I met MUSE

Hi all!

I’m in the mood of posting the stories of how I met my two favourite bands. A couple days ago you learnt how I met Bright Eyes, well, Conor Oberst. Now you will see how I met Muse.

I hope you enjoy the story! Again, this was written 2 and a half years ago, so don’t mind the grammar mistakes! Thank you! 🙂

I’m gonna tell you about my surreal meet-up with Muse! Well actually I only got to meet Matt and Chris. Unfortunately, Dom was ill that night, so he had to stay in the hotel. I’m Caro, just a normal girl from Chile, who happens to have friends in the Netherlands and a boyfriend in France. So this year I went to visit them! As I was going to the Netherlands, a friend of mine invited me to go with her and her friends to Lowlands Festival! That would be my ultimate chance to finally see Muse live, after waiting for about 4 years! So, the festival would take place from August 18th until August 20th 2006, and MUSE would be headlining the festival. another friend who was also going to the festival, proposed me to go sightseeing a bit around Holland on the 19th and then coming back to the festival on the 20th. There was a bar we really wanted to visit in Amsterdam, with nice music, so we went there and at the same time we thought maybe Muse would have arrived in Amsterdam that same day and might go out in the city or something… so we thought we could run into them somewhere, or that they could even visit this bar.

Anyway, around 8:30pm we arrived in Amsterdam and waited for this bar to open at 9pm. It was a bit empty, as it had just opened, but we just decided to sit there, have a drink and chat a bit, waiting for the live music to begin. As time went by, the bar started to get crowded. We were sitting at a table in the middle of it, between the entrance and the small stage, where a band was playing some music. I was constantly looking at the entrance, trying to see everyone who was coming in and out of the bar. But after about two hours my friend and I started to think that they wouldn’t come, so we just sat there and enjoyed the atmosphere… but suddenly, we see a guy in the middle of the crowd who, for some weird reason, looked quite a lot like Chris from Muse. My friend and I questioned ourselves for a few minutes.. “could that be him?” he was there with a girl, whom we asumed to be his wife! After a moment he left and then we stayed there in doubt, hoping he would return.

After several minutes the guy came back! I had no doubt anymore, it was him!! but my friend kept on hesitating, because he thought Chris looked different from photos, and because he thought he would be taller than that (my friend is dutch and he’s quite tall!). The guy we thought was Chris asked for a drink and stood by the bar and we kept on staring… my friend was still doubting until he saw undenyable evidence: he saw Matt Bellamy next to Chris!!! And since Matt’s appearence is so unique, we finally were sure it was them! O_O  OMG we started getting absolutely nervous, couldn’t stop staring, but at the same time we didn’t want them to notice, because no one else in the bar seemed to have recognized them. “What do we do!?? we have to meet them, that’s why we are here!!” we said to each other, but we were too shy.

So finally my friend Frank got up and said “follow me, bring your camera and your little notebook and a pen!” and so we moved through the crowd until we reached them. First we went to Matt, and my friend asked him “you’re Matt, right?” Matt said “yeah! yeah”, he was there with his girlfriend, so it was kind of uncomfortable to bother him, but it was our only chance! 😀 we said we were big fans and that I had come all the way from Chile, Southamerica to see them! And that they should go over there, because many fans were waiting! he was quite surprised about that! He said he’d like to go there, but didn’t really know when they will :(. We asked him for a picture, so first my friend took a picture of him and me, and then I took a picture of them both. Matt shook our hands 🙂 and afterwards we asked him for an autograph as well, and he said “yeah sure!” and signed my little book. Afterwards we apologised for bothering him and he said it was ok 🙂 and we said “see you at Lowlands! ”

Then we went to Chris! who was a bit further from Matt, standing by the bar with his wife. My friend Frank asked hm “excuse me? are you Chris from Muse?” he smiled and said “yeah!” haha. He seemed much nicer than Matt, less serious at least 🙂 we told him we were fans and stuff and that I had com to from Chile to see them! he said “wow! really?” haha. He introduced us to his wife, she seemed quite nice too, and we also asked him why Dom wasn’t there! He said he had the flu and so he stayed in the hotel getting better for the gig the next day, at Lowlands! We asked him again for pics and autograph. I was SO nervous that I almost spilled my drink on his wife haha, but luckily it just fell on a chair next to her 😉 He told us they never get recognised in Amsterdam, so we were surprised about that, and so were they! haha. We said bye to him and apologised too, he said “no problem :)” Then we went back to our seats, completely hyper and excited and SO happy!! Because we were so lucky to have found them there all of a sudden! After a moment they left and later we did too. Still had to drive back home and get ready to see them the next morning at Lowlands 🙂 🙂 It’s a weekend I’ll never forget!!!! 🙂

and that was it! My Muse adventure! I know a lot of people have met them, but what makes it extra special to me is that I met them casually, and not at some autograph session, or a Meet & Greet. Those are usually a little awkward, and not as special. I’ll always treasure that moment and keep it next to my most precious memories.

Cheers!

Carolina

The Best Dream I’ve Ever Had

How many times have you dreamt something so amazing that it’s painful to wake up? How many times have your dreams surpassed your reality? Well, last night I had one of those dreams. And even though I’m sitting here at work, I need to write it down, or else I might forget it.

Ok, if you have read some of these entries, then you’ll know I’m a fan of Muse. My dream starts with them. So, I don’t know where we were or why, but I was with my boyfriend and some friends waiting outside some venue to see Muse in Chile. This was the second night and we were glad to be there because there were hardly any people there. First we got some really bad seats but then we realised we could just move and stand in front of the stage, where not too many people were. So we went there. It was really weird because the part that was in the middle of the venue, where you could stand in front of the stage, was somehow higher than the stage. So we climbed up there and stood on the left side of the front, near Matt Bellamy’s microphone. I was excited as hell. [… I have seen Muse live 3 times though, but each time it has been breathtaking… this dream was no exception…]. People started to arrive, yet it still wasn’t full. I glanced over my shoulder to check out the crowd and there was plenty of space left. And the show was about to begin. I was happy cause I didn’t like extremely crowded venues. My friends were also very excited to be there. But nobody like me… I am a fangirl.

Finally, the band climbed on stage and everyone started cheering.  [ If you don’t know Muse, here’s some little info: they’re three guys, they come from Britain and they have been out there playing music for about 10 years. I have been a fan for 6 years. Their lead singer, Matthew Bellamy has an amazing voice, and outstanding guitar and piano skills. The bass player, Chris Wolstenholme is a very quiet guy, whereas the drummer Dominic Howard is a sweetheart. All songs are sung by Matt, except for a few backing vocals where Chris and Dom help. ]

Now the surreal part. Dom and Chris start a song, everyone’s excited. And when everybody expected Matt to go ahead and grab his guitar and microphone to sing, he goes and sits at a table behind Chris and Dom, while Chris began to sing an unknown tune. Matt just sat at the table and stared at the audience, smiling. Suddenly, a bunch of people who were standing beside me jumped on the stage (which wasn’t hard at all, considering that the stage was a little lower than we were) and stood in line to get Matt’s autograph. Ok, they didn’t stand in line, they were all over the place! I didn’t think about it twice and jumped as well. I didn’t have anything for him to sign, except for some piece of paper that I had in my pocket. When it was my chance to have his attention I pulled out the paper and asked him to sign it. He smiled and had a look at it. He giggled and I said “don’t ask, I have no idea what that is!”. I also told him that I was happy to meet him again [ …The first time I saw Muse live in The Netherlands in 2006, I was lucky enough to spot them at a bar in Amsterdam before the show and meet them. It was amazing… ]. He said something back but I can’t remember what it was! Anyway, after a moment, we all jumped back to where we were, and Matt finally started singing. I went back to my friends and my boyfriend, we had such a great view from there. For some reason, the concert seemed unusually short, and my partners left. I didn’t leave because I knew there’d have to be an encore. And there was…

Surreal part number two: it wasn’t Muse anymore on the encore, it was Bright Eyes […Conor Oberst is another of my top three music heroes. If you’re not familiar with him, he has been recording music since the age of 12. He is now 28 and has had multiple music projects, but the one he’s most famous for is Bright Eyes. He has played at the Vote for Change concerts to support Obama this year. I have seen Bright Eyes 7 times and met him twice…]. I was so happy I couldn’t believe this was happening. Of course, I thought my dream was real. I noticed that the venue was now packed and everybody was singing along with Conor. I was still on the very front. He had his guitar, his band and nothing else mattered at that moment. I had no idea where my friends and boyfriend were, but frankly, I didn’t care.

The concert was over, so I walked out of the venue. On my way out I heard a bunch of girls screaming and yelling. I knew they had probably found Muse and Conor at the back door or something, so I made my way there. When I got there it was impossible to sneak in, so I simply stared. Suddenly, I see Conor reaching through the crowd. Apparently, nobody noticed that he had escaped, but me. I immediately walked up to him and started a conversation. Basically, I told him that it was great to see him again, and that I had met him twice before [… First time I met him was after a concert in The Netherlands in 2007; Second time was in Chile in July 2008…]. He even seemed to remember me, so he put his arm around me and I put mine around him. We started walking and talking about a lot of things. It was amazing, I felt as though I had known him forever. I told him about all the times I had seen him live, and how his music had marked my life. I even told him about the time I saw him in Amsterdam in September. I waited for him outside the venue and when he walked toward me he didn’t see me. He admittedly said he was so stoned and drunk that day that he hardly remembered anything, and even apologised. Awww. And he was so happy to hear everything I told him and so humbled about it. Well, I know for a fact that he’s a very humble man, despite how genius he is.

Suddenly we reached some weird building that was near a trainstation… in London O_o. I don’t know how or why but it was the afternoon again. And we definitely didn’t spend all night walking together from Chile to London. Well, you know, weird things that occur in dreams. He told me he had to leave, so I asked him for a picture. I only had my cellphone with me, which fortunately has a really good camera. But there was a catch: the battery was low. I told Conor to stand next to me, somehow I had given him a Chilean flag earlier (weird, I don’t remember doing it lol) with “Bright Eyes” written on it, so he was holding it and smiling. I took two pictures which weren’t good enough and then my battery died. “Oh oh!” I thought. I had no way to reach my friends anymore. Conor told me to come along with him (I don’t remember where he was going) and I really wanted to go but I couldn’t. I knew my friends and my parents would be worried sick about me. I hugged him tight and told him that this would not be the last time we’d meet. He smiled and left.

I walked a few blocks and tried to turn my cell phone on again. It had very little battery, and I immediately got a call from my parents. Somehow, they were nearby at some cafe O_o. I walked there and met them and my boyfriend, as well as my other friends who had been with me at the concert. I told them about my surreal experience with Conor, and how they left before the concert was over. They said they were worried about me and that they couldn’t reach me. We were sitting at a table eating and stuff… and you will not believe what happened next.

Surreal part number three: the owner of the cafe was no other than Layne Staley (O_o)!!!. […Layne Staley is my other top three music hero. He was the lead singer of the 90’s Grunge band Alice in Chains. He died in 2002, and the Grunge world has never been the same since then…]. Layne came to our table and asked us if we needed anything else. He had curly hair, a goatee, and he was wearing a hat. For some reason I thought his outfit looked kinda French, because of the sweater he was wearing. It was white, with horizontal black stripes. I stared at him and couldn’t believe my eyes. He was beautiful. To my dismay, I didn’t get to spend as much time with him as I did with Conor and Matt, however, he was there! Before we left the cafe, I walked to him and gave him a hug. I can’t remember exactly what I told him while I was hugging him, but it was probably related to him being amazing. He smiled at me and kissed me on the cheek. And before I could say anything else my alarm went on.

I had the biggest smile on my face this morning, I tell ya!

Those three men mean so much to me and have marked me in so many different ways, that having them all together visiting me in one night was probably too much to handle 🙂

Thanks for reading this. It means a LOT to me. I hope it was entertaining!!

Carolina.