Austin has never quite been a stadium rock city, but interest is piqued as the new Moody Center continues to prove its value to 15,000 people at a time. One of England’s most theatrical rock bands, Muse, is perfect to put it to the test. On February 28, 2023, Muse is bringing the Will of the People Tour with special guest Evanescence, for a show that’s sure to melt faces and souls.
Will of the People is Muse’s ninth album, with an almost peppy glam rock-influenced title track calling for revolution: “With every second our anger increases/We're gonna smash a nation to pieces.” This concept album fits right in with Muse’s usual offerings, in other words, high-octane rock gone electric; moody musings gone dancing.
A live show by Muse includes everything from masks to pyrotechnics, all alongside a lot of falsetto and lung capacity. With his semi-operatic songwriting, Matt Bellamy has given himself a superhuman task onstage, and does not seem to tire of belting his heart out.
Neither does the group tire of high-tech guitars, and thanks to these shows, millions of viewers have learned that the instrument is not limited to strings. Still, despite a clear love for his custom builds, Bellamy holds the world record for most guitars smashed on tour: a healthy or totally unhinged 140, depending how you look at it.
The smashing was the group’s first indication that they may be a smash hit, and a good metaphor for the group’s pop anarchist bent in general. In 1994 the group, then called Rocket Baby Dolls (and earlier still called Gothic Plague), accidentally won a battle of the bands competition that Bellamy claimed they performed in protest, destroying their gear in the end. The group changed its name to Muse and continued on to conquer both England and the United States, with two Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards, and much more acclaim.
During the height of the pandemic, Bellamy got some cinematic and stripped-down solo work out of his system. The Will of the People Tour is the band’s first one back, joined by the American rock band Evanescence, known for equal or greater melodrama and otherworldly songwriting. Austin is toward the start of the North American leg of the tour, three nights in. The band will then head to Houston's Toyota Center on March 2, 2023, followed by Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on March 3, 2023.
Tickets will be available through a Muse pre-sale on Tuesday, October 4, at 10 am, followed by a Moody Center pre-sale on October 6 from 10 am to 10 pm. Moody Center will share the password on social media. A general public sale starts on October 7 at 10 am on moodycenteratx.com and Ticketmaster.
