When a band receives lavish plaudits as regularly as tonight’s headliners, there will always be naysayers. After all, Muse isn’t to everyone’s taste. They’ve rarely shown much originality or self-restraint; they don’t talk much onstage; they’re not loveable, Coldplay-esque everyman entertainers. They’re essentially three music geeks in an overblown, proggish hard-rock band. If you were being harsh, you could call them a little bit silly. So why are they routinely described as the world’s best live band?

Step forward, Matt Bellamy. Rodent-like and pipe cleaner-thin in lurid green jeans, he’s not your obvious rock god, but his versatility as a frontman is unmatched. He’s not content simply to be a hugely ambitious songwriter; he aspires to a concert pianist’s technical ability, Freddie Mercury’s vocals and Brian May’s guitar chops, too. Thing is, he actually pulls it off. When he holds that top note before launching into ‘Plug in Baby’’s still-thrilling arpeggios, you’re left awestruck. He dazzles at the white grand piano for ‘United States of Eurasia’, its chorus cry ‘There can be only one!’ inducing a mass breakout of fist-pumping reminiscent of Queen’s ‘Radio Ga Ga’.

No-nonsense, tattooed bassist Chris Wolstenholme holds court with Bellamy front of stage, dutifully harmonising and gluing together the strands of multifaceted marvels like ‘Map of the Problematique’ and ‘Unnatural Selection’. Then there’s the innovative drumming. ‘Resistance’ doesn’t translate live as well as stompathons like ‘Uprising’ or ‘Knights of Cydonia’ – the subtlety of the bridge feels lost in this aerodrome of a venue – but considering the complexity of these songs, Dominic Howard’s rhythmic dexterity is wondrous. Muse doesn’t cut corners in concert. Every song is replicated precisely as on record, and with electronic effects piped in, the effect is that of a three-man rock band summoning the expansive range and emotional reach of an entire orchestra.

Okay, so there was no ‘New Born’, ‘Feeling Good’ or ‘Butterflies and Hurricanes’. Yes, the robotic R&B of ‘Undisclosed Desires’ still takes some getting used to as a Muse song. And at 90 minutes, the whole shebang was way too short. But I’m not gonna try to pick holes. Complete with state-of-the-art visuals, this was the six-star, super-deluxe, 2010 space odyssey, and Muse’s astonishing display of virtuosity made every other band this month look like flailing amateurs. They don’t just think bigger than anyone else – they play better, too. JE