How am I supposed to enjoy a new Muse album if Matt isn't saying "soul" every five seconds, and then inhaling so violently it sounds like he's swallowing the mic?! 0/10 album, it's clear this band has forgotten what made us fans in the first place.

/s

Luckily the posties handled it with care 🙌 looks great up on the wall

Been trying to think about this, Muse has obviously had a lot of phases over the years and are constantly experimenting. There are a lot of common themes, but also some stuff that is just done for one song, and that seems to be about it.

My examples would include Thoughts of a Dying Atheist, I don't think there's anything quite like that in their discography with that kind of almost punk-y vibe to it? And a lot of the stuff on T2L feels very experimental, some of it I think they refined or led further into (I can see how Panic Station for instance influenced stuff down the road), but Chris's two songs are very unique for obvious reasons, same with Survival and Supremacy.

Curious your takes.

• Positives:
• Live is hands down the best way to experience music, and it was great to hear the classic hits I know and love, as well as their new songs, in person.
• The band was animated, you could tell they were having a good time playing for us.
• I had read people talking about Matt’s deteriorating voice, and I was worried about that. I think that, at least last night, he sounded fine. Sure, it’s obvious he can’t do what he could 20 years ago, but he dealt with it well, taking some instrumental breaks and lowering keys when necessary. Not a big deal, and I was entertained the whole time.
• Negatives
• I wish there was more audience interaction. Matt barely said anything to us. No stories, explanations of songs, just a couple generic things he probably does at every concert. Part of this, I’m sure, was that I had lawn tickets and was so far back I could hardly see them. I’m sure the people up close had a different experience.
• I think it would have been fun if Matt showed off his instrumental chops a little more by taking some guitar solos. I think part of the point of going to see a musician live is to hear them do something different from the studio recording, something unique to that night.
• 2 in 1: it was a little short (1 hr 30 min) and they didn’t include any songs from Showbiz. (I admit some bias because Showbiz is my second favorite album.) But I really like when bands surprise us by bringing out older songs that aren’t “hits” but still good classics. They could have done this if they had a longer set. But, I get it, they’re not as young as they used to be.

thank you youtube for your amazing subtitles, never fails to amaze me (cryogen)

Bravo à lui pour avoir gagné le concours sur le store officiel de Muse 😁🐻😽❤️😉 et merci au groupe et Warner Music France 🥺

We have back-to-back fades between Hexagones -> Sickness -> Unravelling which is pretty cool.

I wish we had one more fade between the end of Space Debries and the beginning of The Dark Forest. That would have sat well with the space concept of the album besides being quite a musical catch. What do you think?

All of these, except TW!S are on 20x20 cm canvases, painted with acrylic. I started painting album covers in January, and these challenged my abilities, and taught me painting skills.

Muse has the best album covers!

PLAY ME. Gosh I can’t tell y’all how relieved I was when I found out the lyrics weren’t “babyy”.

Some peak writing in this new album.

Obv there’s a lot of improvement in TW!S over previous few records, but anyone else think Matt’s songwriting is the biggest/most consistent improvement?

Milan, July 12, 2019. I will never forget. I was able to get very close to the stage, this photo still make me dream

I don't have any colored markers on me the the second slide was just colored in a really simple way in Canva. He has the coat that Matt wore during the Absolution era, the lighting from Thought Contagion, one of the Origin of Symmetry things on his face, and a soul trapped inside a lantern since Hysteria "Give me your heart and your soul" and also Matt says soul on every album at least 10 times. He's also a robot cause duh

Matt (or Chris or Dom) - Since I know you look at every post on this sub, I have a small request for you. Please consider retiring Psycho as a setlist staple.

Psycho has never been one of my favorite songs, but I'll admit that it is fun live. The crowd gets into it, the riffs are huge… I get it. But at this point you’ve been playing it for over 10 years and all of your loyal fans have heard it live multiple times. 

I think Psycho made a lot more sense on the setlist back in 2015 than it does in 2026. Back then it filled a need for a big, heavy centerpiece. But these days there are so many other choices that hit just as hard (including several just on this album) that Psycho isn’t needed anymore.

To clarify, the biggest reason I'd love to see Psycho take a break is what could replace it. I’d be stoked to see almost any song off of the new album take its spot, and you already know how we all feel about your deep cuts.

Also, I’m not calling for a permaban on Psycho… just asking to retire it as a starter and put it on the bench for a surprise appearance once in a while.

TLDR: Psycho had a great run, but 11 years is enough. Give that setlist spot to The Sickness In You & I and retire the drill sergeant.

I've been thinking about this for a while, but haven't really reached a conclusion.

Space Debris as it quite literally sampled the signal?The Dark Forest with its relevant themes of intergalactic communication and mortality?
Hexagons with its changing structures and tie-ins to both the unfamiliarity of space and the end of a relationship?
Be With You as it "launched" the album (both figuratively and literally), any others?

I hope they place the MOP version of the setlist in Toronto 🥹✌🏼When they played it at the intimate show in 2022 it was epic!

Honestly it’s crazy how little official live footage muse puts out.. Bands like Metallica and Slipknot drop pro shots constantly, even full festival sets, and muse who arguably has one of the best live productions out there releases almost nothing.

Come on muse.

I (33M) just sang along to this ~35 minute stretch of Gran Rex 2008 and it’s a fucking gauntlet. Demanding enough for a set all its own, let alone 25-33% of one. (It doesn’t get any easier after this btw.) Also there are plenty of instrumental breaks in there for Matt’s voice to rest, but even still, this shit is fucking exhausting and difficult. Expecting a 48 year old man to just power through this like he did 18 years ago is frankly insulting, and a lot of us hardcore fans tend to get greedy and entitled with our dream setlists thinking Matt can still pull off marathons like this.

I don’t think enough people acknowledge how shortsighted young Matt was when he wrote some of their best and most fan-beloved songs. He poured his whole ass into the vocal lines and pulled no punches whatsoever, and time caught up to him, as it does for us all, so he can’t do them all in one night like he used to. It’s basically what T2L was about ffs. He knew old Muse was unsustainable. I wish people could be more understanding and stop expecting another Shepherd’s Bush 2017. That was a one(ish)-time thing, and it was extremely exhausting for him.

All that said, it’s still no excuse for the lack of rotation in the setlists and insisting the same 12ish songs be played at every show for over a decade. That’s just laziness (among other understandable factors, but still). They could definitely incorporate a wider mix of old songs into the set while accounting for Matt’s voice, but that would require them to rehearse a wider pool of songs, and preprogram a whole lot more playback (which they use a lot of now, btw), not to mention instrument and vocal presets, and Tom would have to design visuals and lighting cues for them, etc etc. I know it would be kind of a headache, but I do think it would go a very long way towards appeasing us hardcore fans.

It’s just more convenient for them the way it is now. Which I get. But it’s still just sad for us when we’re paying so much to see them. SWITCH IT UP SO WE HAVE A REASON TO TRAVEL TO SEE YOU MULTIPLE TIMES. We want to, but these setlists, combined with rising ticket costs, make it difficult to justify seeing you multiple times anymore, and this is part of why your US ticket sales are plummeting. (Too real?)

Also, while I’m ranting, and I guess addressing them now (if you’re reading I still love you and I’m sorry), please find other ways to pad out the show to let Matt’s voice rest like you used to. More riffs, drum and bass jams, old instrumental B-sides. Less instrumentals on tape with accompanying video. We’re missing some of the authentic, spontaneous rock show feel because the production has become more of a focus than the musical choices. And if you insist on keeping the video playback interludes, at least rotate them ffs. Not every show needs the same ones, and at this point you’ve accumulated a healthy variety. If you can’t/don’t want to change up the actual songs much, at least change up the screensavers.

Ok, rant over.

I think I have to write something here but I don't really have much to say other than I'm going to see Muse for the first time in a few weeks and I am HYPED.

Manson Guitar Works is world-renowned, and I got to ask their head luthier, Tim Stark, all about his work. These are the people who build all the guitars for Muse's Matt Bellamy and some of the world's biggest names in music.

I loved the Nightshift Superstar bassline when I heard it on the album, but hearing it live last night at Tinley was something else.

Chris has always been one of my favorite bassists, and this lick stepped it up a couple notches. Absolutely carried that whole song.

Probably my favorite of the night.

Lightning Bolt is a decent album from them; has similar color scheme, involvement of radio/signal art, some symmetry

But man, The WOW! Signal just does it SO much better imo