Muse

When you arrive at the Stadio Olimpico and find yourself forced to park about three kilometres away, you understand that the conditions might be there for a great evening. Maybe it was the tickets put on sale the day before at ten euros (though only for the less desirable areas of the stands), maybe it was the rumour that the whole event would be filmed for a live DVD, or maybe it was simply that Muse live are a great band who always guarantee a successful show - whatever the reason, the stadium was already almost completely full a full hour before the concert. All this despite the fact that the band's two most recent records can hardly be filed under "memorable" - if anything, they're the weak points of a discography that has been losing quality over time.

And yet the pull exerted by the English trio is now extremely strong, and their army of fans keeps growing, including both the early supporters - the ones who'd happily listen to the whole of "Origin Of Symmetry" on repeat and who haven't abandoned the band despite these recent lacklustre efforts - and the new converts won over by certain easier, moderately mainstream little songs, who nonetheless take the sonic gut-punches the trio regularly dishes out just as well.

The setlist offered to the Roman crowd (not too different from the rest of the dates on this massive 2013 summer tour, which had already played Turin's Olimpico for two sold-out shows!) manages to please everyone, ranging from the harder tracks ("Stockholm Syndrome" and "Hysteria" are worth clapping your hands raw for) to the more accessible ones ("Time Is Running Out", "Undisclosed Desires", "Madness", "Supermassive Black Hole", just to name a few of the most acclaimed), all the way to the more epic, structured ones ("Knights Of Cydonia").

The view is wonderful, but only by watching a few videos on YouTube the following day do I realise that, from the Tribuna Monte Mario, I witnessed a completely different concert from the one experienced just a few metres from the stage: if from the stands the show was impressive, down on the pitch the emotional involvement reached truly insane peaks. The show is a mega production in the style of U2, lasting about two hours (anyone expecting an extra track or two for the sake of the DVD recording will be disappointed); the stage is hyper-technological, equipped with giant screens and a walkway connecting it to a platform placed almost at the centre of the pitch, which the band reaches often to make the fans left further back feel more involved. Above the stage, six chimneys spit fireballs throughout the whole show, blasting the entire stadium with warm gusts of heat.

It kicks off at sunset with "Supremacy" and "Panic Station", two tracks from the recent "The 2nd Law", but the crowd properly warms up thanks to the following "Plug In Baby" and "Map Of The Problematique", two of their finest songs ever. Matt Bellamy proves sharp and in great shape, with a voice that reaches the highest notes with ease and is able to blend the tones of Thom Yorke and Jeff Buckley into a single person, plus his well-known guitar technique, remarkable but never self-indulgent for its own sake. Chris Wolstenholme's bass is granite-solid, as if trying to rip up the stadium's foundations, while Dominic Howard's drumming confirms itself to be powerful and precise.

A perfect trio, seasoned by nearly two decades on the road together, tearing through old and new songs alike in a whirlwind that marries tellurian moments with others of intense melodic power, among which a spine-tingling "Unintended" stands out (the only track rescued from their debut "Showbiz"), performed here with just guitar and voice.

The show is meticulously curated down to the smallest detail, with no shortage of dazzling coups de théâtre, such as the cannon that fires fake money over the crowd during "Animals", delightful souvenirs printed with the faces of the three musicians, or the hot-air balloon shaped like a giant lightbulb (which strongly recalls the suspended beds and flying pigs of Pink Floyd lore) floating above the crowd's heads with an acrobat dangling from it, performing her own routines during "Guiding Light" and "Blackout".

There's no shortage of references either, as with the homages to "The House Of The Rising Sun" and to Lightning Bolt, in a complete and exhilarating show that, after recent tracks "Survival" and "Uprising", closes the curtain with the acclaimed hit "Starlight". The curtain falls, and sixty thousand faces beaming with joy head satisfied toward the exit after taking part in a great celebration of music and color.

Ride the wave of great music

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