Muse with Band of Skulls, Live at the Saddledome

Anita and I caught the Muse show last night at the Saddledome. When I looked up my receipt (they were paperless tickets, so I had to figure out how we would actually get into the show), I was a little annoyed that I bought General Admission tix because I'm an old fogey that has no desire to stand for hours on end anymore. But after having experienced the show on the floor from right in front of the stage, I'm glad that I wasn't stuck sitting down on the sidelines.

First off, the opening act, Band of Skulls, surprised us with how good they were. I'd heard of them before, but had never sat down and really listened to their material. So getting a first hand introduction through a live show was the perfect way to sell me on them. They put on very minimalist show in terms of visuals - three piece guitar/bass/drum band, with little in the way of stage props or design - but made up for that in their funky beats, great harmonic vocals, a bit of blues, bone shattering drums, and a WHOLE LOT OF ROCK! Thoroughly enjoyed them.

Contrast that with the headliner, Muse, who's stage design was elaborate and multi platform, and incorporated a huge set of moving LED walls and panels suspended above and inset into the stage itself to create an incredible visual feast that matched the sonic assault they played to the delight of the thousands in attendance. I've heard from various sources that Muse puts on a hell of a live show, and this concert confirmed all that hearsay. In a word, AWESOME!















And a couple shots of Band of Skulls.




Photos taken with the Sony RX100. For those of you considering this camera, PULL THE TRIGGER. For a point and shoot, you can't beat this. Larger sensor than most of it's peers, incredible low light performance for a point and shoot, an abundance of manual controls, and a surprisingly usable set of high ISOs. All of the above photos were shot RAW at either ISO 1600 or 3200. No noise reduction done on any of them in post, and in fact, I added back some grain to a few to give them more of a concert feel. Buy it now!