Muse are a rock band who recently hit Vienna with their current tour.
Muse are a seasoned live band who know how to play a show and entertain. If that means that the concerts are a little too professional maybe, it doesn’t really hurt that much. They are bombastic and extremely entertaining events.
I have to say that they didn’t really win me over with their new album that much. I mean, there are a few songs I do like a lot – Madness, Follow Me, Save Me [which they unfortunately didn’t play], Panic Station – but neither of these songs actually sound like Muse very much (instead they sound like Delphic, Dubstep, The Doves and Freddie Mercury respectively).
But their live show did make things better and it did make the songs sound more Muse-y. By the end of the night, I did like the new album a little better.
But I did like the show a whole lot more. The light design was amazing – they have this huge ass moving pyramid of screens in the middle of the stage and they use that brilliantly.
They played most of the new album and the most important old things as well (Starlight, Supermassive Black Hole, Uprising, Knights of Cydonia, Resistance, Undisclosed Desires…). But despite the good song choices, the concert was pretty short. I mean it was okay, not insultingly short, but it could have been longer.
The only thing I really would have wished for was a little more interaction with the audience. A little less sterility. They just kinda made you feel that they’re playing these shows so often that the concert you are attending isn’t really anything much. And while that is certainly true for them, it is never nice to not feel special.
In any case, I had fun, it was a great show and I’ll gladly go to another Muse concert again.
kalafudra's Stuff 
I have to say that I’m glad that I didn’t go. When I asked my roommate what that strange dubstep song with a voice that sounds like Bellamy’s is and she told me that it’s the new Muse song I was glad that I stopped listening to them after Black Holes and Revelations. I cherish the memory of their performance at the Frequency festival in 2006 (with an awesome setlist http://muse.mu/tour-dates,frequency-festival-salzburgring-salzburg-austria_1393.htm) or Stadthalle later that year (http://muse.mu/tour-dates,wiener-stadthalle-wien-austria_1448.htm)
Maybe I’m already too old for that shi…. stuff.
Did they play anything from the first three records at all?
Yes, they did. They played Bliss, Sunburn, Time Is Running Out and Stockholm Syndrome. Here’s the setlist: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/muse/2012/wiener-stadthalle-vienna-austria-3bdae818.html
It was a good show. But they are so perfect live that you can’t help but feel that having seen them once, you don’t need to again. So, I completely understand. (I think it will also be the last Muse concert I’ll have been to.)
But as I said, I do like their new album better now, having seen it performed live.
Haha, they weren’t so perfect live back in 2006. Well, they were amazing, wonderful, great and whatever, but they had a lot of energy and they didn’t seem as “professional” or “sterile” as you describe them. well, if a band is as big as Muse than I guess they develop a certain… routine
But it’s really weird – I don’t know more than half of the songs on the setlist and we’re talking about a band that has been one of my favorites for nearly a decade
really getting old…
I saw them in 2010 at the Frequency festival (and I actually had tickets for the 2006 concert that I sold the very evening because my friend got sick and I didn’t want to go alone) and even then, it was much less perfect. That’s why I really wanted to see them again.
But I saw that professionalism effect with REM as well. I guess too much experience can be a bad thing, too. ;)
For me, there are 2 Muses:
Muse #1 – First four albums whichr are all awesome.
Muse #2 – Last 2 Albums which are both pretty horrible.
Seen them live 2 times, Absolution tour and Black Holes tour. Both times they delivered flawless but sterile performances. No interaction, no talking. Meh…
I have to say that I did like large chunks of The Resistance, and by now I even like parts of The 2nd Law – though it sounds more like a completely different band than a Muse album.
In any case, I think I’m done with them live, though I did enjoy the first of their concerts I saw.