Now that they’ve made the full transition to Rock Gods, it’s obvious that Muse have erased the word ‘understatement’ from their vocabulary. Tonight’s show is one of the most extravagant (by a rock band) that The O2 has seen all year. A curtain falls from three vertical platforms as the trio launch into fist-pumping single ‘Uprising’ from a great height. The reception is deafening, and is a sound only matched by Bellamy’s trademark falsetto shriek – which occasionally seems slightly overwhelmed by the sheer roar of the music.
Old tracks (including a flat ‘Unintended’ from their debut, incendiary tellings of ‘New Born’ and ‘Plug In Baby’ and a raucously-received ‘Knights of Cydonia’) are spliced with songs from the new album, including the flamboyant ‘United States of Eurasia’ – but it’s their take on Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ that provides the highlight for this writer. There’s a surprising lack of crowd interaction, too, apart from drummer Chris Wolstenholme’s repeated ‘How you doin’, Dublin?’ catchphrase, although it seems to matter little to the uber-devoted throng, who are restless and disinterested during unmoshable tunes like ‘Undisclosed Desires’.
A futuristic industrial-style stage set-up sees all three members ascend and descend on their respective platforms throughout, while a series of fractured screens jutting down from the roof reflects close-ups of their mugs. There’s giant balloons, a laser show that’d make Jean-Michel Jarre green (“It’s like a panto with lasers,” one bemused onlooker observed), and the two hour show slips by in a flash. There’s no doubt that Muse know how to stage a spectacular show. But without the outlandish props, would these songs sound so impressive?