19-06-2010
Goffertpark, Nijmegen

By Rob

Due to personal circumstances I missed both support acts Editors and Ghinzu today. Somehow I have always missed the support acts of all Muse shows in the past. When I arrived at the Goffertpark around 08.30 pm the stage set up was more impressive than ever. Muse always spent much attention to how the stage looked but the size of this was very impressive. It looked like a 3 floor building where both sides came together at the point where the stage is at the front of the audience, like two streets come together at a intersection. At both sides were two big screens for the audience on the side. There a screen in the middle of the field for the other people too. The field was full today with 50.000 visitors. And the field is not even everywhere so the screens were absolutely necessary.

Exactly at 9 pm the show started. Thirty people came onto the stage with flags and banners waving to the audience. You could read lyrics of the latest album such as ‘They will not control us’ and ‘We will be victorious’. After they left the stage Muse hit the show with the first single of the latest album ‘Uprising’. The followed the set with the freaky song ‘Super Massive Black Hole’ and the older song New Born. Everywhere around me people were enjoying themselves and the songs were sung along by the whole audience. When I heard the intro tune for the song ‘Bliss’ I couldn’t be more excited. This is my all-time favourite song and the last time they played it was four years ago. So this was one of the highlights of the evening for me. After that the song ‘Guiding Light’ of the new album was played. And when the song nearly reached the end confetti and paper rolls burst from different kind of places over the field and the audience which was a beautiful sight. Many paper rolls were attached to the poles on the field and the stage, so they hung there for the rest of the show which was a nice sight due to the wind that was blowing over the field. Then it was time to bring the piano to the stage to play ‘United States Of Eurasia’. Everything in this song reminds you of Queen but of course attached to the Muse sound. After that they continued on the piano with the Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley cover ‘Feeling Good’. A perfect song for the audience to sing along to which of course happened.

After that they started a song with electric drums which could only be the song ‘Undisclosed Desires’. After a little electric solo together with the bass guitar the song started and slowly they were rising higher and higher and getting further from the stage. When they were high enough you could see that all three were standing on a platform that rides from left to right in front of the stage. Back on-stage Matthew was getting his double guitar tandem to start with the beautiful intro of the song ‘Resistance’, continued with the hit singles ‘Time Is Running Out’ and ‘Starlight’. At this time it was getting darker and darker outside and you could see how fantastic the stage looked with all the light surrounding it. So with a song like ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ which has some chaotic parts in it it just looked fantastic. When the song ‘Take A Bow’ started I really thought this was the end of the show cause they often end with this song. At the end of the song, which is really a great climax of all the sounds that come together, everywhere on-stage smoke burst into the air. But after they left the stage for a minute they came back to play the oldie ‘Plug In Baby’.
So my hopes were getting higher that they would end the show with the other song, ‘Knights Of Cydonia’, that they played in the end of the show the last few years. When bass player Christopher walked on stage with his harmonica in his hand and started playing the song

‘Man With The Harmonica’ from the soundtrack ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’ from composer Ennio Morricone shivers went down my spine. I also saw this same version last year so I knew it would be awesome. After a while the rest of the band joined in to play the song along and slowly building to the song ‘Knights Of Cydonia’, which is one of the better songs of Muse. Everywhere you looked around you people where using their last energy to go totally crazy one more time. It just fit perfectly to the song. And after a set of exactly two full hours the show was over.

The only negative thing with a show like this is that it’s outside and it was pretty windy so now and then the sound wasn’t always clear. And it would be nice if Muse would change their setlist with a new tour cause 17 of the 18 songs of the last tour they also played today plus a bunch of other songs. And less jamming parts during the show would also be nice, you could use that time to play one or two extra songs. But in the end everyone could go home with a great show in their mind. Cause besides this two things the show was just freakin’ awesome.

Setlist of Muse:

Uprising
Super Massive Blackhole
New Born
Map Of The Problematique
Mk Ultra
Bliss
Guiding Light
Hysteria
Nishe
United States Of Eurasia
Feeling Good
Undisclosed Desires
Resistance
Starlight
Time Is Running Out
Unnatural Selection
Citizen Erased
Stockholm Syndrome
Take A bow
Plug In Baby
Knights Of Cydonia