Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.5

Muse: Live at Rome Olympic Stadium Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 11, 2013

The team of Lennon and McCartney has become so iconic in the annals of contemporary songwriting that a lot of people tend to forget that in their early years at least, The Beatles were occasionally a so-called “cover band”. One of their first chart hits was their version of the evergreen “Twist and Shout”, but another early song that received considerable airplay (even if it didn’t officially chart) was one of the more unusual songs The Fab Four ever deigned to record. “Till There Was You” had already been a chart hit for a couple of artists by the time The Beatles got around to recording it, and it was one of the songs the group performed on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. This song may have been an attempt by the group to reach beyond its teen female fan base, for in that simpler time (despite the then recent assassination of President Kennedy), probably most every listener knew that the song came from Meredith Willson’s musical The Music Man. “Till There Was You” probably appealed to an older demographic automatically, which may have been convinced, if only marginally, that the world wasn’t coming to an end with all of these “long” haircuts and wails of “yeah, yeah, yeah”. The song remains the only Broadway tune that The Beatles ever recorded, an oddity in a career that is remembered more today for the epochal contributions of its main writing team, as well as occasional classics penned by George Harrison. One wonders how many younger listeners in this attention deficit disorder age will know that Muse is following in The Beatles’ footsteps with their version of “Feeling Good”, a tune which like “Till There Was You” is culled from the stage, in this case the West End and Broadway smash by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd (the same show provided hits for Tony Bennett with “Who Can I Turn To?” and Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 with “The Joker”, and “A Wonderful Day Like Today” has also entered the lexicon of standards). Some fans may be paying attention, for Muse’s version came in rather high in a British poll of “best cover songs”, and the band’s rendition has been utilized in a rather large number of multimedia enterprises, which has probably only further raised its public profile. (Prior to Muse’s recording, the best known version was probably Nina Simone’s.) “Feeling Good” is the odd song out (so to speak) in Live at Rome Olympic Stadium, in an often bracing performance that is otherwise made up of originals by Muse’s frontman Matthew Bellamy (with one contribution by the band’s bassist Chris Wolstenholme.

Muse has become known for its extravagant concert performances, and Live at Rome Olympic Stadium is no exception. The guys have a main stage which also includes a “thrust” which sticks way out into the screaming throngs of fans, and at various points both Matthew Bellamy and Chris Wolstenholme go running back and forth, with Bellamy even continuing to play as he trots. But there are also huge set pieces, including a kind of Jumbotron behind the guys that projects various images, a gigantic light bulb that descends from the heavens, a kind of Cirque du Soleil acrobat, as well as one decidedly odd segment where the projected film comes to life, with an onstage appearance by one of the characters in the film. The actual concert video ups the ante even further by playing with aspect ratio and desaturating things to black and white at times (with occasional colors—like a single dash of gold—allowed to penetrate the otherwise monochromatic approach).

But it’s the music that really matters here, even with the incredible stagecraft that this concert offers. Muse is that rare band that makes propulsive rock that is often very smart as well, with well crafted hooks and sometimes astonishingly complex (for rock, anyway) changes, as in the Chopin meets Queen outing “Explorers”. The band has always reminded me of a sort of weird mishmash of U2 and Icehouse, with a tendency toward harder rock riff based material than either of those bands. Bellamy in fact sounds like the heretofore unknown child sired simultaneously by Bono and Iva Davies. Wolstenholme, who’s had some pretty well publicized battles with substance abuse, seems lost in a world of his own making here, though his playing is superlative. Drummer Dominic Howard continues to surprise with a variety of approaches (can you think of any other rock band that would have the audacity to craft a song around a bolero beat?).

The main Rome concert features the following tracks (see the supplements section below for a few bonus songs):

1. Intro
2. Supremacy
3. Panic Station
4. Plug In Baby
5. Resistance
6. Animals
7. Knights of Cydonia
8. Explorers
9. Hysteria
10. Feeling Good
11. Follow Me
12. Madness
13. Time Is Running Out
14. Guiding Light
15. Undisclosed Desires
16. Supermassive Black Hole
17. Survival
18. The 2nd Law: Isolated System
19. Uprising
20. Starlight

Muse: Live at Rome Olympic Stadium Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Muse: Live at Rome Olympic Stadium is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Music with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1 (a few split screen moments are in wider—and variable—aspect ratios). This is a 4K presentation which sets a new bar for video quality in live concert outings. The clarity and precision of the image here is truly awesome. Even things which regularly present major problems, or at least minor anomalies, in other concert videos create only niggling concerns at best here. Take for example the bluish-purple lighting scheme, which in lesser efforts would probably result in rampant posterizing. While there is a minor loss of detail (see screenshot 1), no actual artifacting ever crops up. When the huge array of projected lights illuminates in the background, that would typically dissolve into a mass of moiré on many a concert Blu-ray, but here it's sharp as a tack, with each and every bulb separately apparent. Black levels are deep and solid, colors are accurate and very nicely saturated (Bellamy's bright red pants are a standout), and overall this is simply one fantastic looking high definition presentation all around.

Muse: Live at Rome Olympic Stadium Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Muse: Live at Rome Olympic Stadium features crisp and clear DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 stereo mixes. There's no question that you should opt for the surround mix if your home theater system allows you to do so, for it much more aggressively presents the driving low end of the band from Wolstenholme and Howard. Bellamy's voice is really well mixed here, though he's occasionally buried in the immense crowd noises. In fact, it's the ubiquitous screaming (and of course singing) of the crowd which may annoy some listeners, though it must be acknowledged that Bellamy encourages their participation throughout the concert. But both mixes offer sterling fidelity and some appealing dynamic range. One of the nice things about Muse is, as aggressive as they sometimes can be, they're also not afraid to explore more lyrical, softer passages as well, and both extremes are presented with excellent clarity on both of these tracks.

Muse: Live at Rome Olympic Stadium Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus CD contains the following tracks:

  1. Supremacy
  2. Panic Station
  3. Resistance
  4. Hysteria
  5. Animals
  6. Knights of Cydonia
  7. Explorers
  8. Follow Me
  9. Madness
  10. Guiding Light
  11. Supermassive Black Hole
  12. Uprising
  13. Starlight
  

Blu-ray Supplements:

• U.S. Arenas (1080i; 16:24) includes Stockholm Syndrome and The 2nd Law: Unsustainable from Las Vegas and Liquid State from Dallas.


• On the Road (1080i; 4:47) is a montage of footage showing stages being assembled and the like.

Muse: Live at Rome Olympic Stadium Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Muse is one of the more interesting bands making music today, as perhaps evidenced by their fearless cover of a stage musical tune! This amazing concert is a nonstop array of high energy performances, some really astonishing stagecraft, and some good direction on the video side of things. (It should be stated that this video, like so many other recent concert outings, does tend to indulge in unending quick edits, which can be distracting after a while.) The band sounds absolutely fantastic here, especially Bellamy, whose voice has matured very nicely and who is able to both growl and croon with equal authority. The video quality of this Blu-ray is simply astounding and instantly becomes the new benchmark for live concert fare. The audio is similarly excellent (I'd personally subtract a quarter point if I could simply because I wish the audience had been mixed down a bit —I want to hear the band, not the fans). While the supplementary material is a bit on the light side, otherwise this is a solid package and comes Highly recommended.