NME Festival Guide 2008
V Festival

Muse wrap up V Festival 2008 in epic fashion

Pic: Tom Oxley

Matt Bellamy and co promise to be back 'next year'

Aug 17, 2008
26 Comments
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Muse have closed the Staffordshire leg of the 2008 V Festival tonight (August 17).

Repeating the spectacular production from last night in Chelmsford – complete with lasers, satellite dishes and flame-throwers – the three-piece repeated their set for the northern leg of the event.

However indicating that the festival will be one of their last live commitments for a while, the band declared their intention to return to action in 2009.

"See you again next year," said drummer Dominic Howard at the climax of the band's set. "We’ll have some new music."

Earlier the band had embraced the conditions, after the rain storm that struck during The Verve’s performance the night before had left the Weston site covered in mud.

"How's the mud pit going? Yes!" roared frontman Matt Bellamy before launching into a Hendrix-esque groove ahead of 'Time Is Running Out'.

Concluding their set with an epic version of 'Knights Of Cydonia', Muse left the stage with their collaboration with The Streets, 'Who Knows Who', blasting out of the PA.

Muse played:

'Map Of The Problematique'
'Supermassive Black Hole'
'Dead Star'
'New Born'
'Hysteria'
'Butterflies And Hurricanes'
'Feeling Good'
'Space Dementia'
'Invincible'
'Time Is Running Out'
'Stockholm Syndrome'
'Take A Bow'
'Starlight'
'Plug In Baby'
'Knights Of Cydonia'

Relive the festival now at NME.COM by checking out all the news, pictures, videos and blogs from both V Festival Chelmsford and V Festival Staffordshire.

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Comments (26)

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neoncatgirl

Aug 18, 2008

They pulled it off again! Amazing energy and what a fantastic night! The rain and mud made it even more fun than Chelmsford the night before!!Can't wait for them to get back out on tour again next year :D

lipgloss

Aug 18, 2008

Amazing waste of electricity!

somecoolusername

Aug 18, 2008

Just got back from Chelmsford and they blew my fucking mind down the front on Saturday. Those balloons!Also, lipgloss, your comment was an amazing waste of electricity and space, you sound kinda jealous to have not been there, well, don't blame ya. Loser.

Laura.ac

Aug 18, 2008

sheer brilliancy!

Bryan Robson

Aug 18, 2008

how anybody can stand through 2 hours of muse i dont know! i'd have a headache after 5 minutes..awful! The Verve piss all over them

cancelmysubscription

Aug 19, 2008

terrible band, somecoolusername shut up idiot, your the one who watched kaiser chiefs instead of the verve HA, "loser".

ChardL

Aug 19, 2008

it was AMAZING!

Mcop1son

Aug 19, 2008

Yeah Bryan you're completely right mate. Muse could never come up with something as genius as Bittersweet Symphony and...erm...whats the other one called again? No worries, you know the one I mean. Muse? Whats that all about? Making some of the greatest albums ever, being completely unrivaled in being the greatest live act of...ever? And having the talent of Matt Bellamy, a true musical geniusOh well, thats my opinion, you have yours.....but The Verve, really?

bopdeboop

Aug 19, 2008

went to v festival staffordshire, and muse were fluffin Amazing!!! even if you hate muse you have to admit that they were out of this world, i could easily stand through several days of them! the atmosphere was immense, muse shit on the heads of the verve.

CitizenMuse

Aug 19, 2008

Mr. Bryan Robson, you don't just stand through a muse set, you jump around and go crazy. Ok fair enough its not your type of thing and you claim the Verve pis all over them, but to me and probably millions of fans worldwide think otherwise...and the countless 'Best Live Act' awards that Muse have won will back me up their. In my opinion, Muse are the Gods of live shows. The Verve are just has beens (in my opinion).By the way, was at Chelmsford on Saturday, Muse just blew me away...Deadstar was the Highlight.

AmandaVM

Aug 19, 2008

The Verve ... piss all over Muse ... I think not ... I was actually wondering if Richard Ashcroft actually has a pulse. I can't think of a more worthy waste of electricity. Muse ... Best Live Act ... as voted for by thousands and thousands of people over the last few years. I felt totally Muse abused by the time they finished ... and it felt amazing ... as it has been for the other seven times I've seen them. A complete assault on the senses ... long may it continue ... can't wait for the next album.

IndieWriter

Aug 19, 2008

this was awesome, and so was the verve, but they're so different you cant compare them. would have been nice if they'd played bliss thowhat you can compare is how completely rubbish V is as a festival! Bring on Reading next weekend! A proper festival for people who go to gigs with their kids/parents, and go to more than one gig a year

zappy

Aug 19, 2008

they were amazing. im not a massive fan of thier music but i was completly blown away. as soon as i walked into the arena and saw the stage i knew it was going to be something as i saw 4 massive satallites hanging of the V stage. may i be as so bold to say they blew verve out of the water night before?? (no pun intended as i was front row for the verve getting absolutly soaked!! - ive never had so much fun getting soaked to the bone) the weekend as i hole was amazing, the headliners next year, take note.

lipgloss

Aug 19, 2008

Jealous? fuck off, i was watching Ian Brown, he's got charisma rather than laser beams and guitar wanking!

Gerbalism

Aug 19, 2008

lmfao!!! Ian Brown, he has nothing but the worst voice to grace the earth! What a loser! Why would you want to watch an aged has-been with an audience full of 40 somethings when you could be watching the greatest live band in the universe! Muse absolutely rocked the whole of Weston Park, I've never seen anything like it and believe me I've seen a lot of live bands!

lipgloss

Aug 20, 2008

if you're in to fancy light shows i suggest Jean Michel Jarre!

DorisMcHoneybunch

Aug 20, 2008

I like Muse and have some of their Albums and although they werent my fav at Stafford the light show was amazing and Matts "guitar wanking" got majority of the crowd screming at the top of their lungs!!

The Happy Hippo

Aug 20, 2008

Went down to Staffordshire this weekend and, after reading all the reviews about them being the best live act in Britain, I was really looking forward to seeing Muse for the first time. Unfortunately, they didn't deliver! Simple as that - fantasically gifted musicians they may be, and an impressive light show, however what they produced was reminisent of the sound of progressive rock bands of the late 70's / early 80's. In short, they were not relevant or particularly cutting edge - in fact they were boring!Musically, Muse should not have been headlining the festival - that honour should have gone to a band that gets the whole crowd singing and bouncing (Why on earth the Stereophonics were not the headline act is beyond me! Even The Feeling, who really do not inspire me in any way, produced a cracking set that got the crowd going). When Muse went off stage for the first time and the stage was plunged into darkness, the atmosphere was flat, and there was no roar for the expected encore. Instead I watched as thousands streamed out of the site. Unfortunately Muse did return, despite there being no real call for it, and I was subjected to another half an hour of self indulgence by Matt Bellamy. I'm afraid to say - 3/10

The Happy Hippo

Aug 20, 2008

FAO Gerbalism: Muse did NOT 'rock the whole of Weston Park'. I can certainly assure you of that!

lisanicole2011

Aug 21, 2008

I had to comment here as I was at Chelmsford on saturday and had wanted to Muse for ever and can say by a mile they are the best live band on the planet - how three people can make that amount of perfect noise amazes me - i am a huge fan of theirs anyway and stood in the same spot at hylands park for 9 and a half hours at the front of the main waiting for them to come on - it was the most amazing show I have ever seen and I will never forget it. Dom and Chris doing Osaka, Chris doing once upon a time in the west, dead star, space dementia, new born, every single song was executed in perfection. I understand everyone has different tastes but Muse are by far the best live band to grace the stage this century and were certainly the highlight of V - no other act came close and the show they put on was awesome - bearing in mind the two v shows were the last shows in like a three year tour and I agree with gerbalism as do millions of other people - Muse you rock and we love ya - dont ever change !

The Happy Hippo

Aug 21, 2008

I appreciate everyone has different tastes, however Muse are in no way the best band to grace the stage this century. (Don't tell me about the awards they've won, it says more about the people that vote in these things than the actual award themselves - any such vote can easily be skewed by an active minority). There have been much better performances by other established acts, and many new acts, in both large arenas and smaller, more intimate venues this century. There is nothing better than seeing a band live and getting that feeling of the hairs rising on the back of your neck as you realise you are in the presence of an electric performance. I seriously did not get that on Sunday night with Muse, the atmosphere was flat, the set self-indulgent and the lyrics unintelligible. The light show was impressive, but was not something that has not been done before. There was no 'bounce' from the crowd (perhaps you can't blame the band for that, or maybe you can!).Surely what you want from a headline act is big, singalong anthems with 70,000 people all joining in having a good time? Stereophonics, Manics, Oasis, Coldplay, The Fratellis, Snow Patrol or Artic Monkeys? At a concert I don't want to stand there watching a nine minute guitar solo, I want to be bouncing up and down, singing and jumping around with friends and strangers. By all means, let Muse headline one of the smaller stages, and then the minority of the fesitval audience who are ardent fans can see them, however the headline act on the main stage should be a HUGE band.Having seen some of the biggest bands over the last 20 years, been to countless concerts and festivals, I guess I was looking forward to seeing Muse a little too much based on everything written about them as a live band, however I suppose the problem is they fell woefully short of my expectations in comparison to previous experiences.

Gerbalism

Aug 21, 2008

Looking at the footage on Channel 4 the sing along to Kinghts of Cydonia was immense, as was every other song from where I was stood! I've seen the foo's 3 times, Oasis, Radiohead, the Killers, Arctics twice, Fratellis twice, Snow Patrol twice, Sterophonics (only once thank God, never again, so boring), the Strokes, Kooks twice, Kanye West, Keane, Kasabian, James and a ton of other bands and none of them have the same energy Muse do. They don't need the lights and props, anyone who went to the stripped down Royal Albert Hall gig will tell you! They have massive showmanship and don't just take to the stage like every other tom dick and alex turner. They turn the show into a spectacle of pure power. I saw them at Reading 06 for the first time, they played after the Arctics and made them look like a tribute band from Butlins. All the bands I've mentioned were just 'ok' performances that I was happy with, but I want more than that after seeing Muse. I'm actually worried that every other band I see from this point on is going to feel incredibly boring, crap and souless.

The Happy Hippo

Aug 21, 2008

I really don't want to get into an argument in relation to bands people have seen, however suffice to say the likes of Nirvana, Guns'n'Roses and Metallica in the early / mid 90's demonstrated more energy and showmanship than Muse did on Sunday night. I'm not sure where Gerbalism was stood (guessig near the front), however about half way back there was no movement in the crowd and no singing. Just people with bored faces! If Gerbalism would like me to reel of every band I've seen in the last 20 years to compare the size of our metaphorical musical penises I'm more than happy to do so (this covers many he has already mentioned), however I really don't think that this is necessary. I've been in the pit and hung onto the barrier for many of the biggest bands over the last twenty years, and I will continue to say that, imho, there are some that Muse simply do not compare with live. At the end of the day the world would be a very boring place if we all had the same opinion, and I can see that Gerbalism and lisanicole2011 are obviously huge fans of Muse. My feeling is that their show did not offer much for the casual listener, and that a headlining act should beable to put on a show that appeals to many and not just a few.Just don't get me started on the shambles that were lostprophets, ha ha...

mawsy69

Aug 28, 2008

to all the people who have critised muse's performance at v, ok your opinion, but I can't stand by and let people say that the verve pissed all over them! MUSE wiped the floor with every band who had the misfortune to have to play before them! From where I was standing everyone was rocking out to them hardcore! Not only that but when I looked around I did not see one bored face in the crowd! So are you sure you were actually there? and if you despise them that much why did you not only go to watch them but stay and watch?! Muse could not have gone on to one of the smaller stages because they had the biggest crowd of the whole festival! Also Matt Bellamy was not arrogant unlike Richard Ashcroft! BEST LIVE ACT EVER!!!

Thefuturewiththelightson

Sep 1, 2008

Why don't you like muse, there an AMAZING live band. Who cares if you don't like there music, THEN GET OFF THE PAGE, they are WAY more talented then any of you so stop being jealous and get on with things that matter

CitizenMuse

Sep 14, 2008

So a band that sell out Wembley Stadium two nights in a row and countless other venues all across the world over a period just short of 2 years, isn't huge and isn't worthy to headline even the friendliest festival of the calender? Thats not an opinion, that's just down right ignorance. Muse are the best live band, if not the best at this moment in time. Other bands such as the Verve had already peaked years ago. Muse Forever.