Muse
February 1, 2015
Verizon Center- Washington DC
Washington D.C was the last night of the American leg of the Drones World Tour. There stood a massive circular stage, replicating what looked like the base of some sort of space craft, which was completed with a rotating stage, going so slow you couldn’t really tell it was moving unless you stared at it. The way the stage was set up allowed the fans to enjoy a non-traditional 360 view, all while allowing the band to move freely from end to end. This made up for the fact that the stage was placed dead center of the arena.
Muse started the night off with Psycho, which is off their most recent album called Drones. The high intensity of Matt Bellamy’s guitar solo collaborated perfectly in sync with Dom Howard’s insane drumming techniques and Christopher Wolstenholme’s bass playing skills. With that just being the beginning of the night, it sure had a majority of the crowd on their feet.
They quickly rolled into another track off Drones with Dead Inside, which ended into an “Interlude” which began Absolution. The hypnotic sounds of their music mixed well with the visuals that were synced to each song, which became just as impactful as the music, such as fan favorites, Hysteria, Uprising and Super Massive Black Hole. Along with each song on the set list, fans were provided with eye entertaining visuals that were full of life and creativity just on their own, especially with the 3D effects of the many different imageries that made the crowd experience each song on many different levels.
Very life-like robotic puppetry played on the dangling mesh-like screens to the song The Handler which made for a rather an intense moment in the show. The amount of technological interaction that was experienced between both the band and crowd was interesting. However, the best part of the show had to be the killer intro of Jimi Hendrix Experience’s, Voodoo Child, merged perfectly with the intro to Supermassive Black Hole and another “Prelude.” There is nothing like enjoying a long and beautiful guitar solo, brought to you by Bellamy.
From guitar solos to drum and bass duets, what they were doing on stage was just absolutely amazing. Bellamy, Wolstenholme and Howard are truly a group of individuals who know how to make great music, in many creative and different ways that no other band could pull off.
From 3D projected videos dangling on sheer screens, to the glowing drones that floated above and around the arena, to the massive confetti filled black balloons and streamer canons, every song that Muse performed had a presentation that actually made true sense. The night ended with an extended version of Knights of Cydonia, all while confetti and streamers smothered the venue and fans, marking a rather bittersweet ending to the end of the Drones World Tour.
X Ambassadors took the stage first, playing many of their hits such as the super popular single, Renegades. Singer, Sam Nelson Harris was very hard to keep an eye on as he pranced around the circular stage trying to interact with most of the fans who were cheering them on. X Ambassadors sure are making a name for themselves.
Review by: Alyssa Howell
Muse
X Ambassadors
