Muse: Live at Rome Olympic Stadium 2013
It would be fair to say that Muse, with their monicker as “one of the greatest live bands of our generation,” have a lot to live up to. Their latest release, a 90-minute concert film taken from a spectacular stadium show in front of 60,000 people, goes some way to justifying this title.
Shot in 4k (which offers four times the detail of regular HD), the visuals of the gig are spectacular to say the least. Muse have grown a reputation for pyrotechnics and bombast, all of which seems finely suited to the highest available level of picture quality. The music itself is as professionally delivered as ever, although older fans will miss the intimacy of occasional rare gems which have now been replaced by hits from the band’s latest two albums.
Nevertheless, the likes of ‘Plug in Baby’ and ‘Knights of Cydonia’ still offer an incredible example of the power Muse now possess, and the panning 4k camera shots truly capture the chaotic crowd in a way that makes you feel like you’re in the front row. At times, frontman Matt Bellamy becomes absorbed in his own ego, venturing into the crowd to wild applause and screams. If anything, though, this confidence adds to the charm of the performance – and he of all people has earned fame through talent.
This live DVD is another strong showing from the Teignmouth titans and a sign that rock, far from the murmurs of a dying genre, is still alive and moshing.
The concert film will be released on December 2nd, 2013.
Photo: flickr/Lee Gwyn
Comments (12)
The dropped songs bothered me as well as the many scenes in black and white which seems a bit stupid after filming it in 4K!
Fair enough, I agree it’s not their strongest setlist and I did actually notice that during the film and highlighted it in a longer review I did on amazon. Overall, though, I thought it was a minor glitch in an otherwise amazing spectacle.
While I enjoy it, the setlist doesn’t at all stand up to that of Hullabaloo or H.A.A.R.P, and they completely dropped from both the CD and DVD the tracks “Map of the Problematique”(One of their better sounding live tracks), “Unintended” and “Blackout”, both very relaxing tracks and a nice change of pace, with Unintended always going down very well, and most unforgivably of all: “Stockholm Syndrome”!!! The one song on the setlist that is guaranteed to get everybody going crazy! What were they thinking?
I have to agree, and hopefully will provide a more in depth review at a later date. H.A.A.R.P. for me was the pinnacle of musicianship as their first four albums were almost flawless. This DVD features alot of the newer material, some of which works (Madness) and some of which could do with a return to the older style of instruments (Starlight, which is played without a guitar) The exclusion of Unsustainable confused me a bit considering this was the Unsustainable Tour I believe, but the song is provided as a DVD extra and I stand by the filmography makes this release a must-buy.
And to this, don’t get me wrong, I will definately be buying it, it looked like an absolutely epic night. The only problem I have with it is the song choice
That’s fine glad to hear it! I still really enjoyed the film despite HAARP’s stronger set.
And I did see Stockholm Syndrome at Ricoh when I saw them; as you say it is amazing but I think I would have preferred New Born to be included.
Yeah, New Born is equally, if not more epic, but I am talking about the songs they played that night that weren’t included in the DVD. Also New Born has been on pretty poor form lately IMO, my favourite performance of it had to be Glasto 2010
Yeah I mean looking down the setlist itself I think the one at Ricoh was stronger, I got to see Sunburn and Dead Star which weren’t played that night, but true they probably should have included Stockholm and Unsustainable on the dvd. Glastonbury 2010 was incredible, though I’d probably veer towards 2011 and the whole Origin set for best performance.
And I totally agree there too, I was there at Leeds and it was freaking immense! But it stands that New Born was a bit lacklustre at that show =(
Let’s hope the next album, as Bellamy has alleged, is a return to their roots. Hopefully this would see more instruments and stronger live performances.