Though Wednesday evening saw some big-hitters on both sides of the Bay—including Faith No More at the Warfield, Thom Yorke’s Atoms for Peace at the Fox, and Beach House at Bimbo’s—easily the most grandiose performance of the night (and year, for that matter) was Muse at Oakland’s Oracle Arena. Maintaining their reputation for having the most over-the-top live show this side of Lady Gaga, the English alt-rock ensemble went above and beyond by treating the packed stadium to a post-apocalyptic thrill ride that was outfitted with lasers, giant confetti-filled eyeballs, and a high-concept, big-budget set that was nothing short of epic.

Silversun Pickups had the pleasure (or challenge) of introducing the concert and as frontman Brian Aubert joked in Pee-wee Herman fashion, “Concert, people; people, concert,” they did their job with charm. While the Pickups’ dynamic performance—which began with “Growing Old is Getting Old” from their sophomore album Swoon (Dangerbird) and ended with crowd favorite “Lazy Eye”—was unadorned by comparison, the band was resourceful. At one point, they asked everyone in the stands to flash their cameras, which created a “light show” of their own that dazzled as much as their fuzzed-out rock set.

Muse fans likely recognized the three skyscraper structures onstage from the band’s music video for “Uprising,” off its latest opus, The Resistance (Warner Bros.)—but it’s unlikely anyone predicted how these stage props were about to come alive. As the house lights dropped and the crowd erupted, the lights in the skyscraper windows turned on one by one, and digital projections of people filled the stairs in Brave New World-fashion until the command, “Destroy in seven...” sent them plummeting to the ground.

Then, in one big swoop, the canvases around the skyscrapers fell to reveal vocalist/guitarist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Christopher Wolstenholme, and drummer Dominic Howard—each perched on raised platforms at the core of the mini-city stage setting. Opening with “Uprising,” the lasers and the digital projections locked in with the song to create one intense call to arms, the lyrics emblazoned on tops of the towers: “They will not control us, we will be victorious.” This set the mood and intensity level for the rest of the show, the stage production becoming like a fifth member of the band (in addition to keyboardist Morgan Nicholls that joined the trio once the platforms lowered to the ground).

Maintaining The Resistance’s anti-authority/end of the world sentiment, Muse’s setlist seamlessly incorporated old favorites like “Undisclosed Desires,” “Starlight,” “Time is Running Out,” and “Knights of Cydonia,” each of their alt-rock symphonies inciting moshing and crowd surfing. Yet while Muse puts on a musically virtuosic show, they also rely on a lot of fluff, which some could argue detracts from their musicianship. That being said, theirs is an overly ambitious approach that’s won over a massive following and the band pulled off the feat with breathtaking effects. Further, by ascending, descending, and rotating on their platforms, Muse was able to accomplish the difficult task of personally greeting an audience that completely surrounded them.

As Muse took a break from the doom, gloom, and militaristic imagery with a cover of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good,” Muse showed that beauty can triumph in the face of desolation and despair. Yet, it was the moment when the music inspired the entire arena to hold up their glowing cell phones that beauty really prevailed and created the mesmerizing effect of shooting stars in a vast Milky Way galaxy

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Silversun Pickups MySpace page

Warner Bros. Records

Dangerbird Records