Muse Live in Osaka 9th Jan 2010

Just last Saturday we went to see Muse live at Osaka Castle Hall (that’s not actually the hall in the castle, which would have been v. cool, but the concert hall about half a mile away in the surrounding park).

I remember buying the first Muse album when it came out years ago and liking it a lot, but then kinda lost interest in them. So the week before the gig we bought that album again and their new one The Resistance. Figured I should catch up.

To be honest, didn’t get the new album at first, it seemed to much of an homage/pastiche of T-Rex, Marilyn Manson, Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Queen.

However that all changed during the gig!

Muse Live in Osaka 2010

However they nearly blew it.

One of the odd things about gigs in Japan which I might have mentioned before is that they always start really early.
The doors for this gig opened at 4:30 and the band were due to be on at 6pm.
In England we’re kinda used to bands going on about 9ish (and usually being late).
Well here, if a band is due on at 6 then they come on at 6. It’s the Japanese way.

At 6:30 we were still waiting. Suddenly an announcement came over the tannoy:

The band have just left the hotel and are on their way.
They aplogise for being late.
And will be on stage at 7pm.

Murmers of disbelief filled the venue.

“Bloody English”

(Actually that was me saying that).

Any road up, they came in about 7:10 and the drummer tried to apologise in Japanese (he was reading it off a piece of paper). Good effort.

They then launched into a blinding set which completely made up for their earlier “rudeness”.

Halfway through, Matthew – the frankly phenomenal guitarist (I was so impressed!) and singer – wandered off and we were left with a bass and drum interlude.
Usually this is the time to head to the bar although not with Muse. The bass player, Christopher Wolstenholme, is a fantastic bass player, and together they played a fantastic tune.
It reminded me of the section in Alex James of Blur’s autobiography where he’s talking about working with Flood (I think it was) and how getting the drums and bass right first sets up the song and everything else just falls into place.
This particular tune didn’t need anything else. Fantastic.

Overall a great gig and listening to the album last night on the way home from the pub, I now love the T-Rex, Marilyn Manson, Pink Floyd, Queen homage!