Muse at Dublin Marlay Park!! - 13/08/08 - supported by Glasvegas and Kasabian
Wai Meng, Jonathan and I got an early bus to Marlay Park, arrived just before 8:30am. There were maybe 30 people sitting down in a queue just outside the park entrance, but it wasn't really clear where to wait at all so Wai Meng and I had a wander into the park to see if we could find anyone to ask. We followed
the string of lights which had been laid out in the trees by the side of the path (they hadn't been turned on yet, of course) and they led us to the entrance of the actual area where the gig was going to take place. We wandered into the area and found that we were at the bottom of a huge open part of the park and we could see the stage right at the other end. :D There was still no one around to ask about where we should be waiting though, so we started wandering up the side path towards the stage. We reached all of the food stalls and portaloos before I got scared that we would get in trouble if we were found, since it looked like the path we were on was actually leading to the backstage, so we turned around and headed back. Eventually found some guys who were laying out some metal sheets over some parts of the grass, but they didn't really know anything of course.
It wasn't long after we wandered back to the small queue that a security guy came along and said that we were all going to have to move further into the park, so everyone got up and rushed to follow him. In the rush we managed to scurry in front of quite a few people so when they eventually settled the queue (at the entrance to the main area that we'd found just a bit earlier), we'd managed to gain a few places and were 20 people or so from the front. It was then that I realised that Philippa (who I sold my spare seat tickets for Wembley Arena 21/11/06 to and subsequently sat next to for that gig) was in the group of people that we'd overtaken, and that the group of people was in fact the Barnacles Crew from the Muse boards.
The Barnacles Crew was all of the board members who'd travelled to Dublin for the gig and were staying in the Barnacles youth hostel in Temple Bar, lots of them in total although not all waited from so early on. I'd initially wanted to meet up with them all for a drink the night before but there was a torrential downpour which I didn't want to go outside in, and I'd also wanted to chat and have fun with them in the queue but then when I realised it was the group who were behind us I found it incredibly awkward since we'd just overtaken them. When I recognised Philippa I went over to say hello and asked how long they'd been waiting for, she said they'd been waiting from 7:30am and didn't really seem very pleased to see me otherwise, understandable given how many people had pushed in front of them when the queue was moved, so I just left them to it and didn't speak to any of them. It was a shame because I was really hoping to gain some Muser friends, they all seem to be such a tight-knit bunch and I thought it was going to be my chance to join the ranks, but it wasn't to be.
Anyway, the following eight-and-a-half-hours wait until doors opened at 5pm went relatively quickly. Towards the end it involved lots of I Spy, which the Barnacles Crew got involved with actually because all of us were pretty bored too hehe. We managed to bribe them with some Fruit Pastilles to let Dave join us in the queue as he arrived mid-afternoon, Mike and Tim arrived a bit later on though unfortunately and we wouldn't have been able to get them in too. At one point we did hear Space Dementia being soundchecked, squee!!
They finally started letting people in around 5:30pm, but a lot of people were able to run much faster than us and got to the golden circle before us. We still got a place on the barrier which was a pretty decent view, not far from Matt, but was hoping to be a bit more central.
Glasvegas were... a bit shit really. I'm sure they're an ok band but their performance was a bit lifeless and the lead singer just looked like he'd much rather be somewhere else. Kasabian on the other hand more than made up for them, I was expecting them to be good but they were really really good. I haven't actually listened to anything beyond the first album, so I only recognised the earlier songs that they played (Club Foot, LSF, ) but I loved all of the newer stuff. The only track they didn't play that I was hoping for
was ID, I love that song!
It was during the supports that we realised the wall of speakers just in front of where we were standing was going to be rather loud. I been in front of speaker walls before and I swear this one was louder than all of them. The bass and drum notes were hitting us with such physical force that it actually made my vision vibrate with each beat. It was kinda cool, but not so good for my ears in the long run I'm sure!
The satellites on stage eventually started moving and the giant spotlights in the centre of each one started flickering on and off, it was time for Muse! The satellites were actually used as screens which was really neat. Matt was wearing a rather tasty red shirt, hurhur. I noticed he was wearing a new necklace too, I discovered through photos later on that it's actually a silver guitar-pick necklace, very shiny looking. They opened with Map Of The Problematique which was a bit unexpected!
I had an inkling they might play Deadstar, having looked at some of their sets from their recent South American tour, but again I was surprised when they played it two songs into the set. For some reason I was expecting it in the encore! But hearing that and Space Dementia again was fantastic. Also, I can't remember which song it was at the end of but they played the Execution Commentary, which caused a major squeeeeeeeee moment!
The set was pretty standard other than those two oldies. Like RAH, it was pretty riff-heavy which was nice. Blackout was on the setlist complete with heliospheres but apparently it was too windy and they didn't play it after all. :( Just before Knights Of Cydonia, they did a short piece of music with Chris on the harmonica which I later found out to be a cover of The Man With A Harmonica from Once Upon A Time In The West. It was very eerie but then incredibly dramatic when the guitar and drums kicked in, and led very nicely into KoC!
There are some really good photos of it here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandynau/sets/72157606727715259/ - and here's the setlist:
- Map of the Problematique + Who Knows Who riff
- Supermassive Black Hole
- Dead Star
- New Born + Headup riff + Ashamed outro
- Riff + Hysteria
- Butterflies & Hurricanes
- Feeling Good
- Space Dementia
- Osaka Jam
- Invincible
- Bliss (extended)
- Riff + Time Is Running Out
- Riff + Stockholm Syndrome
- Take a Bow
---
- Starlight
- Plug In Baby (Bliss balloons... or should that be Plug In Baby balloons?)
- Man with a Harmonica
- Knights Of Cydonia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0jp1dhxKrk)
the string of lights which had been laid out in the trees by the side of the path (they hadn't been turned on yet, of course) and they led us to the entrance of the actual area where the gig was going to take place. We wandered into the area and found that we were at the bottom of a huge open part of the park and we could see the stage right at the other end. :D There was still no one around to ask about where we should be waiting though, so we started wandering up the side path towards the stage. We reached all of the food stalls and portaloos before I got scared that we would get in trouble if we were found, since it looked like the path we were on was actually leading to the backstage, so we turned around and headed back. Eventually found some guys who were laying out some metal sheets over some parts of the grass, but they didn't really know anything of course.
It wasn't long after we wandered back to the small queue that a security guy came along and said that we were all going to have to move further into the park, so everyone got up and rushed to follow him. In the rush we managed to scurry in front of quite a few people so when they eventually settled the queue (at the entrance to the main area that we'd found just a bit earlier), we'd managed to gain a few places and were 20 people or so from the front. It was then that I realised that Philippa (who I sold my spare seat tickets for Wembley Arena 21/11/06 to and subsequently sat next to for that gig) was in the group of people that we'd overtaken, and that the group of people was in fact the Barnacles Crew from the Muse boards.
The Barnacles Crew was all of the board members who'd travelled to Dublin for the gig and were staying in the Barnacles youth hostel in Temple Bar, lots of them in total although not all waited from so early on. I'd initially wanted to meet up with them all for a drink the night before but there was a torrential downpour which I didn't want to go outside in, and I'd also wanted to chat and have fun with them in the queue but then when I realised it was the group who were behind us I found it incredibly awkward since we'd just overtaken them. When I recognised Philippa I went over to say hello and asked how long they'd been waiting for, she said they'd been waiting from 7:30am and didn't really seem very pleased to see me otherwise, understandable given how many people had pushed in front of them when the queue was moved, so I just left them to it and didn't speak to any of them. It was a shame because I was really hoping to gain some Muser friends, they all seem to be such a tight-knit bunch and I thought it was going to be my chance to join the ranks, but it wasn't to be.
Anyway, the following eight-and-a-half-hours wait until doors opened at 5pm went relatively quickly. Towards the end it involved lots of I Spy, which the Barnacles Crew got involved with actually because all of us were pretty bored too hehe. We managed to bribe them with some Fruit Pastilles to let Dave join us in the queue as he arrived mid-afternoon, Mike and Tim arrived a bit later on though unfortunately and we wouldn't have been able to get them in too. At one point we did hear Space Dementia being soundchecked, squee!!
They finally started letting people in around 5:30pm, but a lot of people were able to run much faster than us and got to the golden circle before us. We still got a place on the barrier which was a pretty decent view, not far from Matt, but was hoping to be a bit more central.
Glasvegas were... a bit shit really. I'm sure they're an ok band but their performance was a bit lifeless and the lead singer just looked like he'd much rather be somewhere else. Kasabian on the other hand more than made up for them, I was expecting them to be good but they were really really good. I haven't actually listened to anything beyond the first album, so I only recognised the earlier songs that they played (Club Foot, LSF, ) but I loved all of the newer stuff. The only track they didn't play that I was hoping for
was ID, I love that song!
It was during the supports that we realised the wall of speakers just in front of where we were standing was going to be rather loud. I been in front of speaker walls before and I swear this one was louder than all of them. The bass and drum notes were hitting us with such physical force that it actually made my vision vibrate with each beat. It was kinda cool, but not so good for my ears in the long run I'm sure!
The satellites on stage eventually started moving and the giant spotlights in the centre of each one started flickering on and off, it was time for Muse! The satellites were actually used as screens which was really neat. Matt was wearing a rather tasty red shirt, hurhur. I noticed he was wearing a new necklace too, I discovered through photos later on that it's actually a silver guitar-pick necklace, very shiny looking. They opened with Map Of The Problematique which was a bit unexpected!
I had an inkling they might play Deadstar, having looked at some of their sets from their recent South American tour, but again I was surprised when they played it two songs into the set. For some reason I was expecting it in the encore! But hearing that and Space Dementia again was fantastic. Also, I can't remember which song it was at the end of but they played the Execution Commentary, which caused a major squeeeeeeeee moment!
The set was pretty standard other than those two oldies. Like RAH, it was pretty riff-heavy which was nice. Blackout was on the setlist complete with heliospheres but apparently it was too windy and they didn't play it after all. :( Just before Knights Of Cydonia, they did a short piece of music with Chris on the harmonica which I later found out to be a cover of The Man With A Harmonica from Once Upon A Time In The West. It was very eerie but then incredibly dramatic when the guitar and drums kicked in, and led very nicely into KoC!
There are some really good photos of it here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandynau/sets/72157606727715259/ - and here's the setlist:
- Map of the Problematique + Who Knows Who riff
- Supermassive Black Hole
- Dead Star
- New Born + Headup riff + Ashamed outro
- Riff + Hysteria
- Butterflies & Hurricanes
- Feeling Good
- Space Dementia
- Osaka Jam
- Invincible
- Bliss (extended)
- Riff + Time Is Running Out
- Riff + Stockholm Syndrome
- Take a Bow
---
- Starlight
- Plug In Baby (Bliss balloons... or should that be Plug In Baby balloons?)
- Man with a Harmonica
- Knights Of Cydonia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0jp1dhxKrk)