There are several life changing moments you know you are going to remember for a long time. One of them, was seeing MUSE live last night. Now let me explain a little bit. I'm a musician so of course I love music. I don't have a lot of favourite bands or artists, I usually just fall in love with particular songs, regardless of who sings them. Saying that, of course there are some musicians who I like a lot more than others and have listened to a lot over the years. One of those is MUSE. Without sounding cheesy, MUSE have been there for me through a lot. Their music has got me through some of the best and some of the worst times of my life, and I could argue through the most formative years of my life.
Gigging was not a thing I did, growing up. As a trained classical musician, I actually didn't listen to huge amounts of popular music and didn't follow trends which even now I am hugely proud of. In my teenage years, I knew what other people my age were listening to and I made up my own mind about certain rivalries between "rock" and "rap". Those are obviously just two stereotypes but I did lean more towards the rock songs, and the indie rock artists. Sooner or later, around 15/16 years old maybe, I found MUSE through another of my friends. This girl had been a fan for a few years now and I had maybe heard a couple of their songs but didn't know a lot about them. I remember buying a second hand copy of Absolution from e-Bay and quickly falling in love with it. I also remember several week long summer holidays in Devon playing that album fall blast on my then well-loved mp3 player. The songs I loved most of all from that album were Blackout and Falling Away With You, perhaps the least "rock" of them all. Anyway, to this day those songs remind me strongly of hot sunny days in the Devon countryside, not too far from the band's Cornwall based origins.
Skip ahead a year or so within my teenage era, and I am still listening to Absolution but now the songs have a new meaning for me. I start getting interested in the opposite sex and now the moody, emo-y teenager comes out of me and starts to find meaning in the twisted lyrics and meaning of the songs. Not to mention the brooding musicality of the whole thing. Having been informed by the original MUSE lover friend that Matthew Bellamy was in fact a classically trained musician, this excited me even more and connected me even deeper to the music. I remember listening to these songs while going through that terrible lovesick phase and mooning over a lost love I never really had. But that's another story.
Around that time, I went to my first actual gig. It was The Flaming Lips who are another band close to my heart and I managed to get a bargain on a pair of seats in a box at the Royal Albert Hall! My best friend came with me who had heard a few of their songs and we both had the best time ever. She warned me though that any gig I ever went to in the future would not live up to that, as it was truly mind-blowing. Having been to several more gigs, concerts and festivals, I can verify this fact. The Flaming Lips are epic live and it's pretty much like going to a huge party.
It was not long after this that I started my first year of university and so began another important chapter of my life. I met a guy and fell in love and Black Holes and Revelations was actually a Christmas present that year from him so again I connected to those songs emotionally in a way that I hadn't with anything else before. Starlight and Invincible are my two favourite tracks from that album and always remind me of that bittersweet time of my life. At university I had another MUSE loving friend and she then introduced me to the old albums and songs from them that I hadn't even heard before. She also suggested Radiohead and I also quickly fell in love with their songs too, as I realised they had a similar style and had obviously influenced MUSE in many ways.
The end of my university career came around and then The Resistance came out and I quickly bought it, listened to it and loved it. Guiding Light is probably my favourite song from that one. So then finally The Second Law was released and they went on tour and I planned to buy tickets but failed as I had a lack of money at the time which is pretty much the story of my life. But then by some pure miracle I managed to get tickets to Horse Guards Parade on Sunday 2nd June and the best thing about it - it was FREE! Arranged by none other than Brad Pitt himself, who briefly made an appearance at the show, it was really to promote the World War Z movie which he actually stars in and directed! Busy guy, that Brad Pitt. I was super excited about the whole event and it really was incredible. It was so worth standing for 3 and a half hours, and there is a reason why these guys are so popular. They are just amazing. Matt is such a rockstar and sings his little heart out and the lighting, the visuals, the effects - they were incredible. I did think back to my first gig at the Royal Albert Hall and I couldn't choose between them now. Obviously it was a shorter set as it was a free event so they were on for about 40 minutes, but I enjoyed every minute and the atmosphere of just being there was like nothing else. I could harp on about it for longer but if you've seen them live, you will know what I mean. And if you haven't, then you haven't lived. I urge you to go see them as you won't regret it. I am not going to think twice about seeing them in the future, obviously depending on my financial situation.
So to wrap it all up, I pretty much had one of the best nights of my life. Reminiscent sometimes of being at a Harry Potter premiere due to the standing, the build up and the atmosphere, it was an unforgettable experience. It made me realise how lucky I was to live so close to London so that I can go to events like this and how grateful I am for stuff that is free. And as I stood there and sang along happily to every song I smiled at all the memories that came with them, the good ones and the bad ones. Thanks MUSE for an incredible time and for being so talented. Thanks for creating such powerful and emotional songs that will stay with me forever. Thanks for getting me through it all. Thank you <3
