Accompanied by loud guitars, smoke machines and a spectacular lighting arrangement, British rock trio Muse crammed all the trappings of an arena show into Neumo’s Sunday night for an evening of big noise in a small space.
Rarely does attempting an arena rock-caliber show in a small club work. Leave it to a little bit of English ingenuity to make such a bloody brilliant rock show happen.
Composed of vocalist and guitarist Matt Bellamy, drummer Dominic Howard and bassist Chris Wolstenholme, Muse has a loyal following at home but hasn’t hit it big here. That may soon change after the group’s solid 14-song set, a performance more primed for packing stadium seats than filling a club’s floor space.
Throughout the night, the stage was illuminated in shades of red, green, purple, yellow and just about every other color of the rainbow as the band performed more than an hour of material spanning its three albums.
The evening started off with “Apocalypse Please” and “Hysteria,” both from the band’s latest album, “Absolution.” The latter was nearly ruined by a whiny guitar effect during the second verse. Thankfully the high-pitched noise faded away in time to hear Bellamy’s voice float through the smoke-filled venue as he extended his arms toward the audience and sang “I want it now. Give me your heart and your soul.”
“Butterflies and Hurricanes” started with a simple keyboard intro and ended in a chaotic collapse of distorted guitars, frenzied feedback and crashing cymbals. This type of controlled chaos is what makes Muse such an exciting and enjoyable band to watch.
The encore consisted of the whimsical “Muscle Museum” and the volatile “Stockholm Syndrome.” At the end of the set, Bellamy tossed his microphone into the crowd, making it clear he was done with his vocal duties.
But while Bellamy was done singing, Muse wasn’t done rocking. The audience was treated to an extended and improvised jam at the end of the show.
It was the perfect arena rock ending for a perfect club show.
