'Muse (Stadium Negara, 25th February 2007)'

Sad to say, when we left the place (passing the exit where Muse's entourage had gathered, along with the odd police officers and RELA personnel), not a single banner or poster of the event was to be found: we had been beaten in the task of acquiring the much sought after post-concert souvenirs. What had initially seemed to be an aftermath of cigarette butts, plastic mineral water bottles and lethargic bodies was waded through as we mutually shared our disbelief--that we had actually attended a Muse concert, right here in Malaysia.

I was so sceptical that I had briefly mentioned it to a good friend (who is almost as tabooless as me), hardly considering if our thoughts or exchange would actually jinx the event--that the band could possibly withdraw from performing at the very last minute, leaving us all high and dry, about an hour before entering the stadium. Perhaps it was the Heineken talking.

Weeks spent "doing my homework" (read: a task of going through Muse's entire discography during my bouts of travel to and fro work--one which I did not properly commit to, due to a number of things which were beyond my control) had paid off when I could actually follow what was going on for a good part of that evening. The saturated pit did much in impeding breathing that after a while, I was secretly wanting slower and softer songs to be performed (though 'Hyper Music' would have definitely made my day); and not exhausting myself for 'weaker parts' in songs (read: head-banging only when I can't help it; though I did really appreciate the finer parts i.e. the piano arrangement in 'Butterflies And Hurricanes'; the ambient instrumental found in 'Citizen Erased'). Adrenaline rushed with each familiar pattern, killer riff. And though half-coughing, I did make an effort to sing along to the songs that I knew. Everyone else did. I found myself dazed, drenched in the surrounding frenzy during faster [/familiar(?)] tracks such as 'Hysteria', 'Supermassive Black Hole', 'Feeling Good', 'Starlight', 'Plug In Baby', 'Time Is Running Out', 'New Born' and 'Stockholm Syndrome'.

I lost myself out there.

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