Archives > Black Holes & Revelations Era > You & I must fight to survive, literally.
A gig review of Muse Live at T on The Fringe 2006.
Author : Faiz Silver | Date : 29 Aug 2006 21:55 | Submitted by comfortablyblue | Comments : 
(7) | Rating :
5.23
(7) | Rating :
5.23
August, T on the Fringe In Edinburgh brought the most current and greatest bands during the city's Fringe festival. August 24th, Muse supported by My Chemical Romance. Headed by ticket-buyer, fellow Muse fanatic and good friend, Steven King, our quintet embarked on what was, in our minds, "the night we almost died" (in a good way).
The drive there courtesy of Stu
At around 1:45 p.m. local time, I was picked up by Stu, Jonny and Banni from outside my house on the west-side, from there our trip to capital city, following the new 40 m.p.h. speed restrictions to Perth on the way. The ride was accompanied by Stuart's reportoire of 'metalcore' and 'emo' music on the iPod as well as sea-salted crisps, iced tea (for Banni anyway) and Evian. Traffic started to become a problem at the Forth bridge, but patience prevailed and while the synth-dance track "Zombie" played we crossed and reached capital city.
Edinburrr
Capital city and Google road maps, excellent. Stu planned out the journey on Google, now if Jonny could navigate we'd 've been sorted! Seriously though, Jonny can't navigate. With a few calls from Steven and parking in Omni, we were on Princes Street getting our mid-afternoon meal at B.K. And then a quick (but long) walk along London Rd. to Meadowbank Stadium (gig starting at 4 p.m.). And now, a word about the queue...what the hell? The queue literally stretched from the doors around the corner, up the street, round another corner and through a bus stop behind some mini-vans...! Right. After a short while we were through the doors into Block E of the Stadium standing over what looked like a running track.
Three hours, yeah, we can do that...
Out in the field, facing a stage, or rather the stage facing us, a DJ setup to the left, screens either side of the stage, and a bar, a chippy and an ice cream stand. We headed over to the crowd in front of the stage, assuming the band would be playing right then and there. Not quite yet. It was 4.30 p.m.. The announcer/DJ-person announced a three hour wait..for My Chemical Romance...Jonny, Steven and I, seeing the t-shirts going round, gave in and brought them ourselves (different ones tho'). Jonny going for the pink (Supermassive Black Hole Single) and Steven for the black (Cydonia). I went for the red (Black Holes and Revelations). Back seated on the grass, a bit bored, at which point Steven started his short but sweet wasting on the Tennents...
Em-See-Are
7.30 p.m. and still no My Chemical Romance, I'm sure the 'emo' kids were crying. For the record, Jonny wasn't. We got into the back of the crowd and watched for M.C.R.. They finally came on around 10 minutes later with an uproar into (not sure at the time of writing) "Cemetery Gates", followed by one of Gerrard's (the lead singer's) preaching sessions:
"Who, here is waiting to see Muse?! Well,...they won't be on for an hour, until then we're here."
Disappointment from the crowd, Stuart's ranting of the word "GAY" started. They played an array of they're 'greats' including "Helena", "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "The Ghost of You" and a few of their new forthcoming album, "The Black Parade". The climax of the concert was when Gerrard announced:
"We only have two songs left..."
Which was interrupted by the massive increase in volume of the Muse fans, including us, cheering. Finishing up the set, and getting booed, we moved into the very front waiting for Muse.
Enter the pit and scream until they come on
From here on in everything that happened, happened so unbelieveably slowly it was torture. We were absolutely squashed, constently pushed over from the left-side (the side on which Matt Bellamy) would be appearing and emo kids were trying to leave. We made some progress getting far to the front, 'sweat dripping from every pour' to quote Jack White. We were dying of exhaustion. The Bouncers squirting water from a watering can at us to keep us hydrated and lifting off crowd surfers. Talk amongst the crowd: "I'm content and this is probably the best way to go out". It was madness. It wasn't stopped even when Matt and the rest of the trio came on stage at sunset, plugged in, played a riff and headed straight into the operatic ending to their latest album, "Knights of Cydonia". Being where I was just to look up and think 'why isn't he stopping this?' only to realise this happens everytime they play live. As the song progressed, I think we were paying more attention to staying alive and when the words: "You and I must fight for our rights...You and I must fight to survive..." came on screen, in that moment it was like the song was written for us. The fast-paced drum n' bass beat of "Hysteria" was next on the line-up, the crowd became more aggressive as head-banging ensued and people jumping up and down, when Supermassive Black Hole was about to begin Stu and Steven crowd surfed outta' there, Steven's glasses in a haze from the heat of the pit. Not wanting to miss the song, I waited and when Showbiz came on, I reversed back into the crowd to re-join them outside the bar.
Highlights on screen
From about 5 rows behind the 'pit' Stu, Steven and I (followed by Banni later on) watched, other than the light show, the amazing band and dancing during the Irish Jig (blending into "Plug In Baby"), yhings from the back were pretty comfortable and uneventful. The guitar/piano solos both improvised and not were displays of true mastery of the instruments and showing off to the greatest extreme, especially when a feedbacker/slide guitar implement was used. To summarise the greatest features of the rest of the evening:
Starlight clapping
The intro of Starlight follows a difficult clap rhythm that the whole crowd got, and followed through the song constantly, good performer-audience connection.
Time is Running Out Twice
Ah the first encore track, Time is Running Out was played for about thirty seconds before Matt interrupted with: "Stop! Stop! Stop! Guitar's f*cked!" following a conversation between members of the band and then starting again from the beginning. Nobody was annoyed, on the contrary it made us more compelled to watch.
The set-list
Knights of Cydonia/Space Dementia Outro
Hysteria
Supermassive Black Hole
Showbiz
Map of the Problematique
Forced In
Bliss
Butterflies and Hurricanes
Apocalypse Please
Invincible
Starlight
Irish Jig/Plug In Baby
New Born
Encore
Time Is Running Out (Twice)
Stockholm Syndrome
Take A Bow
After concert
From the burr, we headed to Markinch and Steven's house for O.J./A.J. round the poker table in Steven's kitchen at near 1 a.m. before leaving with Stu to get dropped off home, we were greeted by Louise (in P.J.s) waking her by talking loudly, thinking we were quiet from being deafened.
Other Observations
My Chemical Romance changed their guitars/basses/drum sticks almost every song, whereas Muse in their longer set only changed guitar once for Invincible and then again in the interruption on Time is Running Out, whereas the bass was kept throughout.
Conclusions, Thoughts and Feelings
I honestly thought it was the greatest night ever, well worth the waits, the sweat and the wasted feeling afterward.
On August 24th, the quintet consisted of Callum Bannister, Jonathan Spink, Steven King, Stuart McGrath and yours truly.
The drive there courtesy of Stu
At around 1:45 p.m. local time, I was picked up by Stu, Jonny and Banni from outside my house on the west-side, from there our trip to capital city, following the new 40 m.p.h. speed restrictions to Perth on the way. The ride was accompanied by Stuart's reportoire of 'metalcore' and 'emo' music on the iPod as well as sea-salted crisps, iced tea (for Banni anyway) and Evian. Traffic started to become a problem at the Forth bridge, but patience prevailed and while the synth-dance track "Zombie" played we crossed and reached capital city.
Edinburrr
Capital city and Google road maps, excellent. Stu planned out the journey on Google, now if Jonny could navigate we'd 've been sorted! Seriously though, Jonny can't navigate. With a few calls from Steven and parking in Omni, we were on Princes Street getting our mid-afternoon meal at B.K. And then a quick (but long) walk along London Rd. to Meadowbank Stadium (gig starting at 4 p.m.). And now, a word about the queue...what the hell? The queue literally stretched from the doors around the corner, up the street, round another corner and through a bus stop behind some mini-vans...! Right. After a short while we were through the doors into Block E of the Stadium standing over what looked like a running track.
Three hours, yeah, we can do that...
Out in the field, facing a stage, or rather the stage facing us, a DJ setup to the left, screens either side of the stage, and a bar, a chippy and an ice cream stand. We headed over to the crowd in front of the stage, assuming the band would be playing right then and there. Not quite yet. It was 4.30 p.m.. The announcer/DJ-person announced a three hour wait..for My Chemical Romance...Jonny, Steven and I, seeing the t-shirts going round, gave in and brought them ourselves (different ones tho'). Jonny going for the pink (Supermassive Black Hole Single) and Steven for the black (Cydonia). I went for the red (Black Holes and Revelations). Back seated on the grass, a bit bored, at which point Steven started his short but sweet wasting on the Tennents...
Em-See-Are
7.30 p.m. and still no My Chemical Romance, I'm sure the 'emo' kids were crying. For the record, Jonny wasn't. We got into the back of the crowd and watched for M.C.R.. They finally came on around 10 minutes later with an uproar into (not sure at the time of writing) "Cemetery Gates", followed by one of Gerrard's (the lead singer's) preaching sessions:
"Who, here is waiting to see Muse?! Well,...they won't be on for an hour, until then we're here."
Disappointment from the crowd, Stuart's ranting of the word "GAY" started. They played an array of they're 'greats' including "Helena", "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "The Ghost of You" and a few of their new forthcoming album, "The Black Parade". The climax of the concert was when Gerrard announced:
"We only have two songs left..."
Which was interrupted by the massive increase in volume of the Muse fans, including us, cheering. Finishing up the set, and getting booed, we moved into the very front waiting for Muse.
Enter the pit and scream until they come on
From here on in everything that happened, happened so unbelieveably slowly it was torture. We were absolutely squashed, constently pushed over from the left-side (the side on which Matt Bellamy) would be appearing and emo kids were trying to leave. We made some progress getting far to the front, 'sweat dripping from every pour' to quote Jack White. We were dying of exhaustion. The Bouncers squirting water from a watering can at us to keep us hydrated and lifting off crowd surfers. Talk amongst the crowd: "I'm content and this is probably the best way to go out". It was madness. It wasn't stopped even when Matt and the rest of the trio came on stage at sunset, plugged in, played a riff and headed straight into the operatic ending to their latest album, "Knights of Cydonia". Being where I was just to look up and think 'why isn't he stopping this?' only to realise this happens everytime they play live. As the song progressed, I think we were paying more attention to staying alive and when the words: "You and I must fight for our rights...You and I must fight to survive..." came on screen, in that moment it was like the song was written for us. The fast-paced drum n' bass beat of "Hysteria" was next on the line-up, the crowd became more aggressive as head-banging ensued and people jumping up and down, when Supermassive Black Hole was about to begin Stu and Steven crowd surfed outta' there, Steven's glasses in a haze from the heat of the pit. Not wanting to miss the song, I waited and when Showbiz came on, I reversed back into the crowd to re-join them outside the bar.
Highlights on screen
From about 5 rows behind the 'pit' Stu, Steven and I (followed by Banni later on) watched, other than the light show, the amazing band and dancing during the Irish Jig (blending into "Plug In Baby"), yhings from the back were pretty comfortable and uneventful. The guitar/piano solos both improvised and not were displays of true mastery of the instruments and showing off to the greatest extreme, especially when a feedbacker/slide guitar implement was used. To summarise the greatest features of the rest of the evening:
Starlight clapping
The intro of Starlight follows a difficult clap rhythm that the whole crowd got, and followed through the song constantly, good performer-audience connection.
Time is Running Out Twice
Ah the first encore track, Time is Running Out was played for about thirty seconds before Matt interrupted with: "Stop! Stop! Stop! Guitar's f*cked!" following a conversation between members of the band and then starting again from the beginning. Nobody was annoyed, on the contrary it made us more compelled to watch.
The set-list
Knights of Cydonia/Space Dementia Outro
Hysteria
Supermassive Black Hole
Showbiz
Map of the Problematique
Forced In
Bliss
Butterflies and Hurricanes
Apocalypse Please
Invincible
Starlight
Irish Jig/Plug In Baby
New Born
Encore
Time Is Running Out (Twice)
Stockholm Syndrome
Take A Bow
After concert
From the burr, we headed to Markinch and Steven's house for O.J./A.J. round the poker table in Steven's kitchen at near 1 a.m. before leaving with Stu to get dropped off home, we were greeted by Louise (in P.J.s) waking her by talking loudly, thinking we were quiet from being deafened.
Other Observations
My Chemical Romance changed their guitars/basses/drum sticks almost every song, whereas Muse in their longer set only changed guitar once for Invincible and then again in the interruption on Time is Running Out, whereas the bass was kept throughout.
Conclusions, Thoughts and Feelings
I honestly thought it was the greatest night ever, well worth the waits, the sweat and the wasted feeling afterward.
On August 24th, the quintet consisted of Callum Bannister, Jonathan Spink, Steven King, Stuart McGrath and yours truly.