Sanafir Then Muse
byLast Thursday I met Keira at Sanafir on Granville and despite getting the call that my site was down just as we were finishing up, we still had a delicious lunch.
Our menu items were everything from seared tuna to salmon wraps, naan bread, butter chicken and baklava. When you’re sitting in the space with papyrus on the wall and authentic Egyptian light fixtures you forget for a moment that you’re sitting right off bustling Granville. Sanafir’s space is beautiful with an upper level complete with bed seating, for those who want to dine, drink, and dish with girlfriends in this festive area.
After our savouring our power lunch we went our separate ways; Keira to her John Mayer concert at GM Place and I to my Muse show at Pacific Coliseum. Now, I had heard that Muse was currently the best live band in the world but I had no idea I was in for such a treat.
Silversun Pickups opened up the show and played a solid set. I’ve been a fan of theirs for the last few years and have always missed them when they’ve played smaller venues in town like the Commodore or Richards on Richards (RIP). They put on a great show and are very active on Twitter, I recommend following them @SSPU.
Once the draped columns that looked like city towers dropped to reveal Muse it was on. A wall of crisp powerful sound moved across the coliseum and wrapped itself around everyone in attendance. The band began with Uprising as the lighted columns cranked out the lyrics in time, “they will not control us”.
The crowd pumped their fists, sang along, and became entranced by the music. The band’s songs are simply epic.
Powerful political messages mixed with Peart-like drum solos, piano ballads and throat-ripping lyrics. They have it all and I’m glad local stations like CFOX and The Peak are playing their tunes. I was so stoked to see Map of the Problematique live as well as it’s one of my all time favourite driving tunes.
Muse covered quite a bit of their catalog in the show, although the crowd of thousands kept up the pace and continued to sing along to the most obscure lyrics. At the end of the performance dozens of giant blood-shot eyeballs dropped from the ceiling revealing red confetti when popped. But that wasn’t all — encores ensued.
As we left John looked over and said, “they could have charged double for that.” With our tickets being almost $60 after taxes and fees, I still agreed without question.
Muse continues their tour with stops in Phoenix, Tuscon, Las Vegas and San Francisco this week.
Disclosure cmp.ly/2 – our meal at Sanafir was complimentary.
