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Immigrant/Juliette and the Licks/Muse: Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO - 9/18/2007Sep 21 '07 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line All those people raving about how Muse are one kickin' live band and you must see them at some point in your lifetime? Yeah, they're not kidding.
So far, I’ve really enjoyed my time here in Colorado. It’s an absolutely breathtaking state-the scenery never fails to amaze me whenever our family is taking a trip somewhere. The mountains are large and looming, there’s long, winding countryside roads, the color of the rocks makes the landscape unique, the weather is near perfect, and the rolling hills are a relaxing sight. On Tuesday night, I got to visit another one of the state’s most grand natural wonders-the Red Rocks Amphitheater. I’d seen clips of the venue when watching performances from U2’s infamous show they did there back in 1983, as well as during an Incubus concert my sister watched one time, but let me tell you people, nothing compares to actually seeing that place in person. The rocks positively glow with their color, and their structure and formation is open and spacious enough to let the sounds from a performance echo, but yet it all surrounds you in a way that still makes the whole thing still feel a bit intimate and cozy. Applause to those who built the stage as well-it’s big enough so a band can have room to move and really nicely kept. And from where my family stood, we could see beyond the stage out to the city behind it, all aglow in the night. It’s one hell of a climb to get to your seat-steeeeeeeep stairs, real uphill crawl, not an easy walk for those of us who are, uh, not exactly in the best of shape *Raises hand*. But it’s worth it in the end, ‘cause the place is just flat out COOL. And why was I at Red Rocks? To see a band that I just got into earlier this year named Muse. I discovered these guys through, of all things, another band I enjoy but who sound NOTHING like Muse whatsoever-the Feeling. I heard their cover of Muse’s well-known (to many except me, that is) “Time Is Running Out” on some online performance things, and, like I do with every song covered that I’m not familiar with, I proceeded to check out the original. I liked how insanely catchy it was, I really liked how it was a modern harder rocking song that DIDN'T get on my nerves, and so I decided to investigate the band further. Soon, I found myself being sucked into Muse’s world, falling in love with their spacey, sci-fi, grand, spooky sound and being absolutely impressed with how diverse they were. Didn’t hurt that they were responsible for what I consider to be one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful songs ever made, “Blackout”. Man, if you haven’t heard that one yet, I strongly urge you to remedy that. Now. Go. Do it. So upon hearing back in…May, I believe it was, that they would be coming to Red Rocks in September, I was psyched. Not only would that mean that I’d be able to see yet another favorite band of mine this year, but I also imagined hearing Muse in that setting, and realized their music would be a perfect fit there. Once again, tickets were brought, waiting commenced, yada, yada, yada. On the day of the show, due to my family running behind schedule a bit, we didn’t wind up leaving for the place until 4 pm or so. Thankfully, traffic was clear again this time, but it took us forever to find our hotel to check in, and then it took us a while to find the venue, and then we had to park, and so on and so forth, and therefore we didn’t actually get in until 7:30 pm or shortly thereafter, when the first opening act was starting. Said opening act was called Immigrant, and they’re a brand new band. From the info I got off their MySpace page (about the only real place you can find anything on them thus far), they’ve been together only 9 months or so, and they just released their first album last month. They formed in San Francisco, but are called Immigrant because they’re all originally from different parts of the world. I liked what I heard by them, they sound kinda like what would happen if you put the Killers, Muse, and a dash of U2 into a blender and mixed it together. My sister also said that they reminded her a bit of Incubus, too, and I could hear that slightly. For a band that’s only been together a short time, they sounded better live than some bands that have been together for years. They didn’t have tons of stage presence-the lead singer moved around a bit and talked to the crowd some (and seemed really nice as well), but that was about it. But to be fair, they’re new, so as time goes on they can work that out, no problem. A good start to the festivities, though. Next up was Juliette and the Licks. The Juliette in question is actress Juliette Lewis, and I had no idea she fronted a band, nor that they’d been around for four years, as she noted at one point. They were all right-their music reminded me of what would happen if the lead singer of Concrete Blonde fronted one of those alternative/pop punk bands of today. The band itself sounded fine, they played well and all that good stuff. But Juliette…ehhhh. She wasn’t bad, but I don’t know if I could listen to her for hours. She rambled a lot and was kinda spacey and seemed to be trying to put on some sort of “tough girl” act or something, like she was trying to act all Janis Joplin-ish and not really succeeding. That said, however, I did enjoy their cover of Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”-they rocked it out a bit more and I enjoyed watching Juliette dance around with her bassist and the two of them doing this cute, sexy little interaction thing. That was fun. But after a while I just wanted to get to the main event. I got my wish eventually. After waiting 35 minutes, at 9:30, the main event finally started. Muse entered the stage to the roar of the crowd, and went right into the entertainingly over the top, outer space meets western, “Queen would be ALL over this” fest that is “Knights Of Cydonia”. We in the crowd pumped our fists, yelled and screamed along with lead singer Matt Bellamy, and joined him in declaring, “NO ONE’S GONNA TAKE ME ALIVE!” as the words flashed furiously on the screen behind the band. Unfortunately, from where I stood (I sadly was not near the front this time), it wasn’t always easy to hear Matt, and that was a problem that plagued the first few songs. But as time went on, that issue got cleared up, and the song was still an energetic way to kick things off, anyway, especially since that energy level stayed pretty constant throughout the show. We all boogied to the danceable “Supermassive Black Hole” (now if I could just figure out the point of the robot clips they showed on the screen during it…), laughing all the while at a guy in front of us who looked like the singer from Gym Class Heroes and who was “dancing” strangely, rocked out to “Hysteria”, and went practically mental on the aforementioned “Time Is Running Out” (that buildup to the chorus, as well as the chorus itself, is flat out FUN) as well as “Plug-In Baby”. At the end of that last song, Matt used the end of his guitar to pop one of the many balloons they let loose that wandered onto the stage. And at the end of “Stockholm Syndrome”, as the band jammed out for a while, Matt sprawled on the floor next to an overturned amp and rubbed his guitar against it, making really strange, fuzzy, screechy noises. That was but one of the many examples of Matt’s guitar prowess-throughout the night he was proving that he studied at the school of guitar showmen like Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page. He was on his knees at certain points, he rattled off riffs, both his own as well as ones from other artists (the opening to Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” showed up at one point), like they were nothing, and strutted across the stage at times while basically just letting his guitar wail away into the night sky. It’s amazing how such a tiny guy like him can have so much energy and make so much noise. If that weren’t enough, he got to show us what he can do on the piano as well. This is one reason of many why I wish I’d been closer to the front. I absolutely adore watching Matt at the piano; whenever I see a clip of him playing, especially if he has a big coat on, it almost reminds me of a scene from “Phantom Of The Opera” or something, with the madman down in a dark cellar playing away furiously. And I would’ve loved to see him tickling those ivories up close. But thankfully, there were screens-the next best thing. I particularly enjoyed hearing him on the clanging, dramatic “Apocalypse Please” (where drummer Dominic Howard also shined) and the band’s rendition of “Feeling Good”, which was easily one of the highlights of the night. Listening to Matt make use of that megaphone in person is…um. Yeah. It’s nice. Really, REALLY nice. The whole thing was just sexy as all get out-as my sister noted, she expected strippers or something during that performance. And that’s all the more I’ll say about that *Coughs*. “Sing For Absolution” was another perfect, relaxing moment-that’s one of my absolute favorite Muse songs, and hearing them do that one made up big time for not hearing “Blackout”. Watching the piano and the drum kit light up during those earlier mentioned songs was a cool sight as well, as it really added to everything. Speaking of the drum kit, I really have to give it up to Dominic as well. I had no trouble hearing him at all throughout the show, he was loud and powerful and really anchored every song. He’s another musician I love watching and listening to-I’d easily rank him as one of my personal favorite drummers. Bassist Chris Wolstenholme sounded in top form, too, and came through clear as a bell when he sang backup. He encouraged the crowd to clap along to a couple songs, wandered around a couple times, and bobbed his head occasionally, but for the most part he just stayed back and did his thing. These guys have obviously honed their craft-there was a real team effort to the whole thing. Nobody stole the spotlight from anybody else, and they all played off each other perfectly. There was a moment where they broke down into a jazzy sort of instrumental thing in between songs, and it was a treat to just watch them interact with each other. Thankfully, they didn’t forget to interact with the crowd as well. Not a lot-they aren’t the most talkative of groups on stage (certainly a change after seeing the chatty Crowded House), but Matt thanked the crowd by way of the word “Cheers” a lot, he and Dom both encouraged everyone to get out their lighters or phones or the sparkly light things some had during a couple of the slower songs, and Dom asked everyone how they were doing and commented on how awesome the venue was. And at the end of the show he thanked everyone for coming again and told us we were great. I know bands say that at lots of shows, but these guys sounded sincere regardless. They also stepped back and let the late John F. Kennedy have a moment to speak as well. During their encore, before the scary, damning “Take A Bow” (the lyrics of which pretty frankly sum up my feelings on this administration), they scrolled a snippet of a speech he once made on a screen, with the audio following along. I think Kennedy must’ve been psychic or something, ‘cause his speech was so incredibly relevant it was downright spooky. Got quite the cheer from the crowd, though, and also showed that Bush could never follow in the footsteps of Kennedy as far as great presidential speeches go, but I digress. The use of the speech was further proof that Muse are definitely taking after politically-minded groups like U2, as they kept showing things like various news/documentary clips from events going on throughout the world and old fallout shelter film footage throughout the show. It’s rather refreshing to see a younger band be like that. And after all that, around 11 something pm, the show ended and the crowd all went their separate ways. It took me some time to get my hearing back properly, and my throat was incredibly dry and nearly shot from screaming, cheering, and singing so much. But hey, I saw another one of my favorite bands within less than a month’s time, and the show was great, so that was a small price to pay. My family absolutely loved the show as well, they were really impressed with the band’s talent, and my dad said that their records don’t do them justice. Live is where it’s at. I think I may have to agree. Go. See. Muse. They are worth every penny. MUSE SETLIST: (in order this time! Yay!) 1. Knights Of Cydonia 2. Map Of The Problematique 3. Hysteria 4. Supermassive Black Hole 5. Butterflies & Hurricanes 6. Sing For Absolution 7. Apocalypse Please 8. Feeling Good 9. Sunburn 10. Soldier’s Poem 11. Invincible 12. Starlight 13. New Born 14. Time Is Running Out 15. Plug-In Baby ENCORE: 16. Take A Bow (with John F. Kennedy speech beforehand) 17. Stockholm Syndrome  |
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