muse @ earls court london
Right. Where to begin.Muse are undoubtedly the noisiest, rockiest band I regularly listen to, and consequently they attract a certain audience. That audience, as I was surprised to discover, was predominantly male and of an average age of 15 (if I'm being generous). They would also not look out of place on Toronto's Queen St W (dyed hair, spiky mohawks, piercings etc). There I was, with the hair colour I was born with, wearing a smart blazer, and feeling like I ought to be babysitting these kids. Moving on.
The first opening act was Soulwax, whose creative use of synths reminded me at times of Depeche Mode, but not nearly as good. The Zutons - a band currently getting quite a bit of airplay in Britain, and for good reason - took the stage shortly thereafter.
The Zutons were fabulous...for the most part. Things were peachy keen until the second last song of their set, when the crowd crush happened - effectively a wave of hundreds of bodies crushing yours from every direction imaginable. (I was stood at the epicentre of it, right in the centre, six rows from the stage - evidently not a good place to be when this sort of thing happens.) Girls around me started screaming; I saw kids gasping for air and trying to keep on their feet, so as not to be dragged under and trampled on. The song ended but it got unimaginably worse. For a minute I could not breathe, and the last thing I remembered with any clarity was thinking, 'Shit - I'm going to faint'. It was seven long minutes of sheer physical agony and terror. Truly frightening.
I was glad when the set ended - I was hoping the kids would calm down. If the opening act was going to elicit this much chaos, I shuddered to think what it might be like when Muse took the stage. So I started pushing my way through the masses. When I got out, I collapsed, and good thing I collapsed where I did (right in front of First Aid). I was given about two litres of water and it was suggested I ought to rest in the First Aid room. I assured them I was fine, I just needed breathing space. (The next half hour was spent regaining my breath.) I took up a spot that was left of the stage, front row nonetheless, where I could enjoy Muse in peace. And as the night progressed I watched as various bloodied concertgoers who had fainted were carried out by security.
Muse were as overblown, theatrical and operatic as expected. It was spectacular - at one point thousands of metallic black balloons showered down from the heavens, followed by even bigger balloons, and then a massive flurry of confetti. I even have photographic (although extremely blurry) evidence, and confetti in my bra to prove it.
Setlist:
Intro riff
Hysteria
Butterflies & Hurricanes
Newborn
Sing For Absolution
New song
Muscle Museum
Citizen Erased
Ruled By Secrecy
Piano interlude
Sunburn
Thoughts of a Dying Atheist
The Small Print
Interlude riff
Time Is Running Out
Plug-In Baby
Bliss
Encore 1:
Dead Star
Microcuts
Encore 2:
Apocalypse Please
Stockholm Syndrome
Outro riff
I've been to nearly 20 gigs where I've been stood front and centre in the standing area, and crowd crushes have never happened before. (Granted, the music I normally listen to - of the Doves, Elbow etc variety - are practically Enya compared to Muse, and thus not conducive to crowd crushing. That, and I'd like to think that 20- to 30-year olds are mature enough not to crowd crush.) I would have enjoyed the gig more, had those twats not started pushing in the first place.
When it happened though, I do distinctly remember a girl behind me screaming, 'Stop pushing! The Zutons aren't that great anyways!' I beg to differ. That being said, when I heard a Zutons song on the radio the following morning, the dizziness started and my chest tightened up. I had no choice but to switch off the radio.
L'Esthete @ 19:58
