#simulationtheorytour

February 22, 2019.

I am laying in bed right now, utterly sore. My early birthday present from my husband was the MUSE concert. We were not even sure we could afford to pull this off until Feb. 18th. Monday. Then we got our stuff figured out and squeegeed some money out of the budget to get two GA tickets.

I got there at 7 am with my whole family. We knew we needed to get there early. I knew we couldn’t get there any earlier than 7 am with two kids and a hard time sleeping. So I set the alarms for 5:10 am. I woke up about 4:54 am and was wide awake with excitement.

There was ONE PERSON IN THE GA LINE. ONE. At 5:30 AM for the Drones tour, we were number 24/25 if I remember right. This time we were number 4 and 5 because Jackie was holding two spots for her group.

We waited. I made chainmaille and listened to music, we had poke bowls for lunch and JD took the kids home, then delivered them to grandma and came back for dinner and the show.

You can see the chainmaill on my instagram accounts. califia.hurtado is one.

I don’t have the photos downloaded here or sorted, literally just got home. Will try to get those up on IG very soon.

Anyway, we went in at 6:30 pm. We wound up on the rail in front of Chris, as well as in front of a giant light grid. But before that, we watched Walk the Moon. And they are AWESOME LIVE. Like, really really awesome. Out of the three shows I have seen Muse do, this one had the BEST OPENER. Also, apparently some people spent the extra on the Premium tickets (not VIP with the AR stuff, those were so expensive.) They, for some reason, did not get early access as the emails and all promised, and wound up actually being allowed in AFTER GA. Understandably, they were angry and threatened to NEVER come to MUSE concert again. I just wish they hadn’t spent the entire time waiting for the concert to start, complaining and bringing the energy around them down. I nearly asked them to hush, but I restrained myself.

Despite the negative vibes, once the show started those went away quick.

THIS CONCERT WAS SO DAMNED WORTH IT I COULD CRY.

Here is the setlist and my impressions. First of all, I already feel like I missed SO MUCH. They had amazing graphics, live trombonists, dancers, robot costumes, etc. There were times where I couldn’t pick if I wanted to watch the guys or the performers or what. It was crazy. So I may leave out some things unintentionally that I caught, but that were not my focus. We wound up on the right side of the stage against the rail, where Chris was. Of course we sawe Walk the Moon and they were the best opener out of the three MUSE concerts we have been to. Energetic, fun, and damned talented!

This show cost a pretty penny, but it WAS SO DAMNED WORTH IT I COULD CRY.

Here is the setlist, my impressions will follow.

Algorithm (Alternate Reality Version, Live Debut; shortened)

Pressure [Drill Sergeant] Psycho Break It to Me Uprising Propaganda (Live Debut) Plug In Baby Pray (Dom and Chris on big drums) The Dark Side Supermassive Black Hole ('Close Encounters' riff intro; 'Wild Thing' riff outro) Thought Contagion Interlude Hysteria ('Back in Black' riff outro) The 2nd Law: Unsustainable Dig Down (Acoustic Gospel Version) STT Interstitial 1 Madness Mercy Time Is Running Out Houston Jam (Unnatural Selection and Micro Cuts outro riff) Take a Bow Prelude Starlight STT Interstitial 2 Algorithm Stockholm Syndrome / Assassin / Reapers / The Handler / New Born (Metal Medley; 'Headup' riff outro) Knights of Cydonia (Ennio Morricone's 'Man With a Harmonica' intro) So first of all, SPOILERS TO FOLLOW.

There were trombonists playing and dancing. Dancers with light up poles, amazing graphics, guys in robotic suits, a giant critter that emerges on the stage towards the end. OVER 12 PARTY CONFETTI CANNONS, loaded with black light reactive confetti. Black lights.  Bright lights. Colored lights.