Yesterday, the popular European band Muse released their second live DVD, "H.A.A.R.P," in
North America. It features a live show that they performed last June at Wembley Stadium
in London. If you have never heard of Muse, you are not alone. While they are
extremely popular in Europe, they have yet to break into the mainstream music in America
(which is a good thing). But after watching "H.A.A.R.P" numerous times already, I have to
say that this band should be respected by everyone worldwide, regardless of your genre
preference.

Muse starts off the concert with the widely popular song "Knights of Cydonia," which you will
recognize if you have played Guitar Hero III. It is a powerful way to start the concert, and
gets you in the mood to listen to rocking music for the entire concert, which lasts close to
100 minutes. After "Knights," they play another one of their more popular songs,
"Hysteria." I find it kind of interesting that Muse starts their concert with two of their well
known songs instead of saving them for the end of the concert. But thats why Muse is like
no other band.

You also get the sense that Muse is a very different band by their stage layout. It is
probably one of the most incredible designs I've seen. They have a kickass screen behind
the band that has some of the coolest visualizers I've seen. They are rich in color, and the
patterns flying around are amazing. One thing that I really enjoyed watching was during the
song "Blackout" they have these balloons suspended in the air with acrobats hanging off the
bottom of them, doing tricks in the air. It is a real neat stunt that goes on during the song.

Here I was going to list some of my favorite tracks off the DVD, but after looking at the
tracklist, I realized that the list was going to contain every song on the DVD. So here is the
tracklist of the DVD. If you are not interested in the set list, continue reading.

1. "Knights of Cydonia"
2. "Hysteria"
3. "Supermassive Blackhole"
4. "Map of the Problematique"
5. "Butterflies & Hurricanes"
6. "Hoodoo"
7. "Apocalypse Please"
8. "Feeling Good"
9. "Invincible"
10. "Starlight"
11. "Improv."
12. "Time is Running Out"
13. "New Born"
14. "Soldier's Poem"
15. "Unintended"
16. "Blackout"
17. "Plug In Baby"
18. "Stockholm Syndrome"
19. "Take a Bow"


Here is an image of their set-up. In the back, you can see the balloons they use for the
stunt during the song "Blackout."

I have only one gripe with the DVD. They did not play one of my favorite songs, "Assassin."
Other than that, this DVD is incredible. If you enjoy Muse, concert DVDs, or just music in
general, you owe it to yourself to check out this DVD. Even if you don't buy it, you owe it to
yourself to check out a few of the songs on YouTube, or in a few weeks, haarp.muse.mu
will be operational where you can download individual video files to your computer. I
definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for something new, or for a cool video
to watch on a boring night. Did anyone else buy "H.A.A.R.P"? If you did, what do you think
of it?