Over the years, Muse have built up a reputation as one of the world's best live bands. They have played gigs in venues normally the home of football stars and rock dinosaurs, played on productions that wouldn't look out of place in films and have anthems that can get a crowd singing so loud it's a wonder they haven't deafened entire cities.
With new album The 2nd Law charting at number one in many countries, Muse hit the road again with a suitably massive production.
Not that it's immediately apparent - when the trio roll onto stage, they are playing in front of a video bowl-shaped design while Dom Howard's drum riser glows with stock market numbers and robot faces for opening song The 2nd Law: Part One - Unsustainable.
The dubstep-inspired tune caused a wave of internet hysteria when it first dropped in June, but as a concert opener it works exceptionally well, as strings give way to loud, punchy swells of noise and chants.
The following pair of Supremacy and classic Map of the Problematique swagger past, all massive riffs, delightful vocal touches and pounding rhythms before the staging reveals itself.
As spaceship noises fill the venue, a massive upside down video pyramid opens up above the band. The layers stretch down from the roof of the venue above the drumset in the middle of the stage. It's almost a strange touch that this spectacle turns into Panic Station, but the funky riffing number more than holds its own.
The new songs are abundant but also fit in well, with Animals and the Chris Wolstenholme-sung Liquid State both flavoured by heavy touches aimed squarely at the moshpit.
The moshpit is also catered for with some delightful oldies. Timeless classics not only well-worked at getting moshpits bouncing, but venues chanting like mad, and none work better than Supermassive Black Hole and (via a surprise half of early number Host) Time is Running Out.
Surprisingly, Muse also dust off a few chill moments that work delightfully well. Newie Explorers and Showbiz album song Falling Down (the night's rarest tune, getting a first UK airing in 12 years) provide a welcome breather from rampant 1000mph riff-based monsters.
Saying this, not everything Muse throws into the live mix works. The moments that hit the low spot come off 2009's The Resistance, which continues to be a divisive presence amongst the fanbase. Resistance is a bit of a buzzkill after the aforementioned Supermassive, despite it's big chorus and riffs. A later airing of Undisclosed Desires is also fairly nondescript, although it gives Matt Bellamy a chance to play proper walk-around frontman, high-fiving the front rows, bouncing around the bowl at the back and beatboxing his way back to his guitar tech at the end.
Undisclosed... follows fellow electronic numbers Madness and Follow Me, which sound a lot better live than the mishmash on record. Madness is also lit up, quite literally, by a pair of video sunglasses Bellamy dons for the first part of the tune, in a very impressive touch for the tune.
The main set concludes with a rip-roaring Plug in Baby and, after a roulette video interlude, it's Origin of Symmetry album-mate New Born. But while the first of this pair is as impressive as ever, the slowed down New Born just doesn't have the urgency that it has had at previous outings. It said a lot the best part of the tune was the closing touch of a Deftones riff as the pyramid lowered and "consumses the band", and one can't help but feel they should have spun again so it landed on Stockholm Syndrome.
After a video interlude which is set to The 2nd Law: Part Two - Isolated System, the pyramid visuals transforms into a dojo where Howard takes on bankers kung-fu style to the beats of Uprising. It's a humorous touch to the heavy "kill all bankers" subject of the tune, not least when the pyramid rises to reveal Howard in his bright red ninja costume pounding away at his instrument.
A final trio of Olympic-anthem Survival, the pretty Starlight and a rampant Knights of Cydonia (with it's usual Man with a Harmonica intro) brings the curtain down on the show.
Overall, it was a confusing affair that could've used a little bit of re-ordering and swapping (No Bliss? No Butterflies and Hurricanes? Still playing Undisclosed Desires?) to make it truly incredible. But there's a reason Muse are heralded as an amazing live act, and what we got was nevertheless a very good show delivered by a band at the top of their game.
Shows like this certainly cement Muse's reputation ahead of next summer's expected stadium tour. Can't wait.
7/10
Also playing were The Joy Formidable. Singer Ritzy Bryan missed the previous night's show after losing her voice, but she recovered in time to play. She and her bandmates delivered an impressive 45 minute set to warm the crowd up, with drummer Matt Thomas in particular playing a very tight array of percussive riffs and engaging with the crowd.
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