With gigs and festivals being cancelled, Glastonbury have streamed some past performances on TV...
After watching this Muse set countless times, I think it is safe to say that I was absolutely blown away. Muse are a band I have always admired musically but to be able to witness the intricate composition of their live shows is something I have never had the privilege of seeing.
Firstly, the entrance of a band to the stage sets the tone for the gig and adds anticipation, which is something I feel Muse did really cleverly in this set by using the 'Drill Sergeant' interlude from 'Drones' to set the mood and assert their presence. Then, emerging from bright lights, the band one by one reveal themselves, building up the atmosphere and laying the foundations for the concert.
Their stage presence and interaction with both each other and the audience was definitely something that stood out for me: they prove to be a very powerful band not just musically but by their stances and posture on stage, which is also reflective of the theme of their album 'Drones', released the year before. The consistent themes of the latest album and the live shows creates a theatrical yet well formulated experience all round. The audience interaction in songs such as 'Plug In Baby' and 'Starlight' literally gave me chills: to hear such a vast amount of people in sync, as one, sharing the same experience takes me back to the gigs I have been to in the past and really makes me miss such experiences. On each Muse album, their musical abilities flourish, but the extent never quite showed until I saw a video of them live... I can only imagine what it would have been like to actually experience this phenomenon of a band live.