Spotlight On: Muse

Posted on Wednesday 5th July 2023 at 16:00

Multi-platinum and Grammy Award-winning band Muse are comprised of power trio Matt Bellamy on guitar and vocals, drummer Dominic Howard and Chris Wolstenholme on bass. Combining dramatic space rock with out-of-this-world lyrics about intergalactic conspiracies and mind-blowing onstage visuals whenever they play – they are one of the greatest live acts ever!

Last year saw the Teignmouth three-piece drop their ninth album Will Of The People, their heaviest and most ambitous record yet, and melted faces with singles “WON’T STAND DOWN”, “KILL OR BE KILLED” and “WE ARE FUCKING FUCKED”. Now, the space rock veterans announce two nights at The O2 Arena in London, playing unmissable shows on Sunday 1^st and Monday 2^nd of October. They will be joined by very special guests Nova Twins.

Tickets will be released at 10:00 on Friday 7^th of July with Gigantic. CLICK HERE to set your event reminder right now!

Initially formed in 1994 under the guise of Carnage Mayhem, Matt Bellamy was recruited by Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard to start a goth rock group before changing their name to Rocket Baby Dolls, winning a local battle of the band competition along the way.

Re-naming themselves the now familiar moniker Muse; they would change their style and lean more towards an angsty, emotional sound which drew comparisons to the great songwriter Jeff Buckley. Releasing the Muscle Museum EP in 1998 and then debut album Showbiz a year later, they would initially struggle to get noticed and their first full length only reaching the lower end of the Top 40.

Their fortunes would change as word got out of their frenetic shows, with Bellamy frequently trashing his guitar at the end of gigs and wildly intense live improvisions. Their sound would also evolve, now presenting a harder yet psychedelic edge as first heard on their huge hit single “Plug In Baby” which narrowly missed out of the Top 10. It would galvanise the band and lead to the release of their second album Origin of Symmetry which, with its themes of sci-fi surrealism, would serve as a future template for the rest of their career and hit No. 3 upon release in the summer of 2001.

Muse would continue to ascend, unleashing fan favourite third album Absolution in 2003 which took Bellamy’s obsession with shadowy governmental conspiracies even further to both critical acclaim and commercial success, topping the U.K album charts for the first time. They followed up with Black Holes and Revelations three years later, which was packed full of such awesome singles as "Supermassive Black Hole", “Starlight” and the brilliantly barmy Martian spaghetti western rock opera “Knights of Cydonia”. Black Holes and Revelations would hit No. 1 in album charts around the world and has since sold 4.5 million copies globally.

Having proven themselves, the band felt creatively emboldened and began exploring a wider sphere of sound. First taking progressive arena rock to its greatest extremes on The Resistance (2009) before indulging their love of dubstep with The 2^nd Law (2012) and diving headlong into hard rock on Drones (2015). They would take their love of science fiction to its furthest point and fuse rock with 80’s inspired synth-pop in 2018 with eighth album Simulation Theory.

Teasing fans with a return to the sort of guitar-centric sound as heard previously on records Origin of Symmetry and Dones via social media; listeners were not disappointed when Will Of The People dropped last year. Seeing Muse go all out on metal-inspired riffs, their latest LP reaches out to industrial rock whilst also including the space rock and synth-pop influences they had previously touched upon. Yet another smash hit album, they would dominate the charts around the world, showing every sign that Muse will continue to be a formidable force for a long time to come.

It’s a great time to be a Muse fan and we expect them to pack out The O2 Arena both nights they play, So, do not miss out and set an event reminder for their shows in October.