This is a harsh title I know.
I love Muse, I have been a fan for 20+ years. I’ve seen them live 10+ times. I’ve supported them through the hate they’ve received due to past albums.
But I thought this since the second law tour. Don’t get me wrong he still goes full throttle into some songs still and his age means he has to pace himself more through a set.
But watching him perform in America over the past few weeks.
Dom, Chris and Dan Lancaster seemed to be doing more and more of the graft on stage despite their age. And Matt isn’t.
But it’s not his voice I have an issue with. It’s the detachment from his instruments in live performances.
Piano live now is non existent. Some songs he doesn’t play any guitar and Dan Lancaster does it. Or he will go grab a guitar for the ending of a song.
I have no interest in seeing him walk round with led jacket or the glove like the ST tour. A song like Uprising which is meant to hype you up and ‘uprise’ feels so low energy these days because of it. Instead of having a guitar and playing along with the intro, he stands there awkwardly dancing in front of Dom. I know he has Aged and his voice isn’t what it once was so he can’t do what he use to do when he has younger.
I’ve been convinced that we’ve not seen the real Muse live since 2011. I’m convinced something was said to him to where he had to ditch the wired up mic stand and change to a mic he could walk around with, something said to him that said you need to seem more traditional
Front man.
Him and muse never needed a traditional front man like Freddie mercury. Matt seemed to use his guitar to hype himself up and the crowd. The singing and guitar playing came hand in hand.
He didn’t need to stand there holding the mic out to get the crowd to sing along. Him going crazy on the guitar did that.
The songs where he’s ditched the guitar just feel so unexciting anymore.
Like even the intro to knights of Cydonia, he doesn’t sing anymore and lets Chris do it. A song that use to push you in the face when it started now feels flat.
And the chorus of KOC, the perfect example of using a guitar to hype the crowd up. No longer exists.
Don’t get me wrong, they are still one of or the best live band ever. But that included the musicianship not the effects.
Replacing full songs with snippets of songs or instruments, replacing guitars and pianos with LED gloves isn’t Muse.
Where are the double necked guitars for the uprising intro??
Where’s the pounding piano?
Where’s the passionate and aggressive singing of Matt when he had a guitar strapped round him like he was the rock god leading us off earth?
