The Road to Wembley, step 4: A Southside Rendezvous, part deux

Our first face to face encounter with this band was a super massive initiation. It did set our souls alight; it was a closure as well as a beginning. As mentioned before, that was where the road to Wembley initially started. In June 2006, at Southside festival, with the first snippets of soon to be released ‘Black Holes and Revelations’. The first single ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ had been played a few times. It again sounded so different than anything anyone – including the band themselves – had ever produced. It was so unbelievably sexy and dirty – almost like a Justin Timberlake version of a Nine Inch Nails song. No wonder it appealed to us, with our recently discovered sympathy for the Pretty Hate Machine that is Trent Reznor. But this would supply enough material for yet another appreciation blog, so on we move to the concert that manifested itself as the commencement of all of this. Marion had won herself a place as a festival reporter at a contest. This gave her access to the backstage area as well. So, theoretically, she could have met the boys. But we’re not heading to Regretville right now. So shut it, Karma, it obviously wasn’t the time or the place (seriously, after two sweaty and dusty days, would you have wanted to approach Dom with a sunburnt face?) Anyways, our all girl travel group, with the RodgauCasiKingz completely in attendance and ready to fill in any vacant slot should someone not be able to make it was in good spirits.



We saw the fabulous Hives, amongst others. Honestly, there are not many other bands or performances to recall. All weekend long, they showed bits and pieces of the ‘Supermassive Black Hole‘video on the big screens next to the stages. You just couldn’t escape it. You didn’t want to escape it, either. It was feckin’ hot. It was Saturday, the 24th of June 2006, circa 10.30 pm. We stood on a heightened platform, when a young blonde boy approached us for a cigarette. His name was Tobias, but his friends called him Tobse. He was so innocent, with his angelic face and a festival virgin. His euphoria was contagious and made us feel like we were wise festival-Yodas advising the young Padawan. He wanted to know what to expect from the upcoming band he had never heard about. “Everything, dude!” And who they sounded like? “Erm…well, you know Tobse…Muse sound like…Muse.”



We never saw Tobse again. We like to think that he became a dedicated follower that night, thanks to our guidance. We ourselves were equally blown away. The notes taken from this event sound like we had had various epiphanies during these particular one and a half hours. From this legendary night, we both only remember two things vividly: the premiere of ‘Knights of Cydonia’ and the premiere of one good night of sleep, almost like a black out. Like both body and brain needed a time out. In the evening there were dark clouds on the horizon. We watched the equipment being carried on stage. The sky darkened. It smelled like rain. Could there be anything more suitable for this band than thunder and lightning? But the thunderstorm remained limited to the show. Muse: a force of nature; a storm, a tornado, a hurricane. Fragile Matt Bellamy overwhelmed you mightily. These three people sounded like an orchestra. The year before, Queens of the Stone Age were a wall. Muse were a wave. The guitar functioned as a light bulb, a singing saw, a beloved, a dancer. Bellamy: a virtuoso; his slender fingers caressing the instrument. At a certain point there is no more capacity to keep up. All there is to do is take in, soak in like a sponge. The performance left us speechless and breathless.
The first thing we did, when we came home, was pre-ordering ‘Black Holes and Revelations’.