Thursday, April 8, 2010

Muse: Another Concert Review (and another rant of sorts)


Monday night we saw Muse in concert. Muse, if you've never heard of them, is a three man alternative band from England. They have amazing guitar skills, song writing skills, piano playing skills, and drumming skills. In fact, they are really really amazing all around, if you are into the alternative rock thing.

So, we went to the concert on Monday. And unfortunately, I have yet another sad story to tell about my experience there! I know! How can this happen to BOTH of my concerts that I've been so looking forward to for so long!

So this is what happened. First, Mr. Stuey got stuck at work and so we left without him and he came later on his own. That was a bummer. But we could deal with it. He had no desire to see the opening band anyway.

When we got there, we HAD to let Moder (15 year old fanatic fan son) buy a t-shirt. So we suffered through the t-shirt buying mosh pit of sorts, and I had to remind myself to breathe in the claustrophic inducing crowd. But the happiness of said 15 year old son after the black Resistance t-shirt was in hand was worth it.

Then we made our way to our seats. Moder had seats with his friends in a different section, so I got him there and situated. Then I went to find our four seats (besides me and The Mr. who was coming later, I had with me JJ and Toto) and as I was approaching I could tell that two of our seats were being sat in already. So I said, "Um, you're in our seats." And of course we then compared tickets only to discover that they matched! So we, all together, went to guest services. They took the tickets to make copies, and told us to either wait on the floor (so we could watch the opening band which had started by this time) or wait by our seats. We choose the seats.

So we had two seats and three people at this point. Toto sat on my lap as we suffered through the opening band. I have no idea who they were. They had a few okay songs, but also some quite grating songs. And  filthy mouths. I hate that. Dudes, really. It's not cool. Besides, I couldn't concentrate for worrying about the seat situation.

Meanwhile, Mr. Stuey is out stuck in traffic. Trying to get parked. And I'm texting him that we have seat problems. He was gearing up for the fight!

They came back with our tickets just about the time the opening band ended. My husband finally arrives. And he proceeds to yell, not nicely, to the dude, who says. "Sorry, you can go on the floor if you want." The Mr. says, "NO WAY." But meaner. And so we say, we'll all just stand here by our two seats. (I knew that Muse is a standing concert if you know what I mean. No one would be sitting anyway.)

Oh, man. We were mad! Finally, some other lady came and said "We'll refund your money, you can't all stand here, and come with me and we'll find you seats." So he and JJ went off with her. They ended up in okay seats and were somewhat calming down by then.

Luckily, all that was figured out just as the concert started. So Toto and I just tried to forget the stress and enjoy the concert.

AND the concert itself was fabulous! Loud! Crazy! Rocking! I loved it. I love their songs. I sang to pretty much everyone of them. There was only two I didn't really know. I screamed for encores. I crossed my fingers they wouldn't forget to sing Knights of Cydonia... and they didn't... forget I mean! It was great.

Afterwards, when we all meet up again, and I saw the look on my son's and his friends faces, it was all worth it. They had completely lost their voices and were so pumped and excited. It was very fun to see that.

We then proceeded to walk to our cars and drive home in a complete blizzard! I couldn't believe it, but we survived and made it home without incident, ears numb and ringing the whole way!

Anyway, in the end, the managers from the event place called us to get the whole seat fiasco story. It turns out they double sold about 30 seats in that section. Those who ended up with the seats were pretty much whoever got there first. My husband was demanding a refund on at least the two of our seats, which that one lady had told him would happen. Now they were saying they couldn't. Anyway, as it turns out, they are giving us four tickets to another event to say "sorry". We've chosen to go to Cirque de Soleil in May.  I guess we'll see how THAT one all turns out then.

So, how's that for a long story? Anybody ever have any similar things happen to them? It was crazy I tell you!

Bottom line: MUSE, you were freakin' awesome! Online ticketing computers and whoever else is the culprit, you sucked!

Whew. Once again, I sure do feel better! :) Maybe I should give the concert going thing a break now, what do you think?

Here's a video someone else took of the concert, when they came back for a second encore and did Knights of Cydonia that I needed to hear so bad. Matt (lead singer) was doing the spotlight and making the crowd crazy, and Chris (bass player) was doing a cool funky harmonica thing before they started the song. Loved it.

8 comments:

  1. I LOVE Muse, but have never seen them live ... have to say the seating problems would have made me MENTAL...but you'll love Cirque! I've been to about 6 of their shows now and every one has been fantastic!

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  2. I'm sorry you had a seat fiasco. I'm glad you enjoyed the concert, though. It was so good, wasn't it? I absolutely loved it! Knights of Cydonia was awesome! I loved every song, though.

    I was sad I missed the opening band at first, but everyone who heard them said they didn't like them. My husband and I really like their song "Panic Switch" but I guess nothing else is that good. I'll count my blessings. ;)

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  3. Liking this review of the concert. I particularly enjoyed their homages to Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, et al...that was a pleasant surprise. I also enjoyed the quality, because when I've seen other live performances there is an obvious discrepancy between studio/radio edits and an artist's ability to bring it live...but Muse totally brought their top game and sounded really polished. Loved it! My feet ached after 3 hours of jumping and stomping and my head hurt the morning after from all the reefers sparked around us but, all told, it was the best time I've had in a long time. Bummer about your seating trouble! Did you end up behind the stage?

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  4. Wow, the seat situation sounds like a nightmare -- but I'm glad your son liked it, and I hope you have a good time at Cirque! Do you know which show it will be? I've seen several of them and enjoyed them all. Please blog about it afterward!

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  5. Bibliolatrist: If you love Muse, you HAVE to see them live someday. Awesome! I know nothing about Cirque, so I'm interested to see what they are all about.

    Jenni: Yeah, the opening band was just there. Loud though. But Muse, ah. Love them.

    Michelle: JJ and the hubby ended up sort of behind the stage, but not all the way behind. They said it wasn't bad, so that's good. Glad you had fun on the floor! I think I would have been exhausted!!

    Karen: I will let you know how the Cirque experience goes. Like I said, I know nothing, so it will be fun no matter what I hope!

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  6. At least you finally got seats and weren't disappointed! Knights of Cydonia is one of my 18yo's "favorite songs of all-time." Not sure that's much of a sell when you're only 18 but still!

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  7. Last spring, my husband and I took our 12-year old daughter to a concert for Never shout Never. She insisted on a t-shirt, and the wait was horrible. It certainly felt like a mosh pit scene. Claustrophobic, indeed! I jut don't get the appeal of mosh pits, actually, I don't get the appeal of pits period...standing, and if not in front you can't see anything, and if in front your mostly likely will feel crunched.
    Anyway, while waiting for my daughter's t-shirt, I just wanted to say..."hey, we will all get to the front. No need to shove into each other."
    I could not take it so i bowed out and my husband stayed with my daughter.

    The opening band for you, if it was the same as ours in March, which I am thinking it was... The Silversun Pickups and I thought they were horrible. And, I do remember filthy mouths..don't get that. Why do performers feel the need to spout off...so not necessary and it really does trash them down. Ugh.
    The opening band for this past Wednesday, Passion Pit, were not that great. Really, I have yet to hear a good opening band, I feel a bit bad for them but then again it is a bit of break for them too.

    Good thing the ticket situation got straightened out before the opening of Muse, but still, I would have been peeved and that does not help with the overall enjoyment feeling.

    Watching your KoC video, it was pretty much the same for me on wednesday. How was your view at the concert? Me, in March, I could barely see them on stage but on wednesday I could totally see Matt move around on stage just could not completely see the facial expressions but the screens provided that at times.

    Venues play a huge role on the concert experience, and Bradley Center was far better than the United Center in Chicago.

    I will for sure do my best to see Muse again if they were to come to my area again. Totally worthy type concert, but close seats are in order for me from now on.

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  8. Ibeeeg: Our seats were actually quite good. We were on Matt's side, and could see him quite well. My son's seats were even closer, so it was very very cool for him to watch Matt the whole time.

    Ah, it's fun reading this post again. Sheesh, what an experience! We ran the emotional roller coaster that night for sure!

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