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Review: Muse, Ashton Gate Stadium
Matt Bellamy emerged from the depths beneath the stage, triumphant and already shredding his guitar, surrounded by trombonists donned in blue and green light vests. His band arrived at Ashton Gate Stadium in true style, radiant in the darkening evening light, piercing the skies with their sound.
Playing Bristol as part of their Simulation Theory world tour, Muse brought a whole host of tricks up their sleeve to their biggest ever live show in their native West Country. It felt good to see the Devonians back at home, where they belong, surrounded by swathes of merched-out fans hanging on every guitar note and drum beat like it was their lifeforce.
As the stage erupted in euphoric sound and bold technicolour for Pressure, it was a clear reminder that this band are in a league completely of their own. Bellamy and his motley crew tore up the stage from start to finish, sending us on a whirlwind adventure through time and space, into the robot apocalypse and out the other side in a world sponsored by anarchy, evil demons and the entire Cyberdog shop.
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Matt Bellamy of Muse – he didn’t dress like this when his band played at the Fleece – photo by JMP
Donned in luminescent pink sunglasses, Bellamy dove headfirst into the deep sea with Break it to Me. His blue and green trombonists were suddenly white-suited scientists running through splotches of pink and purple on the giant backing screen. Suspended in the air like rag dolls, the suits swam up and down the screen, looking as though they were comfortably exploring the very deepest depths of the dark ocean.
Ashton Gate ignited in blazes of fire as Muse ripped apart a rendition of Uprising; a fan-favourite from their 2009 album The Resistance. Bellamy didn’t even need the microphone – the 30,000-strong crowd sung every word of the chorus back to him, fists flying and hearts soaring.
Much in the same vein, the prolific 2006 classic Supermassive Black Hole descended into an epic, all-frills instrumental section which birthed triplets, maybe quintuplets, of mosh pits in the standing arena. While the Simulation Theory theme steered the ship, it was the classics that really got the crowd excited.
Muse’s giant robot dominated the stage at Ashton Gate Stadium – photo by JMP
As night began to fall faster, so did the lighting trickery become more complex. Deep, throbbing instrumental interludes between tracks not only showed off Bellamy and his band’s musicality, but the capabilities of Ashton Gate to put on a real spectacle.
Phones lit up in solidarity with a beautiful, keys-driven rendition of Undisclosed Desires, matching Bellamy’s glittering star-studded jacket; while oversize sparkling confetti cannons and enormous streamers fired across the stadium in a euphoric blowout for Madness.
The last 15 minutes were nothing short of spectacular. During Time Is Running Out, a symbolic robot head was lowered into the stadium atop a perspex box. Then, human-sized robots danced jaggedly alongside the band for the duration of Starlight. At this point, was it over? Maybe. No. As the sirens of Knights of Cydonia rung out, so too did a colossal demon rise from the stage, clawing and grasping at Bellamy and his band.
As Bellamy’s final words reverberated through Ashton Gate, he left his crowd, elated and exhausted, with a poignant message: “You and I must fight for our rights / You and I must fight to survive.”
Muse’s futuristic trombonists – photo by JMP
Main photo courtesy of JMP
Read more: Review: Take That, Ashton Gate, Stadium
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