GIG: Muse - Royal Albert Hall, 12th April

Luck.
I say that, because that’s what I had bucket loads of when I managed to get tickets. The sheer number of fans trying to get theirs kept the websites on crash hiatus, thousands of fingers obsessively tapping the F5 key. Muse, who played two nights at Wembley Stadium last year, announced a relatively small-key gig in London’s Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust, set up by Roger Daltrey. After finally nabbing a ticket twenty agonising minutes into the sale, I could look forward to what I had in store for me. The Victorian building in Kensington, just by Hyde Park, is steeped in rock tradition: the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd have played here over the ages. Now it was Muse’s turn to have a go.

Inside the Albert Hall, the elegant dome curves around you, populated by the inner circle of seats, private boxes, the upper circle and the gallery, adorned with fan-made banners requesting particular b-sides to be played (‘PLAY THE GROOVE!’). Much smaller than most venues Muse have played in the UK for the last few years now, it was extremely exciting for this rare chance to see them in such an intimate situation. I have to confess, however: while their Wembley shows were the peak of their live career so far, I felt their performance was not up to scratch the same way as they were on the Absolution tour, especially at Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Thankfully, they made a return playing as tight as a goldfish’s arsehole, and as exhilarating as one of those rides at Alton Towers. Faith restored.

After the Futureheads, who were pretty decent, anticipation runs at an all-time high for everyone present. The lights go down, and it reaches fever pitch as the standing audience surge forwards to the barrier to get a glimpse of Matt Bellamy, Dom Howard and Chris Wolstenholme as they fire up with opener Take A Bow. Everything afterwards is pure magic: the drums crash, the bass pulses and the guitar wails as if the sky was falling, the world was coming to and end… and it’s just a concert. A blur of hits new and old is the meat of their set tonight, Time is Running Ot and New Born performed with increased volition and a refreshing new turn of energy. Bellamy is literally leaping about the stage like a lunatic. Awesome. A major aspect of Muse’s live show is all the gargantuan screens, satellite dishes and squillions upon zillions of lights. But here, it is just them for the most part – able to show just how on-form and hard-hitting a live band they are at the core.

The inclusion of obscure track Fury is truly epic, epic, and some more epic, as is the surprise of Bliss: an extended rocket-blast of riffage blows the roof off the RAH, set alongside the raining down of giant balloons from the hallowed arches above. A complete show-stopper… until, when the final bars of Stockholm Syndrome decay into nothing, the colossal in-house organ – which fills a whole side of the hall – lights up. The atmosphere is absolutely electric – Bellamy strolls to the ancient instrument’s centre, noodles out a bit of Bach and launches into Megalomania. Origin of Symmetry’s closer, this is one song I thought I would never see in my life. It really is the highlight of the night: Chris and Dom down below on the stage playing rhythm, Matt Bellamy high above like some new-age Phantom of the Opera, with the chorus illuminating the organ in hell-red. I dribble now just thinking about it, so let’s move on. Proceeding a blistering jam between bass and drums, Mat returns to the stage and close their set with a double-whammy of Plug in Baby and Knights of Cydonia; the latter of which I bruise my leg badly in the biggest mosh all evening. The only niggle I had at all was that Citizen Erased was nowhere to be seen at all, whilst Feeling Good got the millionth airing of the past two years. A bit unfair, if you ask me.

After my limp had duly healed, I knew this was simply an incredible gig I’ll always remember, like the Foo Fighters at Hyde Park, or Led Zeppelin at the O2. An astounding performance, a fantastic crowd: that really is all you need.

Overall – 9.5 / 10

p.s. the point of the concert was to raise funds and awareness for the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT), who run clinics throughout the country and have been growing since these gigs started. Have a look - https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/