Some of you may remember an absolutely fantastic online game that I get addicted to every summer, and this summer is naturally no exception: Stick Cricket! And now they've introduced a multiplayer version. If anybody would like a game, let me know and we can sort out a time. It's good fun. My screen name there is Axver as per usual, but I'll only sign into the Clubhouse if someone I know will be there for a game. Otherwise I just find random semi-illiterate people trying to pester me.

On a completely different note, it's about time I posted about the Muse concert I saw almost a month ago now, on 15 November at Rod Laver Arena. I don't have the setlist for the opening band, The Checks; I made notes so that I could work it out, but I didn't care for them at all so I can't be bothered. They played a very mundane, basic form of rock; for some reason, while watching them, I felt reminded of Kings Of Leon but without the dying pig as a vocalist. I was fairly bored.

Muse's setlist was:

1. Take A Bow
2. Map of the Problematique
3. Newborn
4. Butterflies and Hurricanes
5. Micro Cuts
6. Supermassive Black Hole
7. Feeling Good
8. Apocalypse Please
9. Soldier's Poem
10. Invincible
11. Hysteria
12. Fury
13. Starlight
14. Time Is Running Out
15. Stockholm Syndrome

16. Plug-in Baby
17. The Groove
18. Knights Of Cydonia

If you've heard about Muse live, doubtless the account you've heard is that they are absolutely sensational and absolutely slay almost anyone else around. Well, let me tell you: the hype is true. Indeed, if it were not for some frustrating extended delays between a couple of songs in the middle of the set that temporarily sapped the energy the concert had built up (delays that could have easily been made to vanish with some banter), I would say the hype is understated. Muse well and truly take their songs to the next level live. A lot of the crowd appeared to stand, but unfortunately most people in my section did not; I stood for my favourite songs.

What stood out quite significantly to me was how good the songs from Black Holes And Revelations were live. I still think that album is horrible; when I got home, I decided to give it another chance and could not get through even half of it. But live, the only song from that album that was still just as horribly boring as its studio version was Supermassive Black Hole. The rest were sensational. Invincible and Starlight in particular blew me away. My picks for songs of the night, however, do not come from Black Holes And Revelations. It's hard to pick from such a strong setlist performed at such a blistering intensity, but if I could have only had five songs, they would have been Newborn, Micro Cuts, Apocalypse Please, Hysteria, and Plug-in Baby. In addition, Stockholm Syndrome is one of the most scorching main set closers I have ever heard (I wish U2 would take notes and learn that rocking out something like The Fly or God Part II to end the main set is much more preferable than preaching out One). I'm still not really seeing the hype about Knights Of Cydonia, I still think it feels like the first six minutes of a prog epic missing its remaining half hour, but it made a really good case to me for its use as a closer; indeed, the entire encore was very strong and I felt quite satisfied and a bit blown away at the end.

Really, my only complaint is that they don't play for a full two hours. If I'm paying somewhere in the vicinity of $80 to see a concert, I really do expect to get at least two hours of music. Two and a half would be ideal. Ah well, if you're going to play as well as Muse did, I'm not going to complain much. I hope they come back soon.

Now I just need more concerts to go to. Dream Theater hit Melbourne on 29 January 2008, so I'm really looking forward to that. I'm thinking about seeing Explosions In The Sky on 16 February 2008, but I'm not sure; it'd be nice if I had someone to go with. My biggest wish is that Porcupine Tree come here sometime next year; it seems possible but unlikely right now. Rest assured that if they do come, I will attend every Australian show that I possibly can. Their setlists lately have been beyond mindblowing. Waiting Phase One? Dark Matter? Drown With Me? The Sky Moves Sideways? Lightbulb Sun? And that in addition to the new stuff and the songs you'd expect like Lazarus, Trains, Even Less, Blackest Eyes, and Hatesong. Does it get any better? No, no it doesn't. I sincerely hope Steven Wilson can find time out of his ridiculously busy schedule to bring Porcupine Tree down to this part of the world.