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Muse @ Carling Academy, Islington

added 18 November 2003 at 15.06

As Matt Bellamy's sleek rock outfit take off on their first ever arena tour, Xfm Online proudly presents Muse live on-demand from an altogether cosier venue - check out the exclusive Xfm session from the Carling Islington Academy on September 22.

Muse 'Xfm Session' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]

In what's looking to be their last chance to catch muse in such an intimate venue, a specially invited audience of Xfm listeners packed the Carling Islington Academy on September 22 to see one of the most intense live bands in the country up close and personal. With Muse's third album, 'Absolution' providing both a substantially expanded audience and a new clutch of ferociously ambitious songs for their live arsenal, this was Muse and crowd together on absolutely top form.

Hit the links above for the whole show, or cherrypick your favourite tracks using the interactive setlist below.

'Hysteria' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]
Current single and one of the highlights of 'Absolution' - a classic Muse guitar riff swoops and wheels around Bellamy's distorted, histronic vocal.

'Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]
One of Muse's grand narratives - a spacy, vocodered challenge to, well, pretty much everything really: 'I know you're in this room/I'm sure I heard you sigh/Floating in between/Where our words collide'.

'Bliss' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]
A joyous, celebratory anthem that is nonetheless tinged with darkness. Well, it wouldn't be Muse otherwise would it? The familiar guitar pulse and the whirlwind keyboard riff combine into a shuddering wall of sound.

'Blackout' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]
The band's bolstered by a keyboardist for this moody, atmospheric 'Absolution' track. Not quite a power ballad.

'Citizen Erased' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]
Another accomplished combination of politics and sheer consiracy theory lunacy, this is one of the more ambitious cuts from the 'pretty-damn-ambitious-anyway' 'Origin of Symmetry' album.

'Butterflies & Hurricanes' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]
'Absolution's 'Plug In Baby' if ever there was one - an epic, pummelling melody winds through the song like an angry sea snake; to simply call it a riff is an insulting understatement, this clarion call to ruthless, undiluted ambition is effectively built aoruhd an extended guitar solo. Matt tickles the ivories too.

'Time Is Running Out' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]
First single proper from 'Absolution' - this is already one of the most powerful songs in Muse's considerable menagerie. If 'Time Is Running Out' was an animal it'd be a leopard and would be kept chained up to stop it eating the meerkats.

'The Groove' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]
One of 'Time Is Running Out's B-sides and almost certainly takes it's name from the interlocking drum patterns that run through it like a spine.

'Plug-In Baby' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]
Muse's 'Sweet Child of Mine' - the signature opening riff sets the crowd into a frenzy and the band themselves discover new levels of energy - star-jumping and guitar thrashing their way through to a riotous climax.

'Stockholm Syndrome' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]
This was available via download only ahead of the 'Absolution' album release and it rocks like a 'Matrix' fist fight. Pulsing, pummelling riffs, vocals that scream rather than sing and lyrics that could make it a hymn of hate or love, it's kind of hard to tell.

encore

'New Born' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]
The haunting opener from 'Origin of Symmetry' starts up with a moody piano riff before exploding into an unusually brawny rock workout about the loss of innocence.

'The Small Print' [Dial-Up] [Broadband]
With Matt Bellamy sounding more like an advanced rock 'n' roll robot than ever, this 'Absolution' album track rips through the crowd like barbed wire. A belting set closer.

www.muse.mu

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