Nathan Willett was in the zone, focused on the music standing with his feet in tight together leaning out towards the mic. They opened with the title track “Robbers” and performed a new song in the start of the brief 40 minute set. As the band swapped instruments and took turns at the keyboard, you could see them singing along even without a mic. They seemed to really enjoy themselves and so did we particularly with their latest soulfully somber track “Hospital Beds.”

But the highlight of the night for the Cold War Kids was their southern gospel style single “St. John.” The song is about a prisoner on death row for killing a boy while protecting his sister. It’s very visual tune and you can almost imagine Willett sitting behind bars as he sings. His vocals are similar to Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse, varying from the high pitched wails to the low and deep. “St. John” exemplifies their experimental sounds and unique rhythmic style.

It would have been great to see them in a smaller venue, and for a longer set, but as they mentioned before playing “Quiet Please” and walking off stage, Muse was keeping them to strict time tables. [insert “Time is Running Out” joke here]

Muse was loud in both senses of the word, a stark contrast from Cold War Kids. As they have done with previous show this year, they kicked off with all black and snippets of one of JFK’s speeches on secret societies. It felt more like a political rally than a concert as the crowd cheered sporadically during the speech.

And they continued this tone throughout the set, with strange images flashing in the background including dancing robots, bumblebees, a chorus of satellite dishes shooting lasers at a Japanese city, war protests and video games.

They opened with “Knights of Cydonia” getting everyone riled up as the words from the chorus beamed from above. “Supermassive Black Hole” echoed robotic hums, and “City of Delusion” demonstrated their clever incorporation of a trumpet solo. Their songs are diverse yet threaded together with Matthew Bellamy's signature vocals.

His keyboard lit up as he played, occasionally ending in an explosion of synchronized smoke guns out from the edge of the stage. “Feeling Good” seemed like a quieter intermission from the intensity of the show, introduced with a light piano melody and “Apocalypse Please.”

The entire set was so full of energy that their popular single “Time Is Running Out” did not stand out as the climax. But the entire auditorium was still singing along and pumping fists into the air from the crowd.

While we couldn’t quite make out much of Bellamy’s lyrics under the blaring speakers, the sound was otherwise excellent, and the entire show was pretty much your ideal rock concert: an excited participatory audience, thumping bass, gigantic Big Brother eyeballs staring down at you, and floating orbs filled with confetti.