The weekend of the 16th and 17th July saw Muse headline two sold-out shows in the newly opened Wembley Stadium. Whilst George Michael had the honour of being the first artist to hold a concert at the stadium, it was only half full – and he’s rubbish – so these concerts were the first proper events for the £798m venue. Whilst the Saturday event included support such as The Streets, the Sunday boasted a more rock orientated line-up with the likes of My Chemical Romance and Biffy Clyro on offer.
It had been about 8 years since I had last been to Wembley, the twin towers providing the setting for a football match then, and despite its history, it looked tired. The stadium was demolished in 2003, and with it over 80 years of memorable moments from World Cup winning glory to Live Aid and Queen concerts. The new structure certainly makes a statement on the surrounding area, its huge steel arch dominating over all below, and although a common sight to myself for a while, this was my first opportunity to get up close and personal. The first thing that strikes you is the size, noticeably larger than its previous incarnation, all glass and metal with multiple entrances to cope with the busy football days.
Inside is quite impressive, there are hundreds of toilets evenly placed throughout the building, something that would become very useful as the thousands of people descended upon the numerous bars and food stalls charging rather silly amounts of money for burgers and chips. Another pleasant surprise was the seats, every single seat in Wembley is quite adequately padded, which is good when the concert starts at 3pm and runs until gone 10pm. As I’m getting on in years (my 30th birthday looms like a Spider-Man ret-con), the seat was always going to be needed as I wasn’t going to spend all day stood around with a bunch of 14-year-old My Chemical Romance fans.
First band up are Shy Child. No, I’ve never heard of them either. Hailing from New York, they consist of a drummer and singer/synth player. I’m not convinced that placing a two-piece band that isn’t the White Stripes into a slowly filling venue like Wembley was a particularly great idea. Couple that with the fact that the sound quality is terrible, it’s no surprise the biggest cheer the band gets is when they announce they only have one song left. Next up is Biffy Clyro, the Glasgow three-piece who have been around for a few years now but who I’ve always seemed to miss for some reason. Recent singles had impressed me so I was keen to see how they dealt with such a huge space. Again, sound quality was not spectacular, but the sheer power and energy of the band saw them through. I will definitely be obtaining their latest album off the back of seeing them live.
Afternoon turned into early evening and brought the arrival of My Chemical Romance to the stage. Uniformly kitted out in all black, there are obviously a lot of people here to see the guys bash through songs off The Black Parade. The improvement in sound that Biffy Clyro seemed to have deserts MCR. The vocals are lost amidst the rest of the band, whilst no particular instrument appears to have much in the way of clarity. Luckily, the crowds knowledge of most of their catalogue means that the performance plows ahead with vibrancy, a lot of the crowd are obviously enjoying themselves. Gung-ho renditions of “Dead” ,“Welcome to the Black Parade” and closing with “Helena” over their hour long set satisfies their fan-base and sets the scene for the real reason why everyone is here.
Muse arrive rather unexpectedly a few hundred metres from the stage in the middle of the crowd via a “hidden” entrance directly in front of the main stage amidst much smoke and blasts of confetti. Flanked by a strange collection of men in yellow chemical suits they make the short walk to the stage and take up their positions. They opened with “Knights of Cydonia”, its frantic spaghetti-western inspired theme accompanied by a huge screen throwing up the lyrics such as “No One’s Gonna Take Me Alive” to really enable the crowd to join in (as if they didn’t all know the lyrics anyway, dramatically it looked effective though). The sound quality had definitely improved, but throughout the set the vocals did seem to get lost in the mix somewhat.
“Hysteria” is followed by a storming rendition of “Supermassive Blackhole” complete with giant dancing robotic stormtroopers filling the screen behind the band. “Map of the Problematique” comes next before heading into a quieter section that comprised of “Forced In” leading into a wonderful “Sing for Absolution” that had everyone singing along. This quieter section continued with “Butterflies and Hurricanes”, the tempo of the song moving from it’s rather muffled piano section to a rumbling wall of noise.
Special mention should go to the little robot that kept appearing throughout the show carrying Matt’s guitar, the R2-D2 of rock roadies it would seem, and of course, perfectly in-keeping with the pseudo-sci-fi music and imagery that Muse do so well. The songs kept coming, “Hoodoo” was followed by “Apocalypse Please” and then a delightfully over-the-top rendition of “Feelin’ Good”, the only cover version of the evening. “Sunburn” flew past before Bellamy started using a slide, which at first disguised the fact that “Invincible” was next up. One of my favourite Muse songs, they didn’t disappoint, the regimented drumming building alongside the guitars to a stadium-filling conclusion and chants of “Together we’re invincible!”
Before anyone could recover “Starlight” immediately followed in an explosion of onstage sparks, the band obviously enjoying themselves as the crowd once again sung along to another of their huge choruses. “Time is Running Out” continued the barrage of amazing songs, Matt Bellamy attacking his guitar and screaming throughout. Reaching a pinnacle of this string of great songs was a blistering performance of “New Born”. Bellamy must have had a moment of clarity whilst he was onstage during this song as he slid across the Wembley stage on his knees, guitar solo and all, clearly enraptured in the performance and the spectacle of being onstage at this new venue. Leaving the stage for the first time, we eagerly await their return for the inevitable encore.
Sure enough, five or so minutes later, Muse reappear. Using the full extent of the stage, a drum kit is laid out to the extreme far left, besides which Matt Bellamy perches on a stool with an acoustic guitar, “Soldiers Poem” and “Unintended” are the result. The fact that the new stadium is completely no-smoking means it is instead awash with people holding up mobile phones, or the flashes on their cameras to give a real “stadium rock” moment. “Blackout” sees the unleashing of two huge balloons that had been tethered either side of the stage, as they climb into the air; an acrobat is suspended below each of them. They glide majestically above the heads of the crowd, spinning and twirling, rising and falling, showering confetti whilst the band play on – it is a wonderful moment that is almost surreal. As the song closes, the acrobats are tethered back into their original positions and Muse leave the stage for the second time.
Whilst a number of people were already leaving by now, trains to catch no doubt, the crowd knows there a few more songs that they expect, and they get them. Returning to the stage for the final time they launch into perhaps the song that identifies them most, “Plug-in Baby” stops people leaving in their tracks and the effect on the crowd is evident. This titanic song is followed by another classic, “Bliss” raises the bands performance to an even higher level, and following that with the apocalyptic “Stockholm Syndrome” nearly causes fans with weak hearts to expire on the spot, whilst twenty confetti-filled balloons passed into the crowd. This unholy trio of huge songs is rounded off with the last of the evening, “Take a Bow”, leaving the crowd exhausted but happy.
I won’t go into much detail about trying to leave the venue, needless to say new Wembley still suffers from the same problems that the old one did. Its location and the sheer amount of people all trying to leave at the same time is chaotic. I only live a few miles from Wembley and it took me two hours to get home. I feel sorry for those that had to travel further afield, but the day was a great introduction to the stadium, and a terrific performance from a great band.
James Dodsworth - Born and raised in Yorkshire, residing in London since 2000, James has a Law Degree and works for the Anti-Financial Crime Office of a International Asset Management Company. He is a writer and editor for FractalMatter.com.
But his main claim to fame is living next to the pub where Shaun of the Dead was conceived.