Muse. Mind blown. Face melted.

Warning! There be many, many, MANY words ahead!

Where, oh where do I start? I guess I'll start at 8:45 a.m. on 10/26/2010. That's where all the fun began, after all.

I met up with a couple of people I had met on the Muse messageboards

(Erindal = Tracy, mamababa = Margaret), and we headed to the arena. Even that early, we were still numbers 14-18 in line (for those of you who can count, Tracy's son and his friend were with us). However, we arrived just in time for a tiny slice of chaos. The utterly clueless staff of the RBC Center was trying to tell us that we could not be on the property until 5 pm. Uhh...do I need to say that this was a problem? Long story short, we found some nice staffers who were willing to actually talk with us, and everything worked out. We happily returned to our spots right outside the door of the arena.

I thought it might get a little boring standing outside waiting for ten hours. Ya know what though? I kinda had a blast! I've never been around so many people who share my obsession, so it was great getting to talk Muse with everyone. Also, it was really awesome getting to finally meet all the people that had formerly had no faces. Like I said, I had a blast queueing up for this. :)

Getting inside the arena was a little hectic. Actually, "hectic" might not be the right word. "Clusterfuck" would be more accurate. So much for trying to number ourselves off outside the arena. Ultimately, my entire group made it to the barrier though. Nothing between us and the stage but a few security staffers! I couldn't believe how close I was. I don't think there's a word to describe my excitement.

Metric came on. Good stuff. I believe I will look into picking up an album. By the way, the lead singer was absolutely ADORABLE. But enough about them...

Before the lights went out, we could see the glow from Matt's (lead singer/guitarist/keyboardist) guitar inside the first tower. That's when it started to sink in that the boys were only going to be feet away from me, and not the distant specks they were at the last show I attended. We cheered as we watched the silhouettes of the towers rise. Almost time...

Someone had glimpsed part of the setlist, but fortunately, I was forewarned and actually managed to resist the temptation to look. It's soooo much better when you don't know what to expect.

I'm so glad I didn't peek. I was expecting the usual intro into their biggest single "Uprising." That would have been amazing enough on its own. I can't describe how I felt when I realized I was hearing strings, not a keyboard. Muse opened with the first movement of their Exogenesis Symphony, usually reserved for the encore. They have only rarely done that on this leg of the tour, and the times when they did, I had thought to myself "I want this setlist!!!" I never dreamed we would get it. The song continued to build, and I could feel the moment coming when the veils (what would you call them? Tarps? Cloths? Eh?) would drop away, and the music would hit me in the face like a freight train. I remember grabbing the girl next to me (Margaret, if any of the boardies have followed the link I posted) and said, "Here it comes!!" And all at once, the veils fell away, the towers exploded into light, and Matt's beautiful falsetto filled the arena. I think my heart missed a couple of beats, and I'm pretty sure I screamed...

I'm not going to take you song by song. Instead, I'll just highlight the moments that (Warning! Cliche ahead!!) took my breath away.

Every song was mind-blowingly awesome, even the ones that aren't particularly my favorites ("United States of Eurasia," for instance). But then...

So usually, after USoE, they follow up with their cover of "Feeling Good." Sometimes however, they substitute that with "Ruled by Secrecy." I wanted to hear RbS so very badly... As Muse finished playing USoE, I think I stopped breathing. What would they play next? Then the first bar of that beautiful piano line from RbS sounded out, and I know I screamed that time. I sat back and sang along, and then when the fortissimo piano section hit, I teared up. I know not everyone will understand this, but that moment was like nothing else I had every felt before. That song is beautiful on the album, but absolutely breath-taking live. By the end, I was crying a little.

Muse proceeded to melt my friggin' face off for the rest of the show. The next big huge enormous moment for me was the closer. It's the entire reason why I was so excited to hear Exogenesis open the show. When they open with Exogenesis, they close with "Take a Bow." Not only had I never seen the song live before, I imagined it to be quite the epic closer...

I was right.

Everything about it...the build...the EPIC LASERS, the animations on the towers...was simply stunning. "Knights of Cydonia" is a fantastic closer, but "Take a Bow" worked insanely well. I was sad because I knew it would be the last song of the night, but what a song to end with.

That night was the best night of my life. I wish I could relive it a thousand times.

If any of my boardie friends are reading this, again I say it was GREAT to meet all of you!

I took lots of pictures. Not sure how great they'll turn out, but I'll post them all to facebook when I get them up and sorted. :)