Muse: The HAARP Tour

Last night I had the oppurtunity to go and see the new Muse DVD at a Vue cinema in Fulham. This would be a screening in HD and surround sound. This was also, rather lazily it has to be said, a streaming from somewhere in Belgium. You could almost say it was a fancy version of a YouTube video. Whilst we were watching it the stream froze for about 5 seconds on three seperate occassions. Other than that, the streaming was very sound.

But what of the actual film?

Well let me start by saying it was miles better than Absolution Tour. That said, Matt could shit on his glittery red guitar and it would still be better than Absolution Tour. The audio on the DVD was excellent and brilliantly mixed. Whilst the sound of the band dominated proceedings, you can hear some of the crowd during the songs. The bass sound was a little bit too loud in the mix for my liking, but then again I was in a cinema and it might be totally different at home.

Also, imagine my surprise when I found out that the person responsible for the mixing of the audio was none other than Rich Costey! The same Rich Costey who absolutely annihalates the sound of most bands into something utterly shite. This DVD in the end turns out to be a rare success for him.

Editing wise, it was all very smooth apart from a few noticeable cuts. Even though the DVD is marketed as the 17th, don't expect all footage to be from the 17th. There are some noticeable cuts from bright light to dark light, especially in the quiet section in the encore. Also, the outro at the end of Map Of The Problematique was only played on the 16th as opposed to the 17th where it just wasn't played. It's still a cool riff, so I can easily let that one slide.

Other, perhaps light-hearted, observations of the screening:

• The middle-aged man who decided to be a guitar hero and air guitar to Hysteria in the middle of the cinema, almost as if he was actually at the gig. Either that, or he thought he was at a screening of U23D.
• Some of the close ups of the fans are quite funny - my favourite being a fan who, quite aptly, is singing along yet falling asleep to Invincible, which I still maintain as the worst song Muse have ever put to record.
• Morgan Nicholls, the band's extra band member live, uses a shaker during Supermassive Black Hole. Does this add anything to the live sound? I'm saying no.
• Me and the four other people I went to the screening with were the only people who cheered for Tom Kirk, the person who directed the DVD.
• There were two drunkards in the row in front of us who claimed to us they were super Muse fans...yet didn't know who Morgan or Tom was. Lame.
• Matt develops a bit of a Thom Yorke-like wonky eye at one point.
• Chris looks shit-scared for the first few songs. The close up on his face just before Knights Of Cydonia is the look of a terrified man.
• Halfway through, a couple of guys got thrown out for recording the thing. Fools.
  

So, overall, I thought HAARP was great. I don't think it could ever beat Hullabaloo but I'm not sure yet. The editing though is solid as is the audio mix, but it's spoilt a teeny bit by bad cutting and absent songs from the DVD (Sunburn and Bliss are two such songs). It's still a recommended purchase though, simply because it perfectly captures why Muse are one of the best live bands in the country.

Oh, and the strings version of Blackout in the end credits is beautiful. I need to find an mp3 of that.

Muse: The HAARP Tour is out this Monday. You can purchase the standard edition or the special edition here.

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