Inside Nokia Music

After a trying false start in preparation and arriving in sweltering heat that would come to render a pair of wellies null and void, I begin making my journey toward the stages. I dual in decision on whether to watch Snoop Dogg or Bloc Party frontman Kele’s solo set. Already overcome by the heat I stop by the BBC Introducing tent and catch the last half of a rather impressive Out Like A Lion and begin to get acquainted with my first SLR.

Beginning to feel the festival spirit after feeding back off the excitement from the band members about playing Glastonbury, I make my way to the neighbouring John Peel tent for Kele’s set, relenting on Snoop Dogg’s in a bid to dodge the sun.

In elevated spirit post Kele, I head down to the Pyramid Stage hoping that I might just make it for a Snoop track or two, but arrive half way through Vampire Weekend… which is no real tragedy by any means. After which I take a photographic detour of the Green Fields, the Stone Circle and around the Tipi Village.

An empty wallet and an unimaginable thirst then leads me to the gate for the area behind the Park Stage. This would be my first inkling that the hospitality wrist band offered more than just access to showers and lesser used toilet facilities as I’m granted access.

Out of desperation and damn near dehydration I find myself in the canteen, grab a free bottle of water, and finish it off without a breath taken. Recognising opportunity, I take the time to enquire about the 20:30 Special Guest slot… but the hospitality wrist band isn’t enough to influence anyone into revealing secrets and so I return to the stage, take a seat on the grass and wait patiently, desperately hoping for The Strokes, only we’re presented with something even more special in the form of Thom Yorke… looking a bit like Mark Knopfler.

The set closes and it’s a frantic dash to the Pyramid Stage for the Friday night headliners. A moment that would redefine my coverage strategy when I made the error of convincing myself that meeting friends in front of the sound tower was plausible. This journey would come to be the truest test of patience as the path cutters I chose to slipstream through the human density dissipate and I’m solidly wedged in the thick of it… D’oh!

It’s at this point I choose to disregard politeness as apologising to every person I bump would rapidly deplete the average mans daily word count, and so I endeavour through and finally make my way to a clearing stage right for a Gorillaz set that was far better than the reception it received.

Saturday morning and a bit of tent Feng Shui in the dead of night pays dividends, eradicating my need to perform an action film combat roll from the inside out as I awake, aflame from the greenhouse effect of the common tent. Having failed to kick off our prize winning #WheresGaz Twitter game a day earlier, I set out to fulfil this and hit various locations where I can sit in the shade and watch the festival folk whilst waiting in 15 minute increments for each until The Dead Weather’s Pyramid Stage set.

Buzzing from The Dead Weather slot I set out to lighten my carry load in preparation for the Saturday headliners and take the excess weight of my laptop to the wonderful Birmingham Friends Of The Earth property lock-up. Run by volunteers, the facility is free, secure and priceless… I wish to commend them for their amazing work and hope everyone else who used the facility made as many donations as I did. I’d never have managed without you!

With the slightest window of time before the Pyramid headline slot, I make my way to the quaintest of tents near the Park Stage called The Big Easy Jam. An indoor/outdoor living room vibe with muffled drums, an upright piano, several guitars, and big open arms for festival goers to participate and listen to the talents of un-billed artists. Charging my camera battery I enjoy covers of songs by The Beatles, Bob Marley, and even Kasabian’s Fire before making my way back The Pyramid Stage during the Scissor Sisters set to secure a prime location for the headline.

En route I finally discover the hospitality commuter channels that would come to make my the rest of the weekend significantly easier for traversing between stages and manage to get within earshot of a few Scissor Sisters tracks, giving me the perfect opportunity to snatch up a top spot for Muse’s Set when the crowd disperses.

Immunised to the crowds after having avoided the hoarding masses post Muse, I capitalise on saved energy and make my way down to Block 9, Shangri La and Arcadia for some post apocalyptic nocturnal entertainment and am awed by the flame throwing Afterburner Stage with it’s DJ’s and acrobatic girls twirling around in rings of fire.

Sunday morning rolls in and I prepare a load for the car to ease the Monday morning departure. I take a stroll to snap some festival activity, grab the tastiest mocha frappe’ (Yes, very Zoolander) from hospitality and enjoy a leisurely stroll to the Pyramid Stage for Slash’s Set. After which I make my way down to Chill n’ Charge and catch the 2 last German goals that dash England’s World Cup dream.

With the afternoon weather cooling off, I take one for the team and make my way back to the car on my own with an unbearable load, and finally make it back in time for a brief stop over at the Other Stage for LCD Soundsystem, conveniently catching Daft Punk Is Playing At My House, My Friends and James Murphy between songs singing “It smells like human pooooooo” in falsetto… which it does, due to the lack of rain that Glastonbury is synonymous for.

As we enter the last furlong of Glastonbury’s 40th anniversary, I choose to take it easy for a performance by the legendary Stevie Wonder and make my way up to the highest point facing the Pyramid stage. A smart choice as my view suggests that Mr Wonder has pulled the largest audience of the entire festival… and though I don’t know enough Stevie Wonder to give a performance dissection, the appearance of Higher Ground bodes well with me on my perch and it’s festival longview.

So, to summarise my Glastonbury experience I’ll use alliteration… Broken, Bruised, Battered, Blistered and Burned… Bloody Brilliant!

Muse at Glastonbury this year has long been set as the “one to watch”. I overheard one say to another “Muse tomorrow, I don’t give a f*** if I don’t see anybody else” and another say “watching them will make you a fan”… But tonight there’s more to it than that, as this is Muse’s first Glastonbury appearance since the tragic passing of drummer Dom Howard’s father, shortly after watching the band perform their greatest show to the date.

As much as I prayed and danced around in circles for things to go the way I predicted them to by open unusually with a classic, they kept the commercial approach to a setlist opener and kicked off with Uprising followed-up buy Supermassive Black Hole to clear the new hype and Twilight obligation swiftly, and hit their stride with New Born and the near perfect Map Of The Problematique.

The fat eighties beat of Guiding Light works the open air, and the setlist return of Citizen Erased is a big moment for me, and probably anyone else who’s experienced it’s absence at recent shows.

A stretch on the ol’ piano next and we’re treated to the b-side instrumental Niche before United States Of Eurasia (-Collateral Damage) and über crowd pleaser Feeling Good.

Back in my snap spot for a couple shots I finally manage one of Dom when he moves down stage to play diminished percussion on Undisclosed Desires… but the photos blur and I’m left with nothing.

After Resistance, it’s the Interlude before Hysteria as it appears on Absolution. It’s one of those moments that define the fan tiers and reveals those with whom to share the all-knowing moments with.

Time Is Running Out, Starlight and a very noisy Stockholm Syndrome usher in the encore where we’re treated to the guest appearance of The Edge for U2 classic Where The Streets Have No Name.

Drawing to a close they play Plug In Baby (Just wouldn’t be Muse otherwise) and “Man with Harmonica” ushers in staple closer Knights Of Cydonia.

Unfortunately we didn’t get the UFO performing arial maneuvers above the stage as they did at Rock Am Ring, interrupting Slayer’s set, thankfully, no Neutron Star Collision.. But still no MK Ultra! When Lord, when’s gon’ be my time?

Here’s the Flickr Set, Unfortunately these weren’t my best of the weekend, but they have a moment or two.

Muse is available to download now from Nokia/Ovi Music Store and if you’re a Comes With Music member, it’s free!

As a Muse fan from ‘Origin’ days, the bitter pill of their extreme commercial success has been a tough one to swallow. Already a huge departure in sound, Supermassive Black Hole expanded the fan base far beyond the devout… and even more so when it featured on the first Twilight soundtrack.

What would arise from this would create a divide… Twilight Muse fans, and the fans of old, scorned by the fear of association.

Having declared that they would not feature on the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack after contributing a rendition of  I Belong To You minus Mon Cœur S’ouvre À Ta Voix to New Moon, the band made a swift U-Turn and opted to contribute the previously unreleased track. Penned by Matt Bellamy around the release of The Resistance following the end of a relationship, Matt said on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 show that he figured it would be better to release it now when it was “still relevant”, instead of holding one to it for the next album.

So, as an unbiased listener not concerned with the fear of association, but of song quality alone… I have to say I’m unsure! It sounds like the counter to I Belong To You. Which would make sense as such since I believe it was written about the same lady in Bellamy’s life. Perhaps a few more revolutions around the particle accelerator and we’ll collide!

Muse albums and singles are available to download at Nokia Music Store. If you’ve got Comes With Music download them all for free!

Having seen Muse live several times, this shouldn’t make me jealous… but I’d trade them all to have been at this one.

After a few words from fans giving the video the atmospheric we’re-so-lucky-to-be-here spin, the band play Stockholm Syndrome (with an honourable mention of what would appear (earppear?) to be a brief homage to the Peter Gunn Theme @5:10) and Knights Of Cydonia complete with the famed “Man with Harmonica” intro that’s gone down well with the fans on The Resistance Tour. Have a look, it’s worth the Peter Gunn thing alone.

All the Muse albums are available to download at Nokia Music Store or if you’ve got Comes With Music get them all for free!

Back again, flying the Muse flag high on the insidenokiamusic blog as usual, this time it’s all about the third single Resistance from the massively successful 5th album The Resistance.

I’m far more excited about the release of a new single this time around because, unlike first single Uprising with it’s solitary b-side that circulated several months before it’s release, and second single Undisclosed Desires which didn’t have any at all, Resistance has answered my prayers and will feature 2 new songs, as well as the obligatory radio edit and a remix by Tiesto.

the first new track is a cover of Prague by Mega City Four. The second is again a cover, this time of Popcorn by Hot Butter, a track I believe the band live debuted during their highly acclaimed homecoming double-nighter “A Seaside Rendezvous” a week or so before the release of The Resistance. It’s a song I doubt any other rock band could cover and still keep their credibility intact, but the swirling synths are right up Muse’s alley. Sadly this track only appears to be available on a limited edition 7″ single exclusive to the band’s official website.

The entire Muse catalogue is available to download from the Nokia Music Store and is completely free to ‘Comes With Music’ subscribers. Resistance is released this coming Monday 22nd February.

Muse fans at Big Day Out 2010 in Sydney and Melbourne we’re treated to a cover of AC/DC’s Back In Black with and incredible Brian Johnson impersonation by Jet’s Nick Cester. According to Muse drummer Dom Howard in this video, AC/DC have never even played the Big Day Out, which in my opinion is a sad state of affairs for Australia’s greatest ever Rock band.

Muse and Jet are available to download from the Nokia Music Store and are completely free to ‘Comes With Music’ subscribers.

The music video for Muse – The Resistance third single Resistance premiered today at mtv.co.uk and is a little lacklustre as it’s just recent tour footage, probably due to a busy schedule with touring and hopefully contributions to the Clash Of The Titans score (article). That’s forgivable if unlike previous single Undisclosed Desires it features at least one proper b-side. Here’s what I’m hoping for, it’s the show opener from The Resistance Tour fittingly known as We Are The Universe, though this version is allegedly not made by the band but rather someone-who-knows-someone-who has access to the samples… Regardless, it’s freaking brilliant!

Resistance (Single) is due for release on 22nd February 2010 and the entire Muse back-catalogue is available now to download from The Nokia Music Store and is completely free to ‘Comes With Music’ subscribers.

Muse frontman and virtual virtuoso Matt Bellamy was approached to Score the forthcoming epic Clash Of The Titans. Due in March this year already, I’m reluctant to believe there’s actually enough time left for them to do it with The Resistance tour schedule, never mind that I had the foolish notion to believe a Film Score develops during filming for mood and atmosphere instead of the after-though of post production.

It’s fair to say I’m pretty excited about this after Sam Worthington’s show stealing performance in Terminator Salvation, and if Matt and the boys have contributed… then I may just wet myself.

The Resistance and the entire Muse back-catalogue are available to download from The Nokia Music Store and is completely free to ‘Comes With Music’ subscribers.

Update!

Since the news only came to light this week I made the fatal faux pas of assuming that the approach happened recently, it would now seem that the band were approached a while back regarding this and that Craig Armstrong has already scored the film. What’s still unclear is whether Muse have contributed…  here’s hoping!

Part 6:

Muse – The Resistance

The Resistance (reviewed) was my single most anticipated album of the year, just like Black Holes and Revelations before it and Absolution before that… solely for the reason that Origin Of Symmetry is the album that had the most profound effect on me this decade even though I only discovered it a year or so after it’s release. With my new found obsessive fandom this lined-up Absolution to what would in retrospect be my most anticipated album of the decade that truly delivered far and beyond.

Now obviously the anticipation factor was equally as high for Black Holes and Revelations and The Resistance, but ultimately I’ve found that although I love each album dearly, there’s a pattern of preference for each album before, it’s not that the band are in gradual decline, but feel are a little tainted by the increase in commercial appeal.

Thankfully they still in part touch back on the feel of previous albums to let us know they can still do it if that’s what they wanted.

Such is the case for The Resistance stand out tracks: Unnatural Selection, which could easily be from the Origin Of Symmetry sessions and not just because the riff is partially borrowed from New Born, but for the song’s feel as a whole… and MK Ultra which could easily have made a home on Absolution somewhere between The Small Print and Ruled By Secrecy.

Seen Them Live This Year:

Wouldn’t have missed it for the world… 12th November @ The O2 Arena London (reviewed)

The Resistance and the entire Muse back-catalogue are available to download from The Nokia Music Store and is completely free to ‘Comes With Music’ subscribers.

Photo courtesy of flickr user mandynau

The first thing I have to say about seeing Muse live for the 4th time is that it was easily one of my top 2, the other being at Wembley Arena back in 2003 for the Absolution Tour. The reason for this is the absence of primary tour musician Morgan Nicholls, I’ve got nothing against the dude and I understand the necessity for him as well as “The Trumpet Man” Dan Newell on the Black Holes and Revelations Tour, it’s just that part of the biggest attraction I have to Muse is the size of the sound the band are capable of creating as a 3-piece alone!… and it’s this experience we’re treated to tonight, at least for this phase of The Resistance Tour.

Show time reveals 3 towers standing at approximately 50′ and clad in LED screens lit up to resemble sky-scrapers. As each band member appears on a platform in the centre of the individual tower columns they open their set with the first new-album-single Uprising… the odds of a bet placed on this paying dividends are low, but non the less Muse are out of the starting gate at a gallop.

When touring for a new album it’s always a good idea to smash out 2 new songs back-to-back, and they do just that by following up with semi-title track Resistance. I’m not sure if it was just me but I’m pretty sure they had to improvise a timing correction during the opening sustained guitar interpretation of the synth key intro but ultimately came out on the other side shining.

Of the ever dwindling track count from Origin Of Symmetry I was particularly pleased they hadn’t dropped New Born from the setlist. As it blitzed through at a higher BPM than those tragically slow versions during the Black Holes and Revelations Tour it was certainly the perfect excuse for the potentially life-threatening laser show assault it accompanied and was followed by a jam I’ve come to learn is known as Headup Riff, one of the several new interlude jams that Muse littered their set with tonight baring some similarity to the famed Osaka Jam from the previous tour.

As my favourite Black Holes and Revolutions track, Map Of The Problematique is a welcomed sound and sets off my awkward and often embarrassing-to-friends need to air drum, but is sadly vaporized by my childish need to predict the next song before my gig companions (big-up to my man Carl!) and I pick it again as Matt Bellamy intro’s Supermassive Black Hole with he same I’ve-never-known-what-it’s-called-theramin-guitar-pad-thingy effect just as he did for those I’m-sorry-for-you-if-you-didn’t-attend Wembley Stadium shows.

Now I’ve heard a lot of people saying they’re not to keen on Invincible, sure some moments in the track are a little cringe-worthy but I find it’s worth the Middle-Eight Bass into and including that epic finger-tapping solo… but they don’t play it tonight! Thankfully an immediate relative of the song comes in the form of highlight-of-the-evening-for-me-tune Guiding Light. A song that I have no doubt will be absolutely hated by far more people than is justifiable. Nobody makes songs like this anymore, they’re era-forgotten and they’re over-the top, but Muse had the audacity to make such a song and that’s one of the reasons I love them so damn much.

After Guiding Light’s display of love and affection they play Absolution’s Interlude which raises the excitement as it’s an obvious indication that Hysteria is imminent… and they don’t disappoint as the stage columns appear as skyscrapers again, only this time they’re crumbling down as Chris Wolstenholme tears through the song’s ridiculously obscene beast of a bass line.

Interestingly, they play the Unintended b-side Nishe, which brings a brief calm to the arena before playing our first new-album-sound-bite-track United States Of Eurasia with imagery of a fragmented atlas and a collage of passport photographs collected from fan submissions on Muse’s official website, followed by an extremely well received Feeling Good and Unintended as well as another new interlude, Helsinki Jam.

After some debate about the colour of Matt Bellamy’s trousers with my gig buddy Carl, I begin to lean toward his argument and settle on Pink as Matt moves up stage with a Keytar for the performance of current single Undisclosed Desires.

Starlight gets the 1-2-1-3 hand-claps going but gets me paranoid as usual that the less-than-coordinated may embarrassingly throw the band out of time, but all works out fine in the end and they follow with the probably-never-won’t-play-at-a-gig Plug In Baby, complete with giant confetti-filled balloons. Surprisingly it’s Time Is Running Out that makes the standing area pulsate more than any other track here tonight and It’s Unnatural Selection that triggers my bizarre hybrid air guitar and drumming again.

Encore… and Chris steps out in the Captain America suit I was expecting him to wear for United States of Eurasia. Tragically Dom Howard wasn’t in his Spidey suit and there’s been no hint that Matt may be sporting a Marvel costume any time soon, something I’d have paid good money to see during this performance of Exogenesis Part 1: Overture. As incredible as it was, this is where the 40 piece orchestra that did the recording would have made it an unforgettable experience, but I guess we’re going to have to wait and see if this will be the case at Wembley Stadium 2010.

Stockholm Syndrome rocks the house to it’s foundations and features another new interlude War Within A Breath Riff with Chris joining Dom on his drum riser as it’s raised and rotates for the duration of the jam.

After a brief blackout we see Chris lightly spot-lit as he blows a single monotonous note with an harmonica, conjuring up the intro to show closer Knights Of Cydonia. Once again, it’s probably just me but I think the intro may have been extended a few measures… or I got lost in space and time somewhere between here and the songs intergalactic western world.

Great show, sound and performance!… unfortunately no Citizen Erased, no Piano version of Cave like on so many of the other shows on this tour and most heartbreaking of all, No MK Ultra!… I guess I’m just going to have to watch them again!

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The Resistance and new single Undisclosed Desires are available to download from The Nokia Music Store