Photos by Randall Vasquez
There is a lot of doom and gloom talk as it pertains to concerts these days. Depending on who you listen to, the industry is in dire straits due to the continuing fallout from the pandemic. Large-scale tours that artists like Muse are used to seem to be on less shaky ground, although they haven’t been averse to criticism thanks to factors such as dynamic pricing.
I’m still not sure why a band who have sold over 30 million albums worldwide and are on the verge of celebrating their 30th anniversary together chose to promote latest effort Will of the People with an intimate theatre tour in seven select cities. Toronto – specifically the almost year-old History venue – was lucky enough to have gotten a taste of what to come in 2023 when Muse return to town on March 9th; it will be the sixth time they have headlined Scotiabank Arena / Air Canada Centre since 2010.
I don’t recall there being the same outrage over how much History tickets were going for (unlike Springsteen, Depeche Mode and blink-182 most recently), just that Muse sold out the building in the Beaches lightning fast. No surprise given its 2,500 person capacity. Don’t know how the 2023 Will of the People tour is currently tracking, but if you want a rock spectacle there are very few other groups that deliver it better Muse. If this was merely a warmup, you sure wouldn’t have known it as it’s not like the alt-rock titans held back whatsoever. This wasn’t some acoustic “Evening With…”. I was more curious as to how their stadium-sized bombast would translate to a smaller space, and Muse definitely didn’t disappoint in this regard. The bells and whistles you would expect from the Best Live Act in World were all there although no matter how many effects were packed into a seemingly short and sweet set, singer Matt Bellamy’s operatic voice cut through any gimmicks. He thrashed around the stage all night long, diving to his knees on more than one occasion to play guitar as if he was Hendrix reincarnated. Bellamy even jammed a little “Foxey Lady” following “Supermassive Black Hole”, Muse’s highest-charting UK single.
Dominic Howard had the best viewpoint in the house to the enthusiasm Toronto showed Muse from his raised drum kit. And aside from his light-up bass Chris Wolstenholme was as stoic as it gets while all the madness was going on around him. Sadly, that wasn’t one of the 18 songs Muse busted out on a grandiose Friday night that will be hard for them to top again. Six were from Will of the People including the title track (even if it sounds like a less-than-inspired mashup of Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People” with a spacey metal version of “Summertime Blues”). The cheesy fun continued in the form of “You Make Me Feel Like It’s Hallowwen”, complete with Bellamy doing Toccata and Fugue in D Minor on organ. You should all immediately add the song to your October 31st-themed playlists.
The band formerly known as Courage My Love should be on the marquee of places like History given how awesomely talented front sisters Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn are. Here’s hoping the next time the renamed Softcult play their hometown the music landscape has improved rather than regressed more. With songs such as “Take It Off” for the catcallers as Mercedes introduced it, the Toronto-raised, UK signed siblings are finding success overseas with their shoegaze-y vibe, opening for Incubus a couple of weeks ago and now the mighty Muse.
We can only hope that as we all try to get through whatever the post-COVID world holds for us, there’ll be room for people to be able to see concerts both big and small without having to take out another mortgage. Not to mention for as many artists as possible to still make a living through touring. It was great to be able to experience Muse in a unique way, but we also need opportunities to discover the next Muse.
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Be sure to check out Live Nation Ontario to see all of the other great acts that they will be bringing to Toronto this year.
