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MUSE!!! In this entry, I will talk about the Muse concert and our trips to and from Atlanta.
It will be long, so I won't mind if you just skim through it and look at the pictures.
The trip was about 8 and a half hours long. Mostly due to the fact that we stopped only briefly for gas and to go to the bathroom twice. On the trip there, we listen to music such as: Queen, The Beatles, Muse B-sides, Santana, The Toasters, and much more. We were all pretty tired (mostly because we all slept little so we could leave at 7 am), and resorted to playing Nintendo DS to pass the time.
Here are some pictures.
Oh Fernando~ He slept half the time. The other half, he was playing DS or air-drumming.
This was his DS. I have to say, it was the most masculine thing ever.
I spent most my time taking idiot pictures and laughing at Fernando for having such a girly DS.
Aaron sat up front and battled Fernando on the DS
So we finally get to Atlanta. After half an hour of driving around, we finally found our hotel.
We explored our hotel whilst Aaron's father was watching shitty movies like Final Destination 3. We decided to go to the Underground mall. On the way there, we almost got mugged by this guy who wanted to lead us through a short-cut (one that took us the complete opposite way). Well, we eventually got to the mall and it ended up blowing hard. The stores were all similar and none of them were even interesting.
The next morning, we walked to the Coca-Cola Museum. We had a decent time and drank a LOT of free Coke. Unfortunately for me, I drank so much that it ended up making my tongue feel uncomfortably numb (not a direct Pink Floyd reference). We soon left because it was about time to start waiting for Muse.
Here are pictures.
Outside the museum thing.
How they bottle the Cokes (although it was definitely just for show, not the actual thing).
Aaron sneaking up on the "Robotic" Polar Bear. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a robot because it reacted to people around it and the Coke lady next to it told us it was a guy in a suit, but Aaron, being the stubborn person who doesn't like to be wrong, swore it was a robot.
Coke graffiti art on the wall.
Random black girl on a Polar Bear. That little girl didn't know the polar bear was real and she got torn to shreds.
RIP, little girl.
We're suck your cock for some Coke (haha, play on words...).
This is an actual picture of two mannequins at the Coca-Cola store. We didn't change the stance or anything. The people at Coke are pretty perverted, if you ask me.
True thugz.
Hotel room.
Mmmm... I'd hit dat.
Ok, so we got to the Tabernacle and stood in line. Spent the time listening to the music that the local Alternative Rock station was playing and hugging their station's mascot. At around 7 pm, they opened the doors and we got a pretty decent spot. Problem was the fact that we didn't want to lose our spots, so we had to stand the entire time and had no water. But it was worth it. At around 8 pm, The Cloud Room took the stage.
Aaron waiting outside of the Tabernacle.
The Squirrel mascot for the rock station. I forgot his name, but I did give him a hug and cried tears of joy.
The stage just before The Cloud Room took the stage.
THE CLOUD ROOM
The Cloud Room were much better than I expected-- they weren't Muse, but they were alright. I couldn't really hear the vocalist all too well, though. But their show was decent and I enjoyed it a bit.
After The Cloud Room left the stage, the equipment crew set up for Muse.
After nearly 40 minutes of waiting after the opening act, Muse FINALLY came onto the stage.
MUSE
Take a Bow- It was the opening song (as I predicted) and it could have not been better. I sang along and tried to contain myself throughout the entire song. The guitar solo was amazing and it seemed like everyone in the entire crowd knew the words.
And a short video.
http://www.youtube.com/v/qRQhhSSBdYE Hysteria- The next song and my personal favourite Muse song ever. When the bass line kicked in, everyone went crazy and started to sing along.
Supermassive Black Hole- I didn't enjoy this song as much as I thought I would. It was a decent performance of it, but I've seen much better on the videos on Youtube.
Butterflies and Hurricanes- One of the highlights of the night. It was the best ever performance of the song I ever heard. The piano was flawless and it was just so orgasmic.
Here's a video
http://youtube.com/v/MkR1yYWUT5I Starlight- This song gets better and better every time I listen to it. Just amazing to see it live.
Forced In- It was really funny to see everyone in the building look confused when they heard this song. I liked the performance and it allowed me to cool down from listening to Starlight. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that it had no vocal parts like the original recorded song. But good, nonetheless.
Bliss- One of the best songs of the entire night. I was basically jumping throughout the entire songs and screaming the lyrics out loud. Just so amazing... and the fact that they made it longer made it even better.
Feeling Good- A bit of a surprise to me because I expected Sunburn. It was a great performance, but I would have prefered if they did play Sunburn instead of this.
Soldier's Poem- Nothing too special about this performance. It was good, but probably the worst song of the night. Fernando hated it because he thinks that it's a boring song with no climax and also thought that playing it live is a "waste of time". Although I do like the song, I think he's right. I would have liked it if they switched it out for "Assassin" or a Showbiz song.
Invincible- Perhaps the best song of the night for me. Everything about that performance was so powerful. Matt's vocals, Dom's military beat at the beginning, the guitar solo and the bass throughout the song were just so amazing. This song blew me away and I don't think I'll ever be able to forget how spectacular it was.
Plug In Baby- This song started out really quickly and before I knew it, the whole crowd was jumping up and down as Matt began spinning around in circles as he played the infamous guitar riff. It was one of the highlights of the nights.
New Born- Great performance. The guitar solo was definitely the best part of the song.
Stockholm Syndrome- Probably the second best song of the entire evening. It was just perfect and very overwhelming to watch. I sang with all I had during the chorus and was head-banging so much that I was very close to headbutting the person in front of me. I was disappointed that they didn't play the riff they used to play after this song (but they did play another riff), but I can still see it anytime I want with the Absolution DVD, I guess.
That's when Muse left the stage. At this point, I was very dehydrated and fatigued from standing up for 5 straight hours and not having anything to drink for about 7 hours. Despite all this, I joined in as the crowd was chanting "MUSE! MUSE! MUSE!" to make them come out for an encore. They ultimately did and began playing again.
Map of the Problematique- The drums for this song were just so extraordinary, that I could barely contain myself.
Time Is Running Out- Much better than I expected. Crowd sang along to basically every lyric of the song. Just when I was starting to get a bit tired of this song, this performance made me love it all over again.
Knights of Cydonia- What a way to make an exit. The words, "NO ONE'S GOING TO TAKE ME ALIVE!" written all over created such an amazing atmosphere to the song. By this time, I could barely keep my breath, but I still kept going at it and head banging during the guitar solo. I was so tired and thirsty that I thought I was going to collapse once it was over. (Luckily, I didn't).
Soon enough, Muse left and it was all over. I met up with Fernando and Aaron (who were pushed from the spot they were at) and we quickly bought water and got some t-shirts. I got the tour shirt, whilst Fernando got a black shirt with Muse and a green, gridded black hole, and Aaron got the best shirt they had (some angel in a suit with a gas mask-- I think). Shortly afterwards, we took a picture and began to wait with a few people near the exit where Muse were gonna come out. But after 20 minutes, we couldn't wait any longer. We left to the hotel because we needed to rest and because we were gonna have to wake up at 6 in the morning to head back to South Florida. I wish we would have stayed to get a picture with them, but I'm content with what we did.
(The typical, "I don't know what do, so I'll just flash a hand sign to make myself look cool" picture. Aaron ended up having Satanic red eyes in the picture that I had to photoshop out to make it look better).
It was an exciting night and it was certainly the best concert I have ever been to. Unfortunately for me, it seems like Muse won't come close to where I live until at least next year, so I'll have some time to wait until I can see them again.
The whole trip cost me $310, but it was worth every single cent.
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The ride back was a bit longer because we stopped to eat a Waffle House. We did basically the same thing we did on the way there like playing DS and listening to music (Bloc Party, Gorillaz, more Muse, more Beatles).
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PROS AND CONS
PROS:
- The show in general was spectacular
- Dom; I've always known that he was a great drummer, but his performance was like nothing I've ever seen before. There aren't many that are even close to how great he is.
- The crowd. Well, it wasn't good, but it was definitely better than all other shows I've been to.
- "Invincible", "Stockholm Syndrome", "TiRO", "Bliss", and "Knights of Cydonia"
- First band was good
- Singing along, pogoing, and head banging to all the songs
- Seeing "Forced In"
- Matt pointing at the sky during "Take a Bow"
- A longer version of "Bliss"
- Dom's yellow trousers
- The riff at the end of Stockholm
- Piano part of B&H
- The encore
CONS:
- No Showbiz songs
- No "Exo-Politics", "Assassin", or "City of Delusion"
- Having no place to rest and no water.
- No real good photos of Muse
- Not getting to meet Muse
- No guitar smashing or wrecking of the stage
- Expensive merchandise
- Other than "Forced In", no B-side tracks
Ok, that's it. I have to stop because it's already 4 am and I need sleep.
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