23 Dec 2009 No Comments
Muse: A Weekend to Remember.
First off, with the media:
Here’s a bunch of photos from that weekend on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/libperalta/sets/72157622917593013/
And a couple of videos I shot in Vegas:
So as you may know, I spent December 10-15 in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, to watch my favorite band Muse perform at two different radio station holiday festivals. Here are the highlights from that memorable weekend.
- Stayed at the California Hotel my first night there (Thursday), since I hadn’t been to Fremont Street when I went to Vegas in May with my sister, Yvonne, and Jon. There were tons of people wearing cowboy hats; the national rodeo finals was taking place that weekend. Cowboys and Muse fans in the same city, the same weekend. Hehehe.
- On Friday night, I walked through the Venetian, the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace, and Harrah’s with Jae and her husband, who flew in from Chicago for the gig. They’re so sweet!
- The Vegas concert on Saturday was at the Hard Rock Hotel’s venue, The Joint. I made it a point to go to this gig because this is probably the last time in a while that Americans will witness Muse in a mid-sized venue (The Joint has a capacity of about 4,000 people), since Muse is doing an arena tour in the spring. And I’m glad we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel because everything was right downstairs. I lined up at 7 am to find that I was the first one there! At 10 am, though, security told the 20 people who had gathered to disperse, since lineup starts at 4 pm. That was disappointing, since we were already in line for three hours before someone actually told us, and we weren’t in anyone’s way, since we were in a separate lobby from the casino, but it was still a fire hazard. We anxiously lined up outside and kept checking the front of the venue inside until then.
- To pass the time, we started a sign-making campaign to get Muse to play “Bliss,” one of many songs from their previous albums that they rarely play these days. It spread to other people who waited in line with us, and soon, there were a bunch of us sporting signs requesting it. Unfortunately, when it came time to enter the venue, security didn’t allow signs inside, so we had to throw them away.
Mine is the neon yellow one. And yup, those are my star lei… which I’ll talk about in a bit.
Muse fans for “Bliss”!
- The Las Vegas gig was my first time seeing Muse (“popping my Muse cherry,” as it were). And it was AMAZING. Front and center on the barrier! After watching three other bands — Afghan Raiders, Paper Tongues, and Cage the Elephant — it was time for Muse. It’s surreal seeing a band you’ve always watched onscreen at home, then seeing them in the flesh for the first time. Though they didn’t play many oldies, they did bust out “MK Ultra,” one of my favorites off their latest album, and apparently this was their first time playing it in the States. I made sure to call my friend Kylee, who was back home on O’ahu, during the song, so she could enjoy it along with me.
Lead vocalist, guitarist, and pianist Matt Bellamy.
Bassist Chris Wolstenholme playing the harmonica during “Man with a Harmonica,” the Ennio Morricone song the band uses as an intro to “Knights of Cydonia.” My favorite live photo I took that night.
Drummer Dom Howard.
- Thinking there was no way I would be able to meet the band afterward — and note, I feel very uncomfortable about throwing things onstage — I thought, “screw it,” and, after seeing someone throw their jacket onstage (???), I threw one of my lei toward frontman Matt Bellamy during “Starlight” (you know, because it was a lei of origami stars). But…
- Matt, drummer Dom Howard, supporting musician Morgan Nicholls, and “fourth member” Tom Kirk were at the official afterparty. The great thing about the party was that it was free, as long as you showed your photo ID (you had to be 21+) and concert ticket stub. Two very brief encounters with Matt Bellamy: one in which I actually “lei’d” him with another lei I had, which incited his hilarious giggle (I didn’t “lei” him like that, you pervs!); the other in which we took a photo together. I need to get over being so nervous around people I admire. I also had a scare with my wallet, which turned out to be in my room, but had a ton of fun with the people I was with after I found it. We were standing the next booth over from Muse’s booth. I glanced in the band’s direction a few times while I was hanging out with other fans, and it was a bit awkward catching Matt dance to music like Usher’s lol.
Me and Matt Bellamy. Oh. My. God.
Dom and Matt, who’s wearing my star lei. Props to Christina for taking this photo.
- Flew to Los Angeles the following afternoon for KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas. It was interesting because I had an opposite vantage point from the previous evening; I sat with a few friends in the balcony. In addition to Muse, I got to see bands like Metric, Phoenix, and 311 perform, as well. The downside was seeing Cage the Elephant, who played before Muse the night before in Vegas, again. I didn’t enjoy them because, in short, their lead singer is epileptic and incomprehensible live. Muse, who headlined this festival too, brought it, of course. Complete with the big balloons with confetti inside them for the pit to destroy at the end of “Plug In Baby.”
After my back-to-back Muse shows, I went to a Craig Ferguson taping. I have no photos from that, since people aren’t allowed to bring cameras and cell phones inside CBS’s studios. But I must say, the guy who amps up the audience before the taping did an excellent job putting everyone in that laugh-out-loud mood. And Craig himself is hilarious, of course! I watched the episode that night, and I could barely hear my hoarse laugh. (Yeah, my voice was shot after the weekend!) That night, I had dinner with Vasthy, a friend I made at my inaugural Franz Ferdinand gig in April, and talked about traveling and concert plans for next year.
Thank you to everybody who helped make this such a memorable weekend… and thanks especially to Muse. See you again in the spring, I hope!