Thursday, February 04, 2010 . 8:41 AM

MUSE @ BIG NIGHT OUT 3rd FEB 2010.

My ticket for Pen B cost me $121 and it was totally worth every cent. Muse are incredibly epic live. Freaking awesome.

The show opened at 1900 with Saosin, a band which I've not heard of before but they impressed with their first few pieces, although their songs pretty much sounded around the same to me so I kinda tired of it after a while. Full credit to them though for putting up an energetic performance.

After a short rest, Rise Against then took the stage, with a great opener, before going on to play "Re-Education (Through Labor)". I totally did not know of this band until they started playing the intro to this song then I was like "isn't this a Guitar Hero World Tour song???" Damn, I'm a true geek and that proves it. It was a really pleasant surprise though, cos that song is both nice to listen to and to play on Guitar Hero =D haha and it doesn't hurt to hear something nice and familiar. I really enjoyed Rise Against's acoustic set as well, really good stuff. Before they ended with their last piece they roused the crowd by asking "ARE YOU READY FOR MUSE" which drove the crowd totally wild.

After a rather long intermission for Muse to set up their stuff, during which the ushers came round with cups of water for everybody (talk about welfare, A+ guys), Singapore Indoor Stadium then went dark and everybody went crazy as Muse entered playing "We Are The Universe" as an intro before (predictably) breaking out in "Uprising" which naturally drove everybody nuts. They then carried on mixing their most famous hits with songs from their latest album: "Supermassive Black Hole" followed by "Map of the Problematique" then "Resistance" before going into "Interlude" and then knocking everyone dead with "Hysteria"! You should see Chris do the bass for this btw it's absolutely stunning. They then carried on with the brilliant "Stockholm Syndrome" and brought it down a notch with "Niche" then "United States of Eurasia" (which I was a bit disappointed about cos Matt didn't tail off the end of the piece with Chopin's Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9 No. 2 cos I love that bit of the song).

The greatest surprise (to me at least) of the night was the next piece: Sunburn! The LAST song I expected them to play (1st track off their first album and a damn good track too) but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Once Matt started the piano riff I went nuts. Damn awesome. They then did an instrumental, "Helsinki Jam", which I've not heard before but was awesome all the same.

They then continued with their current album songs with "Undisclosed Desires", where they used lasers to light up Singapore Indoor Stadium, which I thought was a very nice touch. "MK Ultra" came next, before they wowed everyone with "Starlight".

They then proceeded to "Time Is Running Out", which I'm trying to transcribe for a cappella at the moment, before ending off their first set with "Unnatural Selection". They then thanked Singapore before disappearing. Naturally shouts of encore started emanating from all corners of the Stadium and after about 5 minutes, Muse dutifully obliged, coming on stage while performing the amazing "Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 1 (Overture)". "Plug In Baby" was next (and the only song from Origin of Symmetry to make the set-list... Incredibly sad that they didn't do "New Born" and "Hyper Music" but I guess you can't have everything can you =P).

Then came the most AWESOME moment of the night. KNIGHTS OF CYDONIA. Zomg this song is so awesome live my description won't do it justice. The first 6-7 notes when they come in, and everyone starts singing together and pumping their fists in the air, all going crazy and singing along with the guitar riff at the beginning, Matt Bellamy doing his incredibly high falsetto along with us, everyone jumping and fist-pumping as one, singing along with Matt, the lights strobing and flashing in unison with the song, Chris' awesome bass, Dom giving all he has on the drums, the part where everyone sings "No one's going to take me alive/Time has come to make things right/You and I must fight for our rights/You and I must fight to survive" and the last jamming portion, before ending off with a bang... It was just freaking god-like. I was in heaven for 7 minutes.

Phwoar to see these guys live is inspiring. All 3 of them are geniuses at what they do... Matt with his brilliant vocals and guitar/piano, the fleet-fingered Chris with his scintillating bass and fabulous backup vocals, and Dom with his never-tiring percussion. Brilliant! I loved that given the limited time that they had (1.5 hours only) they played as much as possible, giving us like 18 songs within that time frame, talking very little to us, just jamming out and giving all of us what we came for. I'd love to see a full concert from Muse someday, a full 3-4 hours of Muse would be heaven.

Officially the 2nd most awesome night of my life (2nd only to Coldplay's Viva La Vida tour here in Singapore). What an epic night.

"You'll Never Walk Alone"

Archangel