Muse

Muse @ UEA LCR, Norwich

By RACHEL BULLER

Its fair to say that Muse had been around for a few years now without ever making much impact in terms of commercial success.

However while their songs have rarely travelled the charts they have an enormous following and also the type of critical success that many bands would praise.

When their UK tour stopped off at the University of East Anglia, they seemed like a band on the verge of big things.

Playing a mixture of tracks from their debut album Showbiz and also a sample of their new album which is set to be released this June, the packed in-crowd greeted them like gods.

The biggest cheer of the night was reserved for their last single Plug In Baby. The new single New Born was also given an airing and it sounds as though it will follow in the footsteps of Plug In Baby and give Muse their second major chart hit.

For me though the show stealer came with the cover of the Nina Simone's track Feeling Good. Absolutely fantastic.

At times during slower tracks singer Matthew Bellamy sounded like Radiohead's Thom York singing Fake Plastic Trees but not quite as haunting, and at other times they could quite easily be likened to the Smashing Pumpkins.

In the past such comparisons have suggested a band with little originality but while they are easily likened to others they are a great prospect for the future of good old rocking guitar music.