International Muse Day -originally posted on xanga March 2010

seems a good occasion to gather some thoughts and pics on seeing them in Chicago last week. I was quite nervous about handling the whole waiting in line, being in the pit experience since I'm at least twice the age of most people doing that. But some Musers from the message board guided me through it, and it was great meeting them and the other people in line. Here's the line in the  morning when the sun was still out

We covered each other for bathroom runs ( very important to an old fart like myself) shared food, blankets, and these 2 even shared earbuds to help pass the time. There was also a rousing game of Uno that killed at least an hour


And it really was possible to have pizza delivered to the sidewalk!


the day turned colder, windier and finally rainy , but we hung in there and the line grew, the United Center took this short video
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/video/video.php?v=689833775477&ref=mf

the weather did not deter one of our group from showing off his special shirt! (taken by PistolStar)

Finally at 6 pm they let us in, and my endurance was rewarded with a spot at the barrier right in front of where Matt Bellamy would be, I noticed the venue had a perfect nickname for the evening

The support act, Silversun Pickups , were good , but just not in the same category as Muse. Once the curtains came down from the towers, I felt like I was in a dream (picture by "blueOrchid")  

I had a great time dancing, singing,  and fist pumping with all the kids around me. Understandably, my pics are not very good, the sharper ones were taken by others!

 
(taken by Sam)

lots of awesome "guitar sex " happened right in front of me ( by Starlight04 aka Hillary Joy)



but one of the best moments of the night was the emotion Matt put into singing Guidiing Light, very intense. Another was during Starlight when I thought , maybe, possibly ,Matt made eye contact for a second, or I could just be delusional, he mostly sings with his eyes closed. (taken by Starlight04)


oh yeah, there were some other guys on stage too! (taken by Joanie)  don't worry, I certainly heard them, Chris' melodic bass and Dom's powerful drumming are  just as much part of the magic

Knights of Cydonia, the end of the encore( taken by Joanie)


I hope it won't years before  I get to do this again! It was by far the best concert of my life, so I am ready to camp out on a sidewalk again, and maybe even travel farther from home this time. But many thanks to my sister and brother in law for providing free luxurious room and board for this trip!
(taken by Starlight04)