Devon’s prog-rockers Muse have never been a band known as mellow, shy, or minimalist. It’s only fitting that their most recent release entitled H.A.A.R.P., a CD/DVD package of the band’s performance at Wembley Stadium in 2007, keeps that trend alive. With the enormous crowd of 150,000 fans screaming in anticipation, the band marches down the runway to the tune of majestic classical violins. Frontman Matthew Bellamy picks up his guitar from a small robot that drives up to meet him on stage, and immediately hurls into “Knights of Cydonia,” the bombastic, trumpet-filled single from their last album, 2006’s Black Holes & Revelations. And as Bellamy pounds out the sludgy intro riff in front of the massive cheering crowd, the camera shows a whiff of a small childlike smirk, as if to say, “Hey, what I’m doing is pretty darn cool.”

The package does an excellent job at summarizing the work of a band that has won the award of Best Live British Act for 3 years running from numerous publications and further cements their supremacy in concert. The venue is beautiful, with a crowd that sucks you into the performance as if you were there, massive satellite dishes, and even trapeze artists suspended from flying white balloons during “Blackout.” But above all, the highlight is Matthew Bellamy, who shows off his impressive vocal range, guitar, and classically trained piano without missing a note. The band does an impeccable job of making their performance worthwhile, enhancing the studio versions of their songs, whether it be an extended, rollicking outro to “New Born,” or an improvised interlude. They play through the most popular parts of their discography, whether it be the robo-dance of “Supermassive Black Hole,” the beautiful Rachmaninov-influenced “Butterflies & Hurricanes,” or the lush soundscapes fueled by fierce drumming on “Map of the Problematique.” The only complaint I would have is the song selection; Muse could have kept the bookends of Black Holes & Revelations intact by opening with “Take A Bow” and closing with “Knights of Cydonia,” instead of vice versa. And while they did dig all the way back to 1999’s Showbiz to play “Unintended,” it would have been nice to see some fan-favorite b-sides like “Shine” and “Crying Shame,” or even notable live classic “Bliss.” But these are small complaints amidst an otherwise flawless album. Buy this (only $12 dollars for both a CD and DVD? Awesome.) and put it on the biggest TV and surround sound system you can find. H.A.A.R.P. is truly a sensory overload that needs to be experienced.

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