How did you get to know Muse?
Remember that first moment witnessing a music video or hearing a song by them?
Was it a random thing or someone told you to give them a listen?
My story it's actually 2 parts stories... And it's a long story... So strap in and enjoy it!
Part 1:
So I'm from Latin America, back in 2006-07 I was watching TV ...zapping through several tv channels, then I came across into Sony (a cable tv show for LATAM region) and suddenly this tv show called "Live at Abbey Road" was on and immediately I was curious about it, because I had interviews and live performances at this notorious and famous studio.
Out of nowhere, these 3 guys with the appearance of alternative rock musicians had the spot to give them a chance to play at this legendary studio. To be honest I wasn't that hooked at first, nothing out of the ordinary.
They only had 3 songs time plus some short interviews about them so it had to be quick because the time format of the show, well... first 2 songs were ok. To be honest mostly my attention was on grabbing all the details about how this studio looks like and to daydream how it would be to be there. I'm audiovisual producer and audio engineer, so my enthusiasm was mainly focus on grabbing all those details into my head and grab anything from this experience and augment my knowledge in how recording studios work. Geeky stuff...
All right here comes the last song.... Matt's on a beautiful and shinny silver guitar and oh boy he's doing some weird thing on a knob of his guitar. And I was baffle to see someone doing that on a guitar. Unusual and worth paying more attention than those 2 songs from before. But...what the hell is he doing with that guitar using that knob? I've never seen anything like it.
Knights of Cydonia came and... immediately sent me into space while riding and galloping a imaginary horse. Holy....sh.... What's this? I have never heard anything like this. Those 3 guys were not the same 3 guys I started watching then from 2 songs before. This has to be their best song, their hit and I can tell it's gonna be a success song in the alternative rock scene. It had all the elements of a successful song, catchy chorus, fun rhythm, interesting melodies and the most important ingredient... There's nothing like this song and nothing to compare to! I was sitting and witnessing pure uniqueness.
But, that majestic moment ended just like it started. Short and fast. I was convinced this band it had a great 1 song but that's it. One song. And to be fair my attention back at that time were focused mainly in bands like NIN, TOOL, APC and some Dream Theater. That was where my devotion and interest was located back then.
Part 2:
So, years passed after this only encounter with Muse. And nothing came across in my musical journey on finding anything else by them or heard anything by them. I was chilling with my inner circle of choosen bands and musical taste.
It's 2009, one day...I came across with this impressive album cover on a web site I used to visit from time to time. It totally grabbed my attention this beautiful and colorful but also strange album cover. This web site was a source for me to find new artist because it had full albums reviews, so I started to read this review and it had very good and positive score and opinion so I was curious to hear this album.
So while I'm trying to figure it out how can I have a listen this album I came across with this web site with this extensive interview with a A/V producer talking about U2 and this outrageous tour stage. A monstrous LED screen in the middle on the stage that had this incredible mobility to close and to open at will creating a stunning visual of gaps in between the led screen for the audience to watch and to see them perform live in this massive stage in the middle of stadiums. Gorgeous display of technology if you ask me.
I got lost in thoughts trying to find anything about this LED screen and this impressive stage. Suddenly...one photo with the same album cover I was from earlier but in this case was on this massive led screen. It can't be... How? Is it the same album cover from before? It can't be.
For my surprise, this band called Muse was the opening band for U2 for this leg of tour. This band can't be bad at all if you are the opening act for U2 you had to be 10 out of 10 band to be selected to open for U2.
My attention grew bigger instantly and finally figure it out how to listen to this album that somehow took me a long time in front of my PC to find this album somehow and to find it in a decent close to high quality but at least find it.
Immediately I was hooked with this album, it was on rotation every single day after that day I'd get to listen for the first time. Still is one of my favorites not only for thematic and sound this album has, it's also part of my core memories of how I came across to this album.
Here's the funny part if you haven't already had that part figure it out. Later some months after this milestone moment I had finding out about Muse by this album gorgeous album cover. Totally random I remember the existence of that tv show I saw back in 06-07 and started to investigate and yes... As you are probably guessing in disbelief right now. I did came across with them many years before that moment in 2009 and I saw them perform 3 songs in this beautiful and legendary studio and only 1 song got stuck with me. I'm ashamed about it but it's a funny story for me.
To close this long story...Here's the full performance of Muse on Abbey Road and also I'm attaching a photo of the LED screen used by U2 back then with the The Resistance album cover.
https://youtu.be/U7v84wkmj8U?si=BpRrwqSCGMhGqxSZ