Plug-in Performance

The stage is adorned with a complex set and lighting arrangements, obviously with the intention of offering the audience more than three blokes on too big a stage, yet they only succeed in obscuring the band further.

Speaking as someone who was indifferent to Muse until seeing the Hullabaloo DVD and a dynamite performance at the Reading Festival, after which I was (briefly) convinced they were the best band that ever was, H.A.A.R.P. is somewhat flat. Nice for the die hards – if it is a simple contractual obligation, they’ve at least made an effort with it – but it won’t win over the uninitiated.

As for the disc itself, the concert is shot in HD so picture quality will improve dramatically with a complimentary system setup. The viewer also has the option of track selection, and two audio mixes. A ‘making-of’ featurette reveals nothing more than the band making their way onstage and coming offstage – it’s probably some sort of rakish post-modern satirical swipe at the banality of DVD extras, in which case, ‘hahaha’.