appropriate visual esthetic that was mixed with live footage of the performance. During Animals, the lower screens transformed into a massive stock market ticker that accelerated and evolved from mostly green to all red as the song expanded and reached its riff-heavy height. Later the pyramid became a giant roulette wheel, spinning and unleashing the selection of the next song — Stockholm Syndrome — on the screens below.
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The band members, particularly frontman Matt Bellamy, continually engaged with the technology theyd wrought. During Madness, the flagship single from The 2nd Law, which Bellamy announced is for my love (meaning actress Kate Hudson), the singer donned a pair of video glasses, allowing one of the cameras to swoop in for an extreme close-up that revealed the songs lyrics on the larger screens. The bands interaction with the audience, however, was slighter. Bellamy, who did lead the crowd through sing-alongs during Time Is Running Out and encore number Starlight, said very little — and the few terse comments he did make were almost unintelligible through his accent (there may have been something said about a homecoming to L.A.).
Muse always has revealed a fascination with technology and science and how these ideas will transform our future. The 2nd Law, as showcased on such tracks as Unsustainable and Isolated System, centers on a scientific theory of energy. Bellamy has said he would like the bands live show to employ an actual spaceship (and has offered interest in playing a show in space), and the band members continue to perform with custom instruments that light up and respond to the played notes. The groups music alone divulges these predilections, lyrically and tonally, but it seems that the band, whose live show always has been impressive, finally has nailed down the best means of — literally — reflecting those notions visually onstage with this video and light production. If this overwhelming wall of screens predicts our future, at least Muse will be the soundtrack.
Muse returns to Staples Center on Thursday and Saturday. The bands North American tour continues through April 26.
Set List:
Unsustainable
Supremacy
Hysteria
Panic Station
Bliss
Super Massive
Animals
Knights
Explorers
Time Is Running Out
Liquid State
Madness
Follow Me
Undisclosed
Plug In Baby
Stockholm Syndrome
Isolated System
Uprising
Encore:
Starlight
Survival
Twitter: @THRMusic
