Muse

[WhiteRose]

Well, I'm not sure if any of you guys & gals have been listening to the new Muse album, 'Black Holes and Revelations'... but I've had the pleasure of spending the past few months with it.? I feel as though I can describe the album in one word... GLORIOUS!!

Yeah, I'd recommend that you break out the headphones for this one... it's (in my humble opinion) a sonic masterpiece.


Anyway, I just wanted to share and I would enjoy hearing your thoughts / opinions on Muse and their music.?

Cheers,
W.R.

wow u like it that much?

i thought it was good and a nice change from the last couple records but i feel Absolution is better as a whole. Absolution is probably my fave album by them.

Yes, I feel that 'Black Holes and Revelations' is one of the best (start to finish) albums to come along in quite some time.  As for Absolution, I feel it's an excellent album as well... but listen to the new album (preferably with headphones) at least four times in its entirety and let me know what you think.

Cheers,
W.R.

[GnFnR87]

Well, I'm not sure if any of you guys & gals have been listening to the new Muse album, 'Black Holes and Revelations'... but I've had the pleasure of spending the past few months with it.? I feel as though I can describe the album in one word... GLORIOUS!!

Yeah, I'd recommend that you break out the headphones for this one... it's (in my humble opinion) a sonic masterpiece.


Anyway, I just wanted to share and I would enjoy hearing your thoughts / opinions on Muse and their music.?

Cheers,
W.R.

wow u like it that much?

i thought it was good and a nice change from the last couple records but i feel Absolution is better as a whole. Absolution is probably my fave album by them.

Yes, I feel that 'Black Holes and Revelations' is one of the best (start to finish) albums to come along in quite some time.? As for Absolution, I feel it's an excellent album as well... but listen to the new album (preferably with headphones) at least four times in its entirety and let me know what you think.

Cheers,
W.R.

i like the record alot but there are some weak songs towards the end in my opinion. It starts off very very well and then falls flat. Knights of Cydonia is a badass closer tho. i'm just not too fond of the songs between "Invincible" and "Knights of Cydonia". some are okay but some i dont like too much.

by the way i have the bonus songs "Glorious" from this new record and "Fury" from Absolution if anybody wants them PM me.

[Slashead]

I saw them once live in Leeds at the Carling Festival (2002) when I went to see new GnR.
They're great.

[GnFnR87]

what a great young band. these guys will hopefully be making music for many years to come.

never knew a three member band could make so much noise!!

[Danny Top Hat]

I saw them live at the Nottingham Arena about a week ago.  It was quality!

[gin hotel]

muse are great

[WhiteRose]

Muse Strike Gold in the U.S., Win "Best British Band" at Home
14 March 2007

(c) Copyright 2007 Market Wire, Inc.

Bamboozle 2007 Confirmed

BURBANK, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- Mar 14, 2007 -- Devon, UK-based rock trio Muse continue their global ascent with the success of their current album, "BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS." On March 1st, in London, the band won the NME Award for "Best British Band." As previously reported, the band has sold out two nights at London's Wembley Stadium this June in record time.

Here in the U.S., "Starlight," the current single from "BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS," has nearly topped the Modern Rock radio charts, resting again at #2 this week. This is the band's fourth consecutive hit single at that format domestically. "ABSOLUTION," the band's last album, has just been certified Gold in the U.S. for sales of 500,000. Having scanned 300,000 copies in the U.S. at press time, "BLACK HOLES" is headed towards a similar trajectory.

Muse are currently on a tour of Japan and Pacific Rim territories, but will return to the States to headline a pair of shows in California just prior to their tour with My Chemical Romance. The band's Californian shows at the Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco on April 9th and Forum in Los Angeles on April 10th (their biggest American headline show to date) are both completely sold out. All confirmed tour dates are listed below.

Don't miss Muse live and on tour this spring. They are truly a force of nature all their own.

Mon April 9 Bill Graham Civic San Francisco, CA*
Tues April 10 The Forum Los Angeles, CA*
Sat April 14 Reliant Arena Houston, TX
Mon April 16 AT&T Center San Antonio, TX
Wed April 18 Pensacola Civic Center Pensacola, FL
Thurs April 19 St. Pete Times Forum Tampa, FL
Sun April 22 Bank Atlantic Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Tues April 24 Gwinnett Center Atlanta, GA
Wed April 25 Nashville Municipal Auditorium Nashville, TN
Thurs April 26 Cricket Arena Charlotte, NC
Fri April 27 Merriweather Post Pavilion Washington, DC
Sat April 28 William and Mary Hall Williamsburg, VA
Sun April 29 Bryce Jordan Center State College, PA
Tues May 1 Nationwide Arena Columbus, OH
Wed May 2 Petersen Events Center Pittsburgh, PA
Sat May 5 Bamboozle Fest./Meadowlands E. Rutherford, NJ
Sun May 6 Cumberland Civic Center Portland, ME
Tues May 8 DCU Center Worcester, MA
Sat June 16 Wembley Stadium London, ENG*
Sun June 17 Wembley Stadium London, ENG*
Sat June 23 Parcs Des Princes Paris, FRA*

*denotes headlining date

"Black Holes And Revelations will push your pleasure buttons" - Rolling Stone

[Danny Top Hat]

Plug in Baby is by far the best Muse song and probably the best song of this generation.


-Discuss

[mrlee]

Plug in Baby is by far the best Muse song and probably the best song of this generation.


-Discuss

thats crap, it doesnt represent my generation at all. Also it was done in like 96. (i think)

[Danny Top Hat]

It was 2001 or somewhere close to that.? Not before.

And there is NO counter argument against that song, it's the perfect rock out tune.? Awesome riff, brilliant chorus and great for an air guitar/sing along.? Probs the best song ever written about a guitar (hmm...except 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' ).

[mrlee]

It was 2001 or somewhere close to that.  Not before.

And there is NO counter argument against that song, it's the perfect rock out tune.  Awesome riff, brilliant chorus and great for an air guitar/sing along.  Probs the best song ever written about a guitar (hmm...except 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' ).

there is lol, its just crap, the vocals are horrid. matts vocals are yuckkk when he goes high pitched, its not even powerful high pitched, it just really goes through me.

[Danny Top Hat]

Maybe you should invest in some new ears this easter.

[mrlee]

Maybe you should invest in some new ears this easter.

no, ill just stick to good music

[stinson4ever]

I never eally payed much attention to muse, but i just saw one of their videos(the one where they are on a ship) and it changed my mind about them. Anyone know what song that is

[GnFnR87]

I never eally payed much attention to muse, but i just saw one of their videos(the one where they are on a ship) and it changed my mind about them. Anyone know what song that is

"Starlight" i believe, current single in the US off the latest album a bit poppy but still great.

[stinson4ever]

I never eally payed much attention to muse, but i just saw one of their videos(the one where they are on a ship) and it changed my mind about them. Anyone know what song that is

"Starlight" i believe, current single in the US off the latest album a bit poppy but still great.

thanx, ill have to look in to them more

[Doc Emmett Brown]

From the Viper Room to headling the sold-out Forum

By Craig Rosen
Los Angeles Times

April 5, 2007

MUSE singer-guitarist Matthew Bellamy can still remember the British trio's first Los Angeles gig. "It was at the Viper Room. There were only about 20 people there," he recalls. "It must have been when I was 19 or 20 in 1999. It was one of our first gigs abroad."

That show was set up to showcase the band for American suitors from Maverick and Columbia Records, but the conditions were far from ideal. "It was the first time I had really flown that far from home," Bellamy says. "I was completely unfamiliar with the feeling of jet lag. It probably wasn't the best performance we ever did because we were all half asleep on stage."

Still, the trio managed to impress Maverick executive Guy Oseary, who, Bellamy says, attended the gig "with some geezer from the Sex Pistols" ? actually guitarist-turned-radio host Steve Jones ? and Muse scored a U.S. recording contract.

Fast-forward eight years, and Muse ? which also includes bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard ? is preparing to play its biggest North American headlining gig Tuesday at the sold-out 18,000-seat Forum. In the interim, the band split from Maverick but found a more sympathetic home with its parent company, Warner Bros. Records.

Although Maverick had high hopes for Muse, "Showbiz," the band's debut album, received a lukewarm critical reception, failed to chart and sold 100,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Things got so bad that Maverick opted not to release the band's second effort, "Origin of Symmetry," in the U.S. (It was subsequently released in 2005 by Warner Bros. but sold only 49,000 copies).

The band's fortunes began to change when it moved to Warner Bros., which issued "Absolution" in 2004. That album sold 513,000 copies and spawned two Top 10 modern rock hits, "Hysteria (I Want It Now)" and "Time Is Running Out," both of which became staples on KROQ-FM (106.7) and stoked the group's growing popularity as a live act.

In subsequent years, Muse has gone on to headline the Mayan Theatre in May 2004, a two-night stand at the Wiltern in December 2004, a date at the Greek Theatre in summer 2006, and now the Forum in support of its latest effort, "Black Holes and Revelations," which debuted at No. 9 and features the current modern rock hit "Starlight."

"For them to headline the Forum on their own is exceptional," says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar, which covers the concert business. "It obviously indicates huge popularity in Southern California." Bongiovanni compares Muse's success as a live draw in L.A. to Depeche Mode, whose KROQ-fueled popularity in the late '80s eventually led the group to a headline date at the Rose Bowl in 1988.

Although Muse isn't big enough to headline outdoor stadiums in the U.S., it has reached that level in the U.K., where it's scheduled to play two nights at the 75,000-seat Wembley Stadium in June. "It'll be a big challenge to us," Bellamy says on the phone during a tour stop in Japan. "You have to really think about a different type of show. You've got to really care and think about the people at the back and the top, who are not going to see my facial expressions. You've got to put a lot more effort into the visual side of the show."

Muse's music, which mixes the drama and apocalyptic angst of Radiohead with the operatic bombast of Queen, is well-suited to larger venues. The fact that Bellamy's lyrics avoid British colloquialisms in favor of more universal themes has also contributed to the band's success.

"We're just keeping the old British rock flame alive," Bellamy says, perhaps sensitive about the Radiohead comparisons, which stymied the band's progress early on. "The '90s threatened to wipe it out with Brit-pop and a lot of the softer bands like Coldplay and Radiohead. One of the reasons we get associated with some of the '70s rock bands is because we are one of the few British bands that actually plays rock music, or what I call rock music."

One of Muse's most epic rockers is "Knights of Cydonia," an alternative rock hit from "Black Holes and Revelations." Wolstenholme has said the song sums up "40 years of rock history in six minutes," which gives Bellamy a laugh.

Many have assumed it's Muse's attempt to pay homage to Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western soundtracks, but actually the inspiration was a lot closer to home. Bellamy's father, George, played guitar in the early '60s combo the Tornados, whose space-rock instrumental "Telstar" became the first No. 1 single by a British act in America.

"I wanted to do something that was a bit of reference toward that because I never really paid attention to any of that music when I was growing up," he says. "I just recently realized my dad's band was pretty cool."

[jc524]

Great band, just love their work.

One of the best bands in a LONG time!

[WhiteRose]

I was fortunate enough to attend the Muse concert at the Los Angeles Forum and I would have to say that the following review (except for the comments about GNR) is pretty spot-on. It was an excellent show!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

By BEN WENER
The Orange County Register

The blossoming of English art-metal rose Muse is the sensation no one saw coming.

Sure, maybe holdouts at Warner Bros., the trio's label (and distributor during its Maverick days earlier this decade), still had faith after four albums. "Somehow," someone must have thought, "these guys are going to break here. Their fans will come in time."

So they stuck by the band, taking cautious delight when 2003's "Absolution" yielded a modest hit ? the irresistible apocalyptic groove "Time Is Running Out" ? and eventually went gold. And "Black Holes and Revelations," last year's follow-up and the strongest Muse record to date, showed even more promising signs of imminent success. It helped, of course, to launch with a single, "Starlight," with as much appeal to Coldplay lovers as Tool-heads hungry for a different sort of heavy sound.

Lo and behold, the album debuted in Billboard's Top 10 ? yet, like so much other stirring music these days, the disc has had zero commercial staying power, receiving only steady (never oversaturated) airplay from KROQ and negligible attention from video outlets.

What, then, can explain how Muse managed to sell out the Forum on Tuesday night?

Easy: word-of-mouth reaction to its concerts, still among the most powerful tools in music promotion.

Muse has built its reputation stateside ? and in Southern California in particular ? in the same manner as Radiohead and Tool, comparably enigmatic forebears whose tremendous shows solidified a following no amount of weird clips aired in the wee hours on MTV ever could. An amalgam that in the past year or so has finally carved out its own identity from a wealth of instantly detected influences, Muse is proof that old-fashioned marketing ? relentless touring combined with tenacious spirit ? can still work.

And when it does, it can result in rabidly devoted fans.

So it is that virtually every song Muse played Tuesday night ? including anything off its mostly neglected 1999 debut, "Showbiz" ? was greeted with the sort of bellowing roar one hears when Rush kicks off "Tom Sawyer." Partly that eruption came as a release after such a long wait: The outfit's remarkable performance at September's Inland Invasion in Devore, where it upstaged a late and long-in-the-tooth Guns N' Roses, was a breakout moment that had attendees craving more and absentees buzzing with anticipation for another sighting.

The Forum gig, then ? one of only two North American headlining dates from Muse before the band joins My Chemical Romance on tour ? is really the first chance recent SoCal converts have had to experience the group's mighty bombast. And what a sonic blast it was: Where Radiohead amazes with experimental chemistry, Muse dazzles with tightly collaborative virtuosity.

Bassist Chris Wolstenholme can be as forceful yet nimble as the Who's John Entwistle, while drummer Dominic Howard deftly teeters between meter-shifting chops-flashing and firmly anchoring grooves (Muse may be the only art-metal outfit you can dance to).

But soaring vocalist Matthew Bellamy is the band's double threat, a super-skilled fretman adept at both classically arpeggiated solos and chugging Nirvana riffs who from time to time will sit down at the piano and make like a rock Rachmaninoff.

If it all sounds incredibly over the top, well, it is. Take Queen, Maynard James Keenan, Thom Yorke, bits of Metallica, Depeche Mode (noticeable on "Map of the Problematique"), a dash of Gothic noir and plenty of the unabashed grandeur of Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, puree it all and add heady lyrics about theology, alien life, conspiracy theories and the end of the world ? and out pours Muse.

It would all be disastrous if Bellamy and Co. were absurdly dramatic about their presentation, but instead, like Tool, they just hunker down and play, relying on trippy visuals and the occasional plume of smoke to compensate for their static nature. Yet that's exactly the sort of concert that gets people coming back for more: You may not have heard of Muse now, but once you encounter it live, if it's your cup o' tea, you'll take to it like a heroin addict takes to methadone.

That fan fervency is what will keep Muse afloat for many years to come, while other flavors (the Killers, say, whose own brand of propulsive rock paled in comparison the night before at Staples Center) seem apt to fade quickly. Killers fans may prove fickle; Muse fans will only grow stauncher.

And mark my words: By 2010, it'll be one of the main attractions at Coachella.


http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/entertainment/music/concertreviews/article_1649249.php

[WhiteRose]

Muse are set to break in the new Wembley Stadium this weekend (June 16-17)?

Is there anybody here who will be attending?

Cheers,
W.R.