Muse @ Teignmouth Den

Saturday 5th September 2009

To see a band you love without leaving Devon can be a bit of a rarity, especially when they’re the sort of band that are one of the first to play the spanking new Wembely Arena, win countless live act awards, not to mention album sales. So when Muse announced their two dates in Teignmouth, they were set to transform the serene and scenic sea side town into a bustling landscape, hyped with festivities. The streets were swarming with adrenalized music fans, anxious to witness the event to make their summer. Any fan would know that this event was the stuff that dreams were made of, despite any preconceptions over the trio’s ability to marvel without sold-out-stadium vastness to back them up. Wait and see.

Ten thousand tickets were sold for each of the two titanic nights in Teignmouth, so the supergroup doubled the population of the ten thousand people seaside town. With ease I might add. The Den was transformed from a coastal green to a bustling festival ground complete with everything from street performers to burger vans, and VIPs to porta-loos. Two punch and judy figures framed the Victorian circus style stage, which projected a quirky nostalgia and childlike excitement on the eagerly awaiting crowds. As dusk was creeping in BBC Radio One’s Zane Lowe busted out a tasty entanglement of anti-anthems without letting the crowd grasp a beat or lyric long enough, like a super-fan’s struggle to catch a breath. Finishing with a pep-talk, emphasising how “to see a band like this, in a place of this size is something that doesn’t happen often, so savour every moment”

With everyone firmly in the spirit, the band swaggered onto the stage with a spring in their assertive step, oozing with confidence and ownership of the night. Instead of soaring into a luxuriously familiar riff, they began, perhaps against the expectations of some, with the first single Uprising from their recent album The Resistance. The track is a polished product of Matt Bellamy’s concept of ‘us’ and ‘them’ which he illustrates through atmospheric dance qualities andpolitical themes with a recognisable Muse pulse running through it. This will have been the first flavour for many fans of The Resistance set for release on Monday 7th September.

Crowning moments of the night would include the hands together audience contributions through Starlight, the sharp emergence of the Plug In Baby intro through the seductive feedback from the front-man’s guitar. Of course joker, not forgetting the memorable mistake when he admitted to forgetting Collateral Damage, the classical piano outro to United States of Eurasia which is the forth track from the new album. If this doesn’t bring the group down from their musical pedestal, it may be the awkwardly nonexistent between-song-banter that gave them back human form. A few timid one-liners communicating their gratitude and fulfillment for being able to play in the spot where they spent a lot of their youths, and where Bellamy first met drummer Dominic Howard.

As Muse conclude the magic with the tempestuous, stormy Knights of Cydonia, the punters are given the last chance to look around at the balcony on-lookers in their seaside flats, and the full moon gleaming down on the second of the Muse homecoming gigs on an extra special September weekend.

The Hills new season

OK, I'm not sure the Hills even exists with Lauren. Audrina looks soo skinny, you can just imagine some fake tanned, grey haired bigwig telling her to cut out carbs and drop a few pounds. She doesn't need to be so thin, no one does, and she is so pretty. As for, Kristen (or whatever her name is), fair enough she is like every lads dream or whatever but she is evil, and channeling it all at the wrong gender. Annoying voice also! Why is Justin still under this illusion that he is cool? He is a complete sell out, treating women like trash on international television for entertainment value? Great one. He tries way too hard to be effortless. Classic mistake. On the up side, Heidi actually seems happy. Even though her husband is a complete misogynist, and well a complete waste of space. Shame.

A part of me would love to get an insight into The Hills and how it works. I predict that you would crack the glistening, sugary shell like the top of a Creme Brule and all this goey superficial and offensive stuff would spurt out. Which would make for some pretty epic blogging.

Its pretty degrading that I let product placement, music and boys make The Hills seem actually worth talking about, but I'm aware of that, so its fine yeah?

Whatever...!!!

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Media Writing thing for uni. x

Music that you listen to at/or has a different affect at a certain time.

Friendly Fires- ipod on the way to Uni!

Hearing is the odd one out of all the senses. Unlike smell, taste and vision it isn’t based on a series of chemical reactions but it relies completely on physical movement to exist. This is similar to my need for Friendly Fires, which without these moments of longing to dance, it might just not have such a strong existence. However when its 8.35 on a Wednesday morning the general public may not be overly casual about walking past a dancing student when the only sounds they are experiencing are the continuous groans of the morning traffic, unaware of the treats that my ipod is dishing out.

Its my shoulders that are the first to go. The sound spills into my head like the sweet misty aroma of sizzling bacon drawing you out of bed. My head fills with visions of shapes and colours as I fight the urge to shuffle and wiggle down the street like a cast member from a west end musical. My eyes are forced to awaken as I make the journey from my warm cosy house through the crisp autumn streets.

Track 4 of the genius self titled debut is ‘White Diamonds’, which is where it all begins for me. My fingers want to click along with the sparkling metallic beats as they build up towards the chorus where I want to sing the melodies and harmonies to cover the mundane activities of an urban midweek morning. ‘ Skeleton Boy’ is another vibrant track where I feel inspired by singer Ed Macfarlane’s spectacular onstage gyrations that I recall vividly from their Glastonbury appearance this summer. The radiant video for the band’s most recent, and infectious single ‘Kiss of Life’ also includes some electrifying moves which alongside the paradise setting would make anyone want to crawl through the screen to team up.

So back to reality, I’m strolling along the paths covered with fallen leaves but I don’t feel the crunches underfoot. My headphones fog my senses as my hearing works overtime through the quirky romantic wonder ‘Photobooth’ which first appeared in the three track EP released in 2006. A doss of freedom and freshness pumps through my blood when its just me, the city streets and Friendly Fires. My fingers tap as they grip my books, my mouth awkwardly resists miming the words all the way to my crowded destination. Yet I am the only one who saunters on the empty pavements. I’m the only one awake.

Crystal Castles

They were on Skins so they must be cool, along with drugs and pre-marital sex of course.

OK, so I think this is an awesome photo, and I also think that CrimeWave is a bit of tune, but something does bother me about Crystal Castles. Something prevents me wanting to delve into them any deeper. I think its got something to do with the hype, and attitude that they surround themselves with, or that people around them create. At a discussion seminar/meeting type thing last night people were talking about Slipknot and instantly started talking about masks, image and identity, skimming hastily over the fact that they are, musically so distinctive and spot on at what they do. Slipknot have three drummers and six guitarists, not to mention a cult following to die for. Yet, ironically people outside that bubble struggle to move their conversation away from their appearance. A lad next to me in a very stylish CSS Tshirt explained that the music itself only makes up a pokey amount of who a band really are as artists, and that image can play a major part in the rest of that attraction. Crystal Castles are, to be brutally honest pretty average in my opinion, they've got some great electro/vaguely progressive choons, but nothing to write home (or blog about =S). However as they are pretty cutting edge in terms of fashion, photography etc and behave so badly on stage does that make them seem more relevant to music than they really are? Maybe a little bit. I mean where would Alice Cooper be without the face paints and would Elbow's audience change if they bought a running machine and some Crystal Castles Tshirts?

Dog Days Are Over

I just love that song, this mini post is actually an announcement that the summer of blog neglect is over, I'm going to post all the writing I do for Media Writing:Popular Music at uni, and also anything else I conjure up !

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