Muse - Live at Rome Olympic Stadium

Live albums are tricky, for obvious reasons. Atmosphere, normally an important undercurrent on a studio release, becomes paramount. You may not have been there, but that’s irrelevant if the record does its job. In the case of Muse, a band who pride themselves on spectacle, a straight replication of live dispatches is only ever going to tell half the story.
As Live At Rome Olympic Stadium illustrates on several occasions, the effect can fall well short of the concert experience itself.
Things start with a bang as ‘Supremacy’, Muse’s play on Bond themes, proves tailor- made for the live arena. As an opener, it’s especially shrewd, providing the requisite amount of teases before the eventual inevitable bombast kicks in. Speaking of which, the glorious ‘Panic Station’ ups the tempo, all madcap pop and knowing swagger. Of all their moments aspiring to Queen’s throne, this is their best stab at mixing homage with clever invention. A shame, then, that ‘Resistance’ stumbles by, ushering in a stop-start-narrative.
‘Hysteria’ is a pulsating affair from the off. It’s followed by an oddly leaden run of ‘Animals’, ‘Knights Of Cydonia’, ‘Explorers’ and ‘Follow Me’ (though, doubly oddly, the latter two sound considerably stronger than on The 2nd Law). Elsewhere, Matt Bellamy does his best to derail ‘Madness’ early on by dropping an f-bomb into proceedings simply to pop the crowd.
It works, of course. He’ll repeat the trick later to no great effect during the monotonous ‘Uprising’. Used effectively, profanity can be a blast (it works a treat on ‘Panic Station’, for example), but here, it lacks that essential je ne sais quoi.
Live At Rome Olympic Stadium has its fine moments, as Muse gigs always do. But it’s essentially a stop-gap.

Key Track: 'Hysteria'