Some press for Atlanta
Concert review and photos: Muse electrifies with visually arresting Atlanta show
In the 30 minutes before Muse took the stage, the houselights stayed low, colored lights stationed around State Farm Arena flickered and instrumental music that ranged from planetarium-style synthesizers to gently pulsing EDM mesmerized the crowd.
Then the sensory assault began.
The British trio of Matt Bellemy (guitar, vocals), Dominic Howard (drums) and Chris Wolstenholme (bass) is about halfway through the 21 dates on the North American leg of its “Simulation Theory” tour. They will roam the world through July, and by the end of the run, more than three dozen cities will have experienced one of the most sleek, visually arresting shows on the arena circuit.
Opening with the double punch of two new songs - “Algorithm” and “Pressure” - from their eighth album (also “Simulation Theory”), Muse basked in the neon glow of lasers and goggles, shrieking guitar licks and crushing drums.
In their 25 year career, the triumvirate has incited plenty of comparison to U2. But live, it’s what they bring to the stage that can be spotted in bands that followed - The Killers, The Strokes, even Coldplay.
Muse makes a mighty sound for three middle-aged dudes - and the sound at State Farm Arena defined deafening - but it’s all delivered cleanly and complemented by frenetic lights that force you to blink even though you want to gape at the visual blitz.
Bellemy is low-key-cool as a frontman, strolling the catwalk while spilling guitar riffs and delivering lyrics as if beckoning the listener to come closer. The upper range of his voice - a trademark of Muse’s songs - is lovely and his mid-range remained robust throughout the night.
There was much to appreciate in the two-hour show, from the sinewy backbeat that powered “Break it To Me,” to the extra drummers for the stadium stomper - and one of the band’s two U.S. hits - “Uprising,” which elicited much participation from the crowd that filled about three-fourths of the venue.
While the threesome, along with the elaborate lighting and cool video elements, would suffice for visual accoutrements, the addition of a pack of slithering “dancers” (really, more like stage actors) helped fill the vast stage. As dark-clad ninjas with steam guns, they prowled during “Propaganda” while Bellamy employed his falsetto over Howard’s crisp drums, and during “Thought Contagion,” they crawled, zombie-like, in a puff of dry ice as Bellemy sang at the end of the stage ramp.
Wolstenholme took a deserved turn in that ramp spotlight with his nimble bass work for the opening of “Hysteria,” from 2003’s “Absolution” album. It’s one of Muse’s heavier offerings and it gloriously rattled the railings - especially the coda of AC/DC’s “Back in Black.”
But Muse can temper the feverish explosion of their live show equally well. The band trotted down the ramp for a gospel-inflected, piano-heavy version of “Dig Down,” and Bellemy’s voice sounded especially angelic on the softly throbbing “Madness,” its dreamy lull interrupted only by a squealing guitar solo.
Whether continuing to unsettle the building’s foundation with “Mercy” or inciting another crowd singalong to “Time is Running Out,” Muse validated their musical prowess with an admirably ambitious showcase.
The poppier Walk the Moon opened the concert with a 40-minute set stuffed with their usual energy.
The quartet - singer/keyboardist Nicholas Petricca, guitarist Eli Maiman, drummer Sean Waugaman and bassist Kevin Ray - was joined by Lachlan West as an extra keyboardist and percussionist, the better to amplify Walk the Moon’s lush synth pop.
While the crowd was strangely tepid toward a band that is a frequent radio presence, that didn’t deter Petricca from bopping around the stage with his unique running-man-style dance moves or bouncing behind his keyboard during “Anna Sun” and “Kamikaze.”
The singer also reminded the crowd that Walk the Moon lived in Atlanta one summer while recording its 2012 self-titled album before unveiling their two biggest songs - the disco popper “One Foot” and 2014’s monster, “Shut Up and Dance,” an earworm much better appreciated now that it has faded from ubiquity.
Source: https://www.ajc.com/blog/music/concert-review-and-photos-muse-electrifies-with-visually-arresting-atlanta-show/XKOrlg1UPNePBXMJn0wnGN/
Photo gallery from the always excellent Robb Cohen: https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/photos-muse-rocks-atlanta-state-farm-arena/HyGfVLLIMV1tTwfo0GNG9J/
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More awesome photos from the show by Ryan Fleisher Photography and meet & greet photos too, courtesy of ALT 105.7 FM:
https://alt1057.iheart.com/content/2019-03-27-muse-and-walk-the-moon-state-farm-arena/
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Walk The Moon’s Nicholas Petricca Talks ‘Timebomb’ And Touring With Muse
Since the release of their first smash-hit single, Shut Up and Dance (2014), Walk the Moon has become a household name across the globe, and the indie pop song has been certified four times platinum in Canada alone.
Now, on the tail-end of promoting their latest album, Talking is Hard (2017), the Ohio-based rock band has released a brand-new single entitled Timebomb.
Since its release, Timebomb has dominated modern rock and adult contemporary radio stations across the continent and even allowed the four-piece to play on a number of major television networks.
Walk the Moon’s rapidly increasing success landed them a gig opening for one of the world’s biggest rock acts - Muse - this year during their highly anticipated Simulation Theory world tour.
The tour kicked off in February and will make three stops this week in Canada alone, including Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City.
Walk the Moon was founded in 2006 by frontman and key songwriter Nicholas Petricca. The group signed with RCA in 2012 and released their first major-label album, which was self-titled.
In total, the band has released four studio albums, six EPs, one live album and two No. 1 charting singles in the U.S. (Shut Up and Dance and 2017’s One Foot).
Ahead of their Canadian shows, Petricca, 32, took the time to sit down with Global News and talk about the history of the band and even gave an update on their highly anticipated fifth studio album.
The singer also detailed how they landed the gig with Muse, how it feels to go back and play older songs and what fans can expect from a Walk the Moon concert.
Global News: Do you mind telling us the story behind your latest single, Timebomb?
Nicholas Petricca: To me, the song is all about the fear of falling in love. Because love is a very scary thing. But it’s also a good thing… in the way that anything that’s worth having in this life or anything that’s worth looking for is a risk, right? Love is risky. It could end, or you might mess it up or so on. [Laughs] But it’s because it’s precious that it’s really worth it. It’s a complete gamble. Love is inevitable, and there’s really nothing you can do about it; there’s really no choice. [Laughs]
GN: So is Timebomb its own entity, or are you guys working on a new album you can tell us anything about?
NP: We are, but it’s not clear yet what it will actually look like - or, certainly, even when. We just have a lot of music in the works. We were actually in the studio quite a bit last fall recording new music and songs that we had started writing for the last record that were left unfinished. Right now, while we’re on the road, we’re writing new songs as well. We have a lot of new developments that we’re just… [Laughs] We’re unsure what to do with it all. But I think, inevitably, it’ll all be part of a record at some point, whether that’s a concept album or something else entirely.
GN: After 13 years together as Walk the Moon, did you ever think that your music career would take you as far as it has?
NP: The short answer? Yes. But adding onto that… [Laughs] I think when I was in high school (and) college and falling in love with bands that made me want to be in my own band - like The Killers and Coldplay or Muse - I sort of pictured myself on that level. I just had this certainty. I was like “Yep, of course. I can do this. We’re gonna do this.”
What I didn’t picture was all of the little steps it takes between being an unknown to complete global stardom. [Laughs] That’s actually been the most interesting and awesome part of this journey - all those steps in between. There have been several moments along the way where, if I told my 17-year-old self you’ve got a song on the radio or you broke a Billboard record or your song went platinum, my younger self would be like “Oh, well, you’ve made it!” But now that we’ve actually passed those landmarks, we’re still like “When are we gonna make it?” [Laughs] We’re ambitious, and I think we’ve always had something really powerful and beautiful to share with the world. That’s just our brand of music. The centre of it is hope, which is something I believe the world really needs.
GN: It’s incredible that that hope and ambition is able to shine through all of your music, despite your songs all being so unique. Would you say there’s an intentional desire to experiment with your sound? Or are you just tapping into those different influences and evolving as musicians?
NP: Honestly, it’s probably a nice blend of all of those things. It’s very subconscious. Maybe you could also take the flipside and call it an inability to focus. [Laughs]
The four of us actually come from very different musical backgrounds and, individually, we’re all interested in a lot of different music. It’s hard to narrow down our influences. We’ve definitely never been the kind of band that writes two songs that sound the same - and we probably never will be. Even within each album, the range is so eclectic. I feel like there are some artists who have a specific feel or sound, which is why some people keep going back to them. Take Tyko, for example. I want to listen to Tyko because I can just put on his music and I’m suddenly in the world of Tyko, which just feels like an absolute dream.
But if you put on Walk the Moon, it’s a little more unpredictable. We have heavy songs inspired by bands like Rage Against the Machine and then we have songs like Shut Up and Dance, which is a totally different animal! [Laughs] I often wonder whether that hurts or helps us.
GN: Do you think having such a variety of sounds maybe speaks for how you guys landed the opening slot for Muse’s tour? They’re the same in that sense - they’re unique.
NP: I wish I could tell you there was a crazy story behind that, like if we were drinking at a bar in Japan and bumped into the guys and went to karaoke with them or something. [Laughs]
GN: We could say it happened.
NP: [Laughs] Yeah, we definitely could. But no, we found out that they were going on tour, submitted for it and they liked us and decided to take us out with them. We’re actually sitting on a tour bus in Atlanta right now before we hit the stage. I talked to the Muse guys recently and one of them - I won’t say who - is sort of the guy who chooses the bands they tour with so it was really cool to hear that he picked us out of all of these bands they could have picked instead.
GN: Do you find that it’s intimidating playing these huge arena shows at all? Does it feel like the next step for you guys?
NP: It’s both! I would say it’s intimidating but also totally inspiring at the same time. Intimidating, of course, because those venues are much larger than the space we’ve ever filled on our own. We’ve played big crowds and amphitheatres, sure, but it’s different when you’re filling this huge indoor space and you know that some folks are a few feet from you and then some are even a thousand feet from you. I believe it’s a great challenge for us every night to come up and own that space and know that it’s our job to kick off each night for this bad**s band.
There’s a huge element of theatricality, too. My years as a theatre kid are coming in handy now. [Laughs] And it’s inspiring because Muse dreamed up this wild alien circus… and then it just comes to life! We get to walk around their spaceship stage and tiptoe over robots backstage just to get to the ramp, and we’re among all of this stuff that they’ve just dreamed up. So it’s really cool to be able to experience something like this first-hand, and again, be able to touch this band’s dream - one that we deeply admire.
GN: When you’re playing live, do your older songs still resonate with you the same way they did back when you wrote them? Or do they capture something new for you now?
NP: That’s the beauty of this whole thing. We love to play live because every night is different. It’s infinitely different. The audience consistently brings a new life to each of our songs - even if we’ve played it a thousand times. It’s not like we all get together just to rehearse something like Shut Up and Dance because that would get repetitive. [Laughs] The live aspect makes every night something different and exciting.
I do think it’s interesting now because we get to see which songs have stood the test of time and still feel relevant to us as human beings and which songs we can’t relate to as much after growing up a bit more. But it’s been really fun recently to kind of look back in the vault and pull out some of the songs we haven’t played in a really long time.
GN: You’ll be back in Canada this week, starting in Toronto before going to Montreal and Quebec City. What, exactly, can fans expect from a Walk the Moon concert in 2019?
NP: I love this question and I still never know how to answer it. [Laughs] Every night, we leave nothing out. We put it all up there. Whether we’re playing two hours at our own show or just one song on TV, to say the least, we’re gonna come out sweating. You can expect us to put all our hearts into it every single night to provide our fans with a proper rock show.
Source: https://etcanada.com/news/435287/walk-the-moons-nicholas-petricca-talks-timebomb-and-touring-with-muse/
In the 30 minutes before Muse took the stage, the houselights stayed low, colored lights stationed around State Farm Arena flickered and instrumental music that ranged from planetarium-style synthesizers to gently pulsing EDM mesmerized the crowd.
Then the sensory assault began.
The British trio of Matt Bellemy (guitar, vocals), Dominic Howard (drums) and Chris Wolstenholme (bass) is about halfway through the 21 dates on the North American leg of its “Simulation Theory” tour. They will roam the world through July, and by the end of the run, more than three dozen cities will have experienced one of the most sleek, visually arresting shows on the arena circuit.
Opening with the double punch of two new songs - “Algorithm” and “Pressure” - from their eighth album (also “Simulation Theory”), Muse basked in the neon glow of lasers and goggles, shrieking guitar licks and crushing drums.
In their 25 year career, the triumvirate has incited plenty of comparison to U2. But live, it’s what they bring to the stage that can be spotted in bands that followed - The Killers, The Strokes, even Coldplay.
Muse makes a mighty sound for three middle-aged dudes - and the sound at State Farm Arena defined deafening - but it’s all delivered cleanly and complemented by frenetic lights that force you to blink even though you want to gape at the visual blitz.
Bellemy is low-key-cool as a frontman, strolling the catwalk while spilling guitar riffs and delivering lyrics as if beckoning the listener to come closer. The upper range of his voice - a trademark of Muse’s songs - is lovely and his mid-range remained robust throughout the night.
There was much to appreciate in the two-hour show, from the sinewy backbeat that powered “Break it To Me,” to the extra drummers for the stadium stomper - and one of the band’s two U.S. hits - “Uprising,” which elicited much participation from the crowd that filled about three-fourths of the venue.
While the threesome, along with the elaborate lighting and cool video elements, would suffice for visual accoutrements, the addition of a pack of slithering “dancers” (really, more like stage actors) helped fill the vast stage. As dark-clad ninjas with steam guns, they prowled during “Propaganda” while Bellamy employed his falsetto over Howard’s crisp drums, and during “Thought Contagion,” they crawled, zombie-like, in a puff of dry ice as Bellemy sang at the end of the stage ramp.
Wolstenholme took a deserved turn in that ramp spotlight with his nimble bass work for the opening of “Hysteria,” from 2003’s “Absolution” album. It’s one of Muse’s heavier offerings and it gloriously rattled the railings - especially the coda of AC/DC’s “Back in Black.”
But Muse can temper the feverish explosion of their live show equally well. The band trotted down the ramp for a gospel-inflected, piano-heavy version of “Dig Down,” and Bellemy’s voice sounded especially angelic on the softly throbbing “Madness,” its dreamy lull interrupted only by a squealing guitar solo.
Whether continuing to unsettle the building’s foundation with “Mercy” or inciting another crowd singalong to “Time is Running Out,” Muse validated their musical prowess with an admirably ambitious showcase.
The poppier Walk the Moon opened the concert with a 40-minute set stuffed with their usual energy.
The quartet - singer/keyboardist Nicholas Petricca, guitarist Eli Maiman, drummer Sean Waugaman and bassist Kevin Ray - was joined by Lachlan West as an extra keyboardist and percussionist, the better to amplify Walk the Moon’s lush synth pop.
While the crowd was strangely tepid toward a band that is a frequent radio presence, that didn’t deter Petricca from bopping around the stage with his unique running-man-style dance moves or bouncing behind his keyboard during “Anna Sun” and “Kamikaze.”
The singer also reminded the crowd that Walk the Moon lived in Atlanta one summer while recording its 2012 self-titled album before unveiling their two biggest songs - the disco popper “One Foot” and 2014’s monster, “Shut Up and Dance,” an earworm much better appreciated now that it has faded from ubiquity.
Source: https://www.ajc.com/blog/music/concert-review-and-photos-muse-electrifies-with-visually-arresting-atlanta-show/XKOrlg1UPNePBXMJn0wnGN/
Photo gallery from the always excellent Robb Cohen: https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/photos-muse-rocks-atlanta-state-farm-arena/HyGfVLLIMV1tTwfo0GNG9J/
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More awesome photos from the show by Ryan Fleisher Photography and meet & greet photos too, courtesy of ALT 105.7 FM:
https://alt1057.iheart.com/content/2019-03-27-muse-and-walk-the-moon-state-farm-arena/
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Walk The Moon’s Nicholas Petricca Talks ‘Timebomb’ And Touring With Muse
Since the release of their first smash-hit single, Shut Up and Dance (2014), Walk the Moon has become a household name across the globe, and the indie pop song has been certified four times platinum in Canada alone.
Now, on the tail-end of promoting their latest album, Talking is Hard (2017), the Ohio-based rock band has released a brand-new single entitled Timebomb.
Since its release, Timebomb has dominated modern rock and adult contemporary radio stations across the continent and even allowed the four-piece to play on a number of major television networks.
Walk the Moon’s rapidly increasing success landed them a gig opening for one of the world’s biggest rock acts - Muse - this year during their highly anticipated Simulation Theory world tour.
The tour kicked off in February and will make three stops this week in Canada alone, including Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City.
Walk the Moon was founded in 2006 by frontman and key songwriter Nicholas Petricca. The group signed with RCA in 2012 and released their first major-label album, which was self-titled.
In total, the band has released four studio albums, six EPs, one live album and two No. 1 charting singles in the U.S. (Shut Up and Dance and 2017’s One Foot).
Ahead of their Canadian shows, Petricca, 32, took the time to sit down with Global News and talk about the history of the band and even gave an update on their highly anticipated fifth studio album.
The singer also detailed how they landed the gig with Muse, how it feels to go back and play older songs and what fans can expect from a Walk the Moon concert.
Global News: Do you mind telling us the story behind your latest single, Timebomb?
Nicholas Petricca: To me, the song is all about the fear of falling in love. Because love is a very scary thing. But it’s also a good thing… in the way that anything that’s worth having in this life or anything that’s worth looking for is a risk, right? Love is risky. It could end, or you might mess it up or so on. [Laughs] But it’s because it’s precious that it’s really worth it. It’s a complete gamble. Love is inevitable, and there’s really nothing you can do about it; there’s really no choice. [Laughs]
GN: So is Timebomb its own entity, or are you guys working on a new album you can tell us anything about?
NP: We are, but it’s not clear yet what it will actually look like - or, certainly, even when. We just have a lot of music in the works. We were actually in the studio quite a bit last fall recording new music and songs that we had started writing for the last record that were left unfinished. Right now, while we’re on the road, we’re writing new songs as well. We have a lot of new developments that we’re just… [Laughs] We’re unsure what to do with it all. But I think, inevitably, it’ll all be part of a record at some point, whether that’s a concept album or something else entirely.
GN: After 13 years together as Walk the Moon, did you ever think that your music career would take you as far as it has?
NP: The short answer? Yes. But adding onto that… [Laughs] I think when I was in high school (and) college and falling in love with bands that made me want to be in my own band - like The Killers and Coldplay or Muse - I sort of pictured myself on that level. I just had this certainty. I was like “Yep, of course. I can do this. We’re gonna do this.”
What I didn’t picture was all of the little steps it takes between being an unknown to complete global stardom. [Laughs] That’s actually been the most interesting and awesome part of this journey - all those steps in between. There have been several moments along the way where, if I told my 17-year-old self you’ve got a song on the radio or you broke a Billboard record or your song went platinum, my younger self would be like “Oh, well, you’ve made it!” But now that we’ve actually passed those landmarks, we’re still like “When are we gonna make it?” [Laughs] We’re ambitious, and I think we’ve always had something really powerful and beautiful to share with the world. That’s just our brand of music. The centre of it is hope, which is something I believe the world really needs.
GN: It’s incredible that that hope and ambition is able to shine through all of your music, despite your songs all being so unique. Would you say there’s an intentional desire to experiment with your sound? Or are you just tapping into those different influences and evolving as musicians?
NP: Honestly, it’s probably a nice blend of all of those things. It’s very subconscious. Maybe you could also take the flipside and call it an inability to focus. [Laughs]
The four of us actually come from very different musical backgrounds and, individually, we’re all interested in a lot of different music. It’s hard to narrow down our influences. We’ve definitely never been the kind of band that writes two songs that sound the same - and we probably never will be. Even within each album, the range is so eclectic. I feel like there are some artists who have a specific feel or sound, which is why some people keep going back to them. Take Tyko, for example. I want to listen to Tyko because I can just put on his music and I’m suddenly in the world of Tyko, which just feels like an absolute dream.
But if you put on Walk the Moon, it’s a little more unpredictable. We have heavy songs inspired by bands like Rage Against the Machine and then we have songs like Shut Up and Dance, which is a totally different animal! [Laughs] I often wonder whether that hurts or helps us.
GN: Do you think having such a variety of sounds maybe speaks for how you guys landed the opening slot for Muse’s tour? They’re the same in that sense - they’re unique.
NP: I wish I could tell you there was a crazy story behind that, like if we were drinking at a bar in Japan and bumped into the guys and went to karaoke with them or something. [Laughs]
GN: We could say it happened.
NP: [Laughs] Yeah, we definitely could. But no, we found out that they were going on tour, submitted for it and they liked us and decided to take us out with them. We’re actually sitting on a tour bus in Atlanta right now before we hit the stage. I talked to the Muse guys recently and one of them - I won’t say who - is sort of the guy who chooses the bands they tour with so it was really cool to hear that he picked us out of all of these bands they could have picked instead.
GN: Do you find that it’s intimidating playing these huge arena shows at all? Does it feel like the next step for you guys?
NP: It’s both! I would say it’s intimidating but also totally inspiring at the same time. Intimidating, of course, because those venues are much larger than the space we’ve ever filled on our own. We’ve played big crowds and amphitheatres, sure, but it’s different when you’re filling this huge indoor space and you know that some folks are a few feet from you and then some are even a thousand feet from you. I believe it’s a great challenge for us every night to come up and own that space and know that it’s our job to kick off each night for this bad**s band.
There’s a huge element of theatricality, too. My years as a theatre kid are coming in handy now. [Laughs] And it’s inspiring because Muse dreamed up this wild alien circus… and then it just comes to life! We get to walk around their spaceship stage and tiptoe over robots backstage just to get to the ramp, and we’re among all of this stuff that they’ve just dreamed up. So it’s really cool to be able to experience something like this first-hand, and again, be able to touch this band’s dream - one that we deeply admire.
GN: When you’re playing live, do your older songs still resonate with you the same way they did back when you wrote them? Or do they capture something new for you now?
NP: That’s the beauty of this whole thing. We love to play live because every night is different. It’s infinitely different. The audience consistently brings a new life to each of our songs - even if we’ve played it a thousand times. It’s not like we all get together just to rehearse something like Shut Up and Dance because that would get repetitive. [Laughs] The live aspect makes every night something different and exciting.
I do think it’s interesting now because we get to see which songs have stood the test of time and still feel relevant to us as human beings and which songs we can’t relate to as much after growing up a bit more. But it’s been really fun recently to kind of look back in the vault and pull out some of the songs we haven’t played in a really long time.
GN: You’ll be back in Canada this week, starting in Toronto before going to Montreal and Quebec City. What, exactly, can fans expect from a Walk the Moon concert in 2019?
NP: I love this question and I still never know how to answer it. [Laughs] Every night, we leave nothing out. We put it all up there. Whether we’re playing two hours at our own show or just one song on TV, to say the least, we’re gonna come out sweating. You can expect us to put all our hearts into it every single night to provide our fans with a proper rock show.
Source: https://etcanada.com/news/435287/walk-the-moons-nicholas-petricca-talks-timebomb-and-touring-with-muse/