Few legacy bands can get away with performing five songs from their newest album without disappointing concertgoers.
Yet, that’s exactly what Muse did when the English power trio brought “The Wow! Signal Tour” to North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista.
Typically, hearing “And here’s a new one” from the stage cues a bathroom break, but not only were fans not disappointed, they cheered because the new songs held their own beside the band’s best material.
Muse opened with “Interlude”/“Hysteria,” driven by bassist Chris Wolstenholme’s throbbing intro, then launched into the first song from its recently released 10th studio album, “The Wow! Signal” — the apocalyptic “Cryogen,” propelled by Dominic Howard’s drums and punctuated by smoke jets.
The sold-out crowd roared on Aug. 29 as lead vocalist/guitarist Matt Bellamy unleashed the funky, falsetto-fueled “Supermassive Black Hole” from “Black Holes and Revelations.” The group would play three more songs from the landmark album, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
Muse, known for slow-building arena anthems that lure listeners in before exploding into thunderous crescendos, loaded the setlist with them. There was the hypnotic electro-groove of “Map of the Problematique” — featuring synthesizers from touring multi-instrumentalist and “The Wow! Signal” co-producer Dan Lancaster — and the fan-favorite “Knights of Cydonia,” cleverly teed up by Wolstenholme’s wailing harmonica theme from the 1966 spaghetti western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”
The stage design for this amphitheater tour was scaled down from previous years, including the band’s last San Diego appearance at Pechanga Arena in 2023. Nonetheless, it was still visually dynamic and came to life with a dozen-plus video cubes hovering above the stage.
Complementing the new album’s color scheme, the group employed a red-and-black motif across its attire, instruments, equipment and lighting. Adding to the spectacle, numerous songs were further accented with lasers, smoke, fire, confetti and streamers, including “Unravelling” and the new disco-pop tune “Nightshift Superstar.”
Muse always puts on a power-packed show — the kind you feel in your chest. The sheer volume and low end blow you back, but it never becomes obnoxiously loud. Instead, the sound is meticulously crafted and delivered with precision.
That can be partly attributed to the band’s high-tech instruments: Howard’s acoustic/electronic hybrid drum kit, Wolstenholme’s signature Alusonic aluminum basses and Bellamy’s custom Manson guitars equipped with built-in touch controllers and MIDI technology. The setup frees Bellamy to bounce and spin across the stage while coaxing otherworldly sounds from his guitar.
But the other part of the equation is the immense talent on stage. It’s astonishing to hear only three musicians producing that much SOUND. Furthermore, the complexity of their song structures — drawing on classical music and justifiably inviting comparisons to Queen — adds to the mix, as does 30-plus years of honing their craft together.
Bellamy, one of modern rock’s most gifted frontmen, shone throughout the night, both vocally and on guitar. Standouts included his soaring vocals on “Madness,” which had the crowd singing along, and his ferocious fretwork on “Psycho,” with HAL 9000 taking over the drill-sergeant intro. He also impressed when moving to the synthesizer and piano on “Algorithm,” the futuristic instrumental from 2018’s “Simulation Theory.”
While the night didn’t include any surprising covers or seldom-played deep cuts, it featured plenty of perennial crowd-pleasers, including “Time Is Running Out,” the band’s first big breakthrough in America, “Plug In Baby” and the dystopian “Uprising,” bookended by the JFK speech intro and a pyrotechnic finale.
Muse wrapped its one-hour, 40-minute set with the shimmering synths and driving backbeat of “Starlight,” followed by the encore “Take a Bow,” a song about political corruption. Now wearing LED glasses that transmitted lyrics across his lenses, Bellamy leaned into a camera and sang, “You’ll burn in hell / Yeah, you’ll burn in hell for your sins.”
Dark? Perhaps.
Theatrical? Surely.
The kind of slow-build-to-dramatic-crescendo exit you’d expect from Muse? Definitely.
Donovan Roche is a longtime music writer and regular contributor to Times of San Diego.
