Live Review: Muse

If you've already experienced Muse live, expectations are understandably stratospheric and gushing recollections of past tours can be willingly shared with those about to be enlightened by these masters of rock histrionics.

A spaceship structure descends onto the stage and forms a pyramid of screens, there's an extended version of Vincent Price's Thriller monologue and everyone immediately buys into the “fantasy” the moment Supremacy kicks in. The band is suddenly illuminated inside this pyramid to deliver their post-apocalyptic rock with added pathos and a touch of James Bond savoir faire. Frontman Matt Bellamy's sustained yowls sound like a reverse cycle vacuum is sucking out his tonsils and he plays guitar in a style similar to Prince. Supermassive Black Hole tears through us and we wonder whether they chuckle amongst themselves about lyrics such as, “You'll wake the thought police” (Resistance). Drummer Dominic Howard is an absolute beast – powerful and more precise than a metronome. By Hysteria (I Want It Now), this scribe can sit no longer. The sight of GA punters fist pumping during Knights Of Cydonia – “No one's going to take me aliiiiiiiiive” – calls to mind Queen's Radio Ga Ga video. Bellamy's exaggerated inhalations that punctuate his vocal phrasing? Hot. The frontman struts around the stage like a peacock, even jumping into the photography pit for an extended period to shake hands with probably every front-row fan during Undisclosed Desires.

You seriously can't watch Muse without getting your screw face on. They just nail everything. When Time Is Running Out's arrangement scales back to showcase Chris Wolstenholme's solo bass riff, the effect is devastating. Their laser show is also next level, utilising beams in an assortment of colours as varied as those featured on The Second Law's cover art. Following a banging EDM-esque section where Muse play from inside their spaceship, Howard's stickmanship is immortalised when the structure returns to its multiscreen-pyramid shape for Uprising and we see his image multiplied.

During the band's encore, Bellamy dedicates Starlight to Nelson Mandela and, as the crowd obediently echoes the clapping pattern, it's a moving tribute. One cullable new song with Bellamy on piano that makes its way into this evening's set falls flat, but the remaining 20-odd tracks are perfection. Whatever you think of their recorded output, Muse would walk away with gold in the live band Olympics.