Muse have stormed into the public eye in recent years with albums offering an onslaught of guitars, keys and drum riffs that hark back to the days of 1970s prog-rock. Hullaballo shows them at their best, within an energetic live performance of the kind that first drew them to the public and media's attention. Filmed towards the end of their intense 2001 tour at Le Zenith, Paris, this gig is full of high-powered chords and dramatic instrument torture as the lads pump through songs from their three albums including tracks from the B-side album Hullaballo, released to coincide with the DVD. From "Sunburn" and "New Born" to the finale of "Bliss", the band powers through a 90-minute set filmed from a multitude of angles. The montage of audience vs stage action offers not so much a sense of being at the gig in person, more an omnipresent sensation, getting up close and personal with the band while being hit by an onslaught of colours and split frames. The camera does tend to fall out of focus on occasions, but this just complements the raw sound of the gig. 2001 was not just Muse's year but the year when British rock gained a much-needed injection of energy after years of indie shoegazing.
On the DVD: Hullaballo is offered with a DTS or Dolby 5.1 surround sound, which can only lead to one thing: air guitar in the living room. Along with the 16:9 picture format, this DVD really does blow you away with the sheer power of the band's live performance. Disc one offers the concert footage along with track listings allowing you to flip to your favourite song. Disc two offers a selection of extra features and footage. The worst of these is the 40-minute film on the band's on and off-stage shenanigans, which looks as if a film student had just found a "cool" new feature on his digital camera (though the superb impression of Slipknot is not to be missed). The "Discography" is truly unique as it doesn't just list the albums, it also plays excerpts. The "Front Cover" section offers a host of magazine cover shots showing just how far the threesome have come in the past year; not just in Britain but across the world. --Nikki Disney