I recently saw Muse on their “Will of the People Tour” at Chicago’s United Center. With the band coming up on 30 years together, a sense of anxiety constantly looms over fans like myself about the decline in quality that usually hits bands that have been going this long. However, I’m happy to say Muse’s live shows are as spectacular as ever.
But this is a review of a concert after all. So before I talk about the headliner, you get to sit through everyone’s favorite part: the openers!
Jokes aside, Muse once again flexed their talent in picking support for their tour. Opening the show was Japanese rock/pop-punk band, One Ok Rock.
They opened the set with “Save Yourself”, the heavy-hitting lead single off their newest album. The opening half of the set followed a brand of pop-punk that’s packed with just enough teenage angst without feeling like nostalgia bait for the genre’s mid-aughts prime. From there, the energy
did not let up.
The whole band’s stage presence was electric. Frontman Takahiro “Taka” Moriuchi made full use of the arena’s massive stage, constantly strutting across it while maintaining a solid vocal performance and seamlessly slipping Japanese lyrics into the band’s otherwise English-dominant songs. The other band members would play off his energy as he’d walk by while throwing in a few moves of their own.
Though initially shocked by this opening band’s top-notch command of a stage and crowd as big as United Center’s, I’ve since learned One Ok Rock regularly headlines shows at the biggest arenas in their home country and are one of Japan’s biggest acts. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise they were in their element in another arena.
Following One Ok Rock was a name that rivals even Muse in popularity: Evanescence.
Best known for their 2003 smash hit, “Bring Me To Life”, Evanescence proved to be a solid support, though the band’s strongest elements were not given ample opportunity to shine throughout their 15-song set. Anyone who’s listened to even one Evanescence song can attest to the fact that frontwoman Amy Lee is a powerhouse vocalist. Unfortunately, it often felt like she was competing to be heard over the loud, heavy guitars and drums, which, while solid, didn’t particularly stick out among the rock/nu-metal crowd like Lee’s vocals do.
The band did have several standout moments, however, when Lee sang from the piano, not as a solo for slower, more sentimental tracks like “My Immortal”, but alongside the slamming guitars
in their heavier bangers. These moments felt like a fully realized performance of their unique symphonic sound that was otherwise lost in the translation from record to stage.
And, finally, of course, there was Muse.
Despite the iffy quality in Muse’s recorded music in the past decade or so, their live shows have remained a legendary spectacle of live music performance. And the “Will of the People” tour was no exception.
Opening with the swaggering title track of their new album, and the tour as a whole, Muse immediately made clear they were still a force to be reckoned with. The opening chants of “the will of the people” from the track’s recording played over the speakers as the trio walked out in matching black hoodies and full face masks inspired by the faceless revolutionaries featured in the album’s art and promotional material. The curtains opened to reveal a flaming “WOTP” logo burning behind the band as frontman Matt Bellamy delivered his iconic falsetto that sounded as good as ever.
Throughout the performance, Muse utilized a series of unspoken cues to indicate to the audience what was to come, paying fan service to the fans familiar with their hits, typical setlist structure, and especially history of live performances. Following the opening track, bassist Chris Wolsteholme left his usual position at stage left to walk to the end of the stage’s runway. Given that you don’t often find a band’s bassist taking the lead, longtime fans could guess the band was preparing to play fan-favorite track, “Hysteria”, with its standout bassline.
“Hysteria” was followed by two more older hits from the band’s catalog, including “Bliss”, a former setlist staple that had been absent since 2017 (which was six years ago in case anyone needs a reminder that they’re getting old).
Muse’s setlist construction was fantastic on this tour, throwing in back-to-back hits to keep the energy up and breaking up what would otherwise be long strings of new material. This was a show that brought equal appeal to fans who have been following the band for 30 years or 30 days.
And the wide appeal went beyond the setlist too. The band incorporated old props, recordings, and stage tricks back into their newest tour to further the sense of familiarity for fans who haven’t kept up as much with their newer music.
The “Drill Sergeant” segment from their 2015 album Drones, in which a recording of a screaming drill sergeant degrades a young man as he shouts back with “aye sir!” made its return on the “Will of the People” tour. The recording played from the speakers, while the Jumbotrons displayed the “aye sir!” responses for the audience to shout back. The increasingly loud chants from the audience build towards the anti-authoritarian theming of both the Drones and Will of the People eras and build up the hype for Muse to play Drones lead single “Psycho”.
Other returning elements included Bellamy’s donning of the Power Glove (an iconic piece of 80s nostalgia and an old prop from their 2019 tour) and Wolstenholme’s harmonica intro to show closer, “Knights of Cydonia”.
As usual, Muse maximized the potential of the venue they were playing. Most arena tours simply feel like an opportunity for an artist to perform the same way they always do but to a bigger crowd.
Muse, on the other hand, uses the full stage space and accompanies their music with an elaborate light show, pyrotechnics, and not one, but two different 40-ft tall animatronics acting as a backdrop for the performance.
They even transformed the Jumbotrons from a mere consolation prize for the chumps sitting in the nosebleeds to a key piece of the performance, displaying things like the aforementioned “Drill Sergeant” skit as well as animated cinematics inspired by the album during long pauses between songs when the stage was dark.
These props and visual effects created a show so captivating that someone who had never even heard a Muse song before could have walked out of there in awe. They could’ve played a 90-minute set of Nickelback covers and I still would have been entertained.
Any fan of rock or metal should without a doubt have Muse on their concert bucket list. 30 years into their career, Muse have solidified themselves as one of the greatest live acts on the planet. Here’s to 30 more.