MUSE (Wembley Stadium, 16/06/07)

I know it's fashionable not to like Muse but their show at Wembley tonight was pretty fucking amazing. Not in the highest tier of gigs I've been to- they lacked the soul essential for a truly epoch-defining show- but they certainly were worthy of being the first band to sell out the new Wembley Stadium (72,000 people, I believe). Managed to get about 8 rows from the front; unsurprisingly, the most pit was LETHAL. Luckily, everyone had tired themselves out by the end of the third song, which accounts for the fact I'm still alive. Main set was of wavering quality; started off on a stunning high with a rollocking Knights of Cydonia, followed by Hysteria and Supermassive Black Hole, but then dipped for a bit before making a fantastic comeback with Butterflies and Hurriances and Citizen Erased. Then came a series of slightly underwhelming tracks- Feeling Good was disappointingly tepid but by the end they were in fine fettle with a run of Starlight, Time Is Running Out and New Born. And the extended encore was (with the exception of Wake Up out St. John's) the best conclusion to a show I've ever seen. The rose-petal-dispensing acrobats suspended by giant balloons during "Blackout" was certainly the most impressive gimmick I've seen at a gig, and needless to say, Plug In Baby in that kind of environment was a wee bit special. Single best moment for me though was "Soldiers Poem", where Matt Bellamy asked the crowd to hold their mobiles in the air. Now, by this time it was dark, and in a venue of such huge proportions it's hard to see those in seating in any case. So for anyone gazing from the pitch, the effect was of a galaxy of thousands upon thousands of stars twinkling in the shadows. It was so breathtaking that I unconsciously exclaimed "wow!", getting weird looks from the people next to me until they saw what I was looking at and said "wow!" too. 23 songs in all, certainly got our money's worth. Nice crowd as well; not only did I chat to loads of people, but when it started pissing down, everyone was sharing umbrellas with each other and fashioning impromptu shelters out of those waterproof ponchos so that most of us stayed semi-dry.

As for the supports, Rodrigo y Gabriela seemed to impress everyone- they seemed unfazed by the vastness of the stadium and played a great little set; also (shockingly) The Streets were about one hundred times better than Dirty Pretty Things. Although that's less a commendation of Mike Skinner than a seriously damning indiction of DPT's crushing dullness...