British rock trio Muse have always pushed the envelope when it comes to touring. They spare no expense to immerse their fans through the themes of their music. Their Cyrpto.com Arena show in Los Angeles on April 6th was an exhilarating and glitzy time. The night started right at 6:30 pm with a fun rock set from the Massachusetts rock band Highly Suspect. Lead singer Johnny Stevens' smooth bluesy rock vocals were a huge hit with the crowd. The 35-minute set included favorites "Lydia" and "My Name Is Human"
Many fans arrived early to catch the second act of the night, the Arkansas-based rock band Evanescence. Opening with fan-favorite "Broken Pieces Shine," the band performed a long 14-song set. Frontwoman Amy Lee is mesmerizing to watch -- her vocal range is like no other. She belts out the songs so effortlessly and with so much emotion. Before performing the song "Use My Voice," Lee gave a powerful speech on the importance of using our voice. "We must not be silent," she exclaimed as she talked about the Nashville elementary school shooting and the expulsion of Tennessee lawmakers Justin Jones and Justin Pearson who lead chants for gun reform with a bullhorn on the chamber floor. The band ended their set with their biggest hit to date "Bring Me to Life" and had the entire venue singing along.
Around 9pm, Muse lit up the stage with an electrifying performance of “The Will of the People,” a fitting beginning as this is the name of their latest ninth studio album. The album deals with political themes of a dystopian revolution -- to bring this to life the band made a memorable entrance walking out wearing metallic disco-like masks (the same masks were also featured in the "Won't Stand Down" and "Compliance" music videos). An enormous sign spelling out WOTP was set ablaze starting the night off with a flaming bang. Frontman Matt Bellamy didn't waste any time as he swaggered and danced through the catwalk getting up close to the crowd. His showman personality front-and-centered.
The set design for this tour is so creative. Just as the band was finding their groove, the curtains behind them dropped to reveal a large moving statue of Will the Hacker, the leader of the revolution. The show embraced the fictional story of WOTP which on Twitter they stated was " a fictional story set in a fictional metaverse on a fictional planet ruled by a fictional authoritarian state run by a fictional algorithm manifested by a fictional data centre running a fictional bank printing a fictional currency controlling a fictional population"
Muse's music is filled with big guitar riffs and loud energetic lyrics that are easy to rock out and have fun too. The band kept their fans on their toes with a dramatic harmonica solo from bassist Chris Wolstenholme, a fiery drum solo from drummer Dominic Howard and an electronic performance from Bellamy with his wicked robot glove. The band are pros at what they do and never skipped a beat.
Towards the middle of the night Bellamy took a moment during their set to introduce their tour musician member Dan Lancaster. Nervously, Lancaster took the mic and asked his girlfriend to come on stage. Once he found her, he proposed in front of everyone -- a very sweet moment.
As the show went on, the stage transformed into a huge red demon -- the same image is featured on the cover of the single "Killed or Be Killed." The set heavily featured songs from Will of the People including "Won’t Stand Down," "Compliance," and "Verona." The band also played all their biggest hits including "Super Massive Black Hole," "Uprising" and "Starlight." The band ended the night with a performance of "Knights of Knights of Cydonia." After the performance, they received a grand standing ovation from their fans.
Other artists should take notes from Muse's production, the impressive attention to detail made the night an enjoyable one-of-a-kind experience for fans.
For more on Muse, visit muse.mu/tour
- Will of the People
- Interlude
- Hysteria
- Psycho
- Bliss
- Won’t Stand Down
- Compliance
- Thought Contagion
- Verona
- Time Is Running Out
- The 2nd Law: Isolated System
- Resistance
- You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween
- Madness
- We Are Fucking Fucked
- The Dark Side
- Supermassive Black Hole
- Plug In Baby
- Behold, the Glove
- Uprising
- Prelude
- Starlight
ENCORE
- Kill or Be Killed
- Knights of Cydonia
