Anyway, so Debbie and I made it down to Columbus with no problems at all. We didn't even hit any rush hour traffic. We drove up and down High Street for a few minutes before finding a parking spot on a side street in the Short North. We had dinner at a little Irish pub-type place called Mac's where I stuffed myself full of tater tots. Delicious. We left Mac's around 7 to head over to the Schottenstein Center, which was about 5 minutes or so down the road. To our absolute amazement, they had free parking for the concert. I was totally shocked by that- I'm so used to paying Cleveland's $20 "event parking" fees downtown. We got in and found our seats with no problem. Of course they were nosebleed seats, but at least we had a good view of everything. Next time though, I will absolutely pay the extra money to be closer. Please, Muse...come back and let there be a next time. I am begging you.
Anyway, Metric went on right at 7:30 on the nose. They sounded great, and I was a little surprised that people didn't seem more into them. I mean, I know they were just the opener, but I think they're fantastic. The arena probably wasn't even half full by the time they were finishing up their set, which ended exactly at 8:10.
So. Right before 9 pm, the lights went down. Pandemonium ensued. Ok, not really, but the crowd was definitely super psyched for Muse for sure. Let me back up for a second to describe the stage though. While Metric was playing, there were these giant skyscraper looking things behind them. I think Debbie called them Spiderman buildings. So after all Metric's equipment was cleared away, the big building things were all that was left onstage. When the lights went down for Muse, the windows in the buildings started lighting up, one by one. Then it looked like people were climbing the stairs inside the buildings. Then it looked like people were falling off the top of the buildings. Then all of a sudden Muse started playing "Uprising", the middle section of the buildings rose up (or went down, I'm not sure because I was trying to figure out where the hell they were playing) and each member of Muse was each of the pillars. Like so:
That's singer/guitarist Matthew Bellamy in his cute red pants on the left, drummer Dominic Howard in the middle, and bassist Chris Wolstenholme on the right. If you squint real hard you can see them.
I have been to many, many concerts/shows in my day, kids. And I have never, ever, seen anything like this one. Not only did Muse sound completely amazing- the singer did not miss a single note (even the high ones!), and his guitar playing is just ridiculous- but their entire stage show totally blew me away. The lights, the video, the set up with the pillars going up and down out of the floor...good god. Let's just say it's been kind of a long time since at the end of a show, I really, REALLY didn't want it to end. Usually by the second encore I'm like, ok, this was great and all, but I'm ready to head out and get some Taco Bell and hit the hay. Not with Muse. I could've watched them play for another 4 hours.
I'm actually kicking myself for not getting into their music sooner. They've been around since like 1999...where have I been?? Seriously. Thanks to Sirius/XM radio and to Debbie for burning me their CDs, and then to Stephenie Meyer for putting them on the Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse soundtracks, I've finally discovered what is surely one of my top 5 favorite bands of all time. I cannot stop listening to the 4 CDs of theirs I have in my car's CD changer. It's like other music just can't compare to them right now. Ok, maybe the new Arcade Fire can (and their show 3 years ago was my #1 top show of all time until now, too).
So thank you, Muse, for the best show I have ever been to. You guys are ridiculous. Thank you Dan, for getting me the tickets for our anniversary. And thanks to Debbie for making the trek down to Columbus with me! It was an experience I certainly will not forget anytime soon!
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