Music Performance Report - Muse!

Attending a rock concert is a unique experience. The sheer volume of the event is enough to make it memorable, but rock bands typically go the extra mile to the point of complete sensory overload. On the evening of Wednesday, March 17, I attended a performance by the Brit-rock band Muse that fit the description. To give you an idea of the popularity of Muse (if you have not heard of them), they recently came in number 2 on the chart of most sold songs on iTunes. (Hathaway) That is to say, their music is very popular.
The concert was held at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Before the doors opened, the line to get in wrapped around the building. Energy was high, as the crowd consisted of mostly young adults ranging from 16-25 years of age, many wearing Muse t-shirts or other band shirts and paraphernalia. When the lights dimmed, indicating that Muse was about to begin their performance, the entire arena was packed. The Fort Worth Convention Center arena seats 14,000 people (City-data), and there were even more fans down below in the “pit.” The audience roared to life as the music began, standing from their seats, shouting, whistling, singing along, and clapping to the beat of Muse’s opening song. A few men in the pit even took their shirts off and began rocking out.
Although there was always a significant amount of noise coming from the crowd throughout the concert, there was also a noticeable flux of energy depending on what Muse did on stage. For example, at one point, giant balloons shaped and colored like eye-balls were released into crowd in the pit, causing a great deal of excitement as people bounced them to different parts of the crowd and popped them, sending confetti flying everywhere. At the climax of one of Muse’s songs, Mathew Bellamy (the lead singer/guitarist) burst one of the balloons with his guitar as he struck the final chord of the song, sending confetti showering down into the crowd, and giving the crowd an explosive vigor.
Because the concert happened on Saint Patrick’s Day, many people in the audience wore green. The members of Muse did not don anything particularly festive. The only homage they paid to the holiday was that, between two of their songs, they randomly burst into an Irish jig for about 30 seconds before abruptly beginning another song.
Apart from the music itself, Muse put on quite an extensive show on stage. For starters, their first piece they performed was played with each of the three members standing (or sitting in the case of the drummer) on three separate pillars that were actually giant screens which flashed images, words, and streaming video of the performance itself (as seen in the first video). As the concert progressed, the pillars lowered into the stage and the bassist and singer were free to roam (as seen in the second and third videos). One might say that fans come to the concert as much for the music as they do for the lights, energy, and the overall look of the performance.

(These are actually videos from the night I saw Muse)


A Muse concert is an accurate picture of what the modern day rock concert aspires to be: high energy, fun, loud, showy, and of course, sold out. Whether you like the music or not, everyone should attend a Muse concert at least once in their life. When I left the concert with acute tinnitus, dazed from sensory over-stimulation, and smelling of second-hand tobacco and marijuana smoke, I knew I had shared in a one-time event, and I felt a deeper part of a music community.




"Fort Worth: Convention Facilities". City-Data.com. April 1, 2010 .

Hathaway, Josh. "iTunes Chart Watch: Muse Debuts at #2, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys Topple Miley Cyrus". BlogCritics. April 4, 2010 .