Muse Album: “H.A.A.R.P. Live From Wembly”

The last time Muse toured through my city, they were the opening act for My Chemical Romance. Such a thing doesn't seem fair for a band that can sell out Wembley Stadium, one of the world's largest sports facilities, twice in two days. This CD/DVD set is from those two famous shows and contain almost every great song Muse has ever written.

Unfortunately, I've never been a fan of live CDs. Why pay money to hear a band perform something live when you can just pay the same amount and get a better, studio-quality recording? The same holds true for the CD in this set. Though the songs are performed greatly and it has one song that the DVD doesn't (boo), "Microcuts," it's just not the same experience as watching the DVD. A live show, especially one on this scale, is equally about visual stimulus as it is audio. That's why I'm focusing this review mainly on the DVD, because it's amazing, awe-inspiring, and it make me wish that I actually went to the Muse show the last time they came through my town.

In a word, this performance is massive. The band enters the stage from the middle of the stadium, rising up onto a platform, before making the long walk down to the absolutely gigantic stage. Once there, they embark on a nearly 2-hour long concert that is one of the most mind-blowing spectacles I have ever witnessed on a DVD. The set goes through different phases, opening with huge numbers like "Knights of Cydonia" and "Hysteria" and really pumping the crowd up. Matt eventually moves over to a grand piano where he plays "Apocalypse Please," "Hoodoo," and "Feeling Good." Things pick back up soon after and the band plays a couple of their more heavy tunes before leaving the stage for a brief intermission.

They reenter shortly after, Matt carrying an acoustic guitar on which he plays "Soldier's Poem" and "Unintended." This is really the most flawed portion of the act, as "Soldier's Poem" isn't really a crowd pleaser by any means. Fortunately, this section is followed by the performance of "Blackout" which is truly breathtaking. During this amazing number, there are actually trapeze artists suspended from gigantic orbs overing hundreds of feet over the crowd. It is worth buying this DVD to witness, as it"s probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen at a concert.

Overall, I've found Haarp to be an awesome piece of media to add to my collection. Though the experience given on the CD is nowhere near as impressive as that found on the DVD, for the price, you really can't go wrong. Though I'm a little upset that "Citizen Erased" is nowhere to be found on this set, I'm more than happy with it. After seeing The Flaming Lips live, I was pretty much sure that I would never see a show quite as entertaining. After viewing this DVD, however, I can safely say that they have some stiff competition. If you call yourself a Muse fan, you owe it to yourself to pick up this set. Disappointment is not an option.

Key Tracks:

1. "Knights of Cydonia"

2. "Butterflies and Hurricanes"

3. "Invincible"

4. "Microcuts"

5. "Take a Bow"

CD: 7 out of 10 Stars

DVD: 9 out of 10 Stars

In the new millennium Muse together with Gomez, Mercury Rev, Elbow, Coldplay and The Flaming Lips (from "Soft Bulletin" (1999) onwards) were the bands that really excited me the most. (Previous to these recent years Kings X and Dream Theater "did it for me" in the 90's, Marillion were "my 80's" band together with Simple Minds, Big Country, Waterboys and U2. My 70's favorites were largely Genesis and Rush.

This live album from 2007 is a fantastic CD / DVD set (please see track listing as part of the "product information" above. 10 of the 13 tracks on the CD (and 13 of the19) (not including the "Intro" bit) Muse played live when they played in Auckland New Zealand in November 2007 (where they opened with "Take a bow" and closed with "Knights of Cydonia" - the reverse of this set. The CD (from the 16th June show) is 70 minutes of the greatest live music I have heard. The songs are very live in feel, passion and energy. The crowd is great and has been mixed in brilliantly, it really has a great live feel. The DVD is the whole 17th June show (thus 6 more tracks than the CD) is sounds fantastic. Visually it is at times just too much to take in (I mean that in appositive sense, there is just so much happening).

This is also a great companion disc to the bands previous live disc (Hullabaloo - 2002 in support of the "Origin of Symmetry" CD (2001) with tracks from that CD and" Showbiz" (1999). On this new one we get 6 tracks from "Black Holes and Revelations" (2006), 4 from "Absolution" (2004), 2 from "Origin" (2001) and 1 from "Showbiz" (1999). The only "repeat" (ie that was already on "Hullabaloo" is "Micro Cuts" (from"Origin").

The band give a superb performance throughout, just brilliant. I can't speak highly enough of this set. For me Muse are THE band of the new millennium, in terms of their ability / freshness/ willingness to take risks and passion for what they do. 75,000 looked and sounded like they loved every minute...

On a personal note I enjoy playing drums (I'm only average myself) and I was fascinated with the playing ability of Dominic Howard - brilliant. He plays a very compact transparent kit which looks great on the DVD with the various lighting effects.

I really enjoy his very heavy bass sounding style (Single kick, with three floor toms - oneon his high hat side) with the snare and singular rack tom providing the contrasts. It is just a great sound.

Certainly one of the great live albums of the new millennium from one of the great bands of these modern times, a tremendous experience in today's age - real musicians playing real instruments and playing with energy and passion in front of a very appreciative 75,000 at Wembley Stadium, in London, England.

I really enjoyed this CD (and DVD), if this sounds remotely like your sort of thing, go for it, it's a top notch effort and has joined my personal list of "Great Live albums" that I've enjoyed over the last 30 years.

- "Live at the Fillmore" from Allman Brothers Band (1971)

- "How the West was won" from Led Zeppelin (1972)

- "Made in Japan" from Deep Purple (1972)

- "Yessongs" from Yes (1973)

- "Welcome back my friends" from ELP (1973)

- "Too late to stop now" from Van Morrison (1974)

- "On your feet or on your knees" from Blue Oyster Cult (1975)

- "Live in London" from Bruce Springsteen (1975)

- "One more from the Road" from Lynyrd Skynrd (1976)

- "Frampton comes alive" from Peter Frampton (1976)

- "Live Bullet" from Bob Seger (1976)

- "Seconds Out" from Genesis (1977)

- "A Live Record" from Camel (1978)

- "Bursting Out Live" from Jethro Tull (1978)

- "Two for the Show" from Kansas (1978)

- "Playing the fool" Gentle Giant (1978)

- "Waiting fro Columbus" from Little Feat (1978)

- "Strangers in the Night" from UFO (1979)

- "Live Rust" from Neil Young (1979).

- "Paris" from Supertramp (1980).

- "Exit...Stage left" from Rush (1981)

- "Under a blood red sky" from U2 (1983)

- "Stop making sense" from Talking Heads (1984)

- "Live in the city of Light" from Simple Minds (1986)

- "Live adventures of the Waterboys" from the Waterboys (1986)

- "Operation Livecrime" from Queensryche (1991)

- "Without a safety Net" from Big Country (1992)

- "Secret World Live" from Peter Gabriel (1994)

- "Together in Concert" from Tim Finn, Dave Dobbyn, Bic Runga (2000)

- "Lve at the Greek" from Black Crowes and Jimmy Page (2000)

- "Live Scenes from New York" from Dream Theater (2000)

- "Hullabaloo" from Muse (2002)

- "Live in Rio" from Rush (2002).

- "Out West" from Gomez (2005)

- "Instant Delivery" from Flower Kings (2006).

- "Score - 20th Anniversary" from Dream Theater (2006)

- "Freak 'n' Roll - into the fog" from Black Crowes (2006)

- "Okonokos" from My Morning Jacket (2006).

- "HAARP" from Muse (2007).

I was all excited to play the DVD and then a message came up "Wrong Region." I may be at fault but nowhere do I see in the description of this DVD that it will not play on US DVD players. Boooo Hisss all I ask is you let me know the Region Code!

With its last 2 studio albums ("Absolution" and "Black Holes and Revelations"), Muse achieved massive cross-over from a band on the fringe of indie/prog/rock to full blown commercial mainstream appeal. Muse also is one of the most energetic live acts around, and so it is only natural that a live album would be forthcoming at some point. This release, however, does one better: "HAAR: Live at Wembley Stadium, London, 17 June 2007" is indeed a CD/DVD combo.

As to the CD (14 tracks; 72 min.), it is essentially a greatest hits live of the band. All the highlights of the Absolution album and the Black Holes album are here, including Stockholm Syndrome, Suppermassive Black Hole, Hysteria, etc. etc., and a few choice tracks from the early days are included as well. The sound is crisp, and the band is in great form throughout.

As to the DVD (20 tracks, 100 min.), it brings the show in its entirety (which the CD could not do, due to space limitations) and in all of its visual glory. I am very happy to tell you that the DVD is actually watchable, and even more: it is enjoyable. Regretfully, many concert DVDs these days are edited so ridiculously that they induce headaches most of the time. Check out last year's REM Live release as a prime example of that. Beware that there are no extras on the DVD: it's the concert, and that's it.

In all "HAARP" is an excellent recap of what Muse has accomplished to date and where they are today. I've had an opportunity to see the band in concert here in the US a number of times in the 2004-07 period, and while it cannot compare of course to the grandeur of Wembley Stadium, they never failed to give their everything, no matter how small or how large the crowd. I can't wait to see where Muse goes from here.

An absolutely wild in love Muse fan, I was able to enjoy this DVD to an extent beyond what it deserves, which is why I rated it at 4 stars. I saw the band on this tour twice in the states with a similar play list. The energy of the live shows adhered me to this band for life, and therefore I was excited to purchase the DVD to sort of relive the intensity and excitement and power that I felt seeing them on stage.

I was pretty bummed from the start, when during Knights of Cydonia there were only occasional flashes of the full view of the stage. The fervency felt when you are in the crowd seeing them live and watching the words to the chorus flash consecutively across the huge screen behind the band "No. One's. Going. To. Take. Me. Alive." Lost, completely. And why? It was a genius decision of showmanship to bond the audience to the powerful lyrics and to feel a part of the song through this visual, not to mention a really cool stage show effect, that essentially was never seen on this footage.

Many other cool lighting effects from the show were lost in a similar manner, such as during Supermassive Black Hole when the light behind the band is so bright it looks like they actually are playing in front of an exploding star. It seems that the director became so wrapped up in the many possible aspects of a concert experience, that what was lost was the idea that simply showing the stage from the true perspective of an audience member, as it is mean to be seen, is quite effective!

Other examples of poor editing:

Panning or flashing off to ANYTHING else besides the lead instrument during a solo? WEAK. I was so mad so many times on this.

It is odd not to show much except blurred obstructions of the horns and other instrumentals on songs highlighting such musicians.

Showing shots of anything besides Bellamy when he does that last, "Hold you in my arms" falsetto at the end of Starlight is unacceptable. Whoever made that editorial decision, I want to meet you out in the parking lot after school. I seriously took it personally.

Some of the effects worked, as I did like the unique color treatment, particularly in the intro, and I actually enjoyed seeing many of the different perspectives, especially that swooping camera angle that looks like you are flying down onto a crowd of open hands waving in the air. They would have been even more effective and fun, however, if used very sparingly, and I would have loved to see any camera shot last more than 3 seconds. I admit to a short attention span, but this editor really needs to be put on Riddlin.

Essentially, Muse as a live band does not NEED all of those effects and dodgy fancying up. The energy of the show, the talent of these musicians - who on stage sound much much larger than their 3 man band - struck deeply a chord within me in a way that no other band has in many years. I am left a little dismayed that those fans who have not been fortunate enough to actually see them live will not even gather a fraction of that feeling from this disjointed DVD.

Yet, do I still have it on constant rotation? Yes. Yes I do. Because without having a new album to fulfill my Muse cravings the CD, with live versions of many of my old favorites, sustains my taste for the time. *nibbles*