Muse @ Patriot Center 8/9 (aka the Night of Face-Melting Awesomeness)

What's better than one free ticket to see one of the best bands ever created?  That's right, TWO free tickets!  I was pleasantly surprised yesterday after getting home from a rough day at work, to see that I was wonderfully hooked up by Billboard and WMG with two seats right next to the stage!  I made some quick phone calls and selected my boo Ben to come with me.  He had only heard Muse from the mix cds we listen to in my car, so I was excited to show him the real thing.

The Patriot Center is an interesting beast.  They had the arena set up at Half Stage, so it was a bit more intimate, well as intimate as a 10,000 seat venue can be.  We got to our seats and soon after a timid band took the stage.  Cold War Kids.  I was excited, because I'm a huge fan of the song "Hang Me Up To Dry."  They started their set with a few unrecognizable songs, then soon apologized for their "craziness" because they had just gotten off a plane.  That didn't excuse the drummer from not keeping the beat fast enough for most of the songs besides the three more popular ones.  They were entertaining enough, but you could tell the crowd was ready for some face melting guitar/piano rock.
I was pretty much inconsolable in between the sets.  I kept fidgeting and "vibrating with happiness" as my friends refer to it as. 
Due to a mix up at will call, I didn't have a press pass, therefore was stuck with no good pictures, so I will describe the stage to you.  Have someone read it aloud to you as you close your eyes and let your imagination run with it.  Muse came out, flanked by 3 giant flat screen tvs above them and 5 LED light panels behind them.  The drummer, Dominic Howard, sat on top an LED throne, banging away at his shiny kit with reckless abandon.  Matthew Bellamy traded between a light up guitar and a light up piano for most of the night.  The entire stage lit up with fantastical images of swirls and shapes and I soon realized they were playing my favorite song off their new album, "Knights of Cydonia." As the chorus came round, the giant screens lit up with the lyrics, singalong style.  It was magic.
Their set consisted mainly of songs off their newest album, "Black Holes and Revelations," which led the crowd into a crowd surfing, flag waving frenzy.  The also threw in a few of their classics, like "Sunburn," and "Butterflies & Hurricanes."  Most of us took a seat during "Starlight," if not only to enjoy the starry sky background that, when combined with the pink lights shining down on the three musical magicians, created an outer world experience.  We were greeted by dancing robots, flying insects, and falling flower petals as the crowd was taken on a progressively outer body musical experience.  Bellamy's voice exudes like that of a Thom Yorke relative: slightly scratchy, but with a hint of whine and long lasting gutteral pleadings.  He had some pretty fancy guitar moves too, playing behind his back, on the floor, and through his goldeny sneakers.  I never wanted it to end.  The finale came all too quickly and during their last song, gigantic white balloons floated over the crowd like alien eggs.  With the slightest touch, a shower of tissue paper fluttered up and down and all around the smitten crowd.  Wide eyes stopped hopping and everything coalesced into an eyes-closed, lyrics singing escapade.
They ran off the stage and of course, the crowd immediately wanted them back.  I have yet to attend a show wherein the headlining band did not come back for an encore.  They came back almost immediately, to play two longtime favorites of mine, including "Stockholm Syndrome."

As I sit here blogging about the show and listening to Muse again at home, it's hard for me to discern the songs that were actually played from the songs I have in my collection.  This is a very good thing, because it means that the way they sound live is so comparable to the way they sound on their albums that
This was probably one of the best shows I have ever been to.  Go out and purchase their new album, at the very least.  Otherwise, just buy them all and you will not be disappointed.