Or maybe I was just afraid they would not be albe to entertain me enough to sit out the gig. How wrong could I be. So what if it isn’t the loudest band around? Doesn’t really matter, does it? I’ll skip the small talk, I just couldn’t think of an appropriate opening. Sorrry for that. If you know how the Muses sound, you know you don’t have to expect a flaming show with excessive lights, FX or moshing crowds. And indeed, there wasn’t any. Actually, if you look at it objectively, there really wasn’t much to look at at all. Three people, of which one is confined to his place by his drum kit and the other by the microphone stand, leaves not much room for running around the stage. Miraculously though they didn’t need any of that. This show was far from boring, and the gentle swaying of singer Kristin was more than enough. The thing that really made all the difference were the interaction, the showing love for the music and especially, her facial expression. No more was needed, and thankfully the stage was completely empty beside the musicians, their subtly sized amps (now there’s a new idea) and the setlist taped to the floor. So the atmosphere was set, the Muses were playing away and the fans loved it. Off course that is not really surprising, but what struck me was the way they took the large amount of new songs, for their new album only released a day earlier. The only way to tell that some songs were newer than others were the few times an intro had to be redone. Which was okay too, because that meant Kristin had to shyly apologise again in a very sweet way. Maybe they missed a beat on purpose? Who knows.... Maybe that was the reason for the band to stop playing way too early. After less than an hour they said goodnight for the first time. Shame really, even if it is only to get back on stage like everybody always does. They really didn’t need to play it this safe, judging from the way the fans were urging them back on stage for the encore. And again. I can understand that you want to build in some safety in case you have a bad night and want to cut it short, but they could still have done that after the first encore. No matter, because the fans were ecstatic. The cheers just kept on going, even after the encore, so after a short while there they were again, now visibly excited and surprised. And maybe the next encore illustrated the succes of the evening, because now not only the fans but also the band themselves were getting into unknown territory. After succeslully playing a few very fresh songs, the band was almost more happy about finishing without a flaw than the audience. And even though it was quite obvious that after this there wasn’t going to be another encore, realising that everybody had to go home was a disappointment.

(Review & Pics: Vincent Burger)