Friday afternoon we started our road trip to see Muse (& U2) play Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium with some of our closest friends. I couldn’t have been more excited – it was my first live Muse experience and although I wish it would have been a headlining show, I was happy just to be in their presence for their 8-song set. They were mind-blowing. Matt Bellamy, if you are out there, I wouldn’t mind having your tiny powerhouse British babies. The set list was as follows:

Uprising
Map of the Problematique
Supermassive Black Hole
Hysteria
Undisclosed Desires
Unnatural Selection
Starlight
Time is Running Out

It was just incredible how much energy and passion they brought to the set despite being openers. They really gave it all they had and although we were one of the only people standing, screaming and dancing in our section, I had to smile when I overheard a few people commenting how “unreal” their performance was while waiting to buy merchandise. They are my beautiful little secret, but it still feels good to know that soon they will get the exposure they deserve. There are rumors that they will be headlining their first American tour sometime in 2010 and I really hope they make it down to South Florida because I plan on being front and center. I can’t tell you what a freaking tease their short set was – I was not ready for it to be over.

And for those non-believers, here is video footage of Map of the Problematique. I filmed their entire set, but this was one of the most steady mostly because I wasn’t the one recording – Elsie was sweet enough to take over for a bit so I could be a total fangirl.

Muse – Map of the Problematique from Melificent on Vimeo.

Oh yeah, U2 also played. They were OK I guess

After the concert, we headed down to Orlando to attend our first ever Food & Wine Festival in Epcot. We had printed out an extensive menu from their website, but it didn’t really prepare us for the actual experience. Unfortunately, I feel like we would have enjoyed it more if the weather had cooperated a little better. It may be October, but it is still hot as hell down here in Florida. We couldn’t walk two steps without feeling the sweat roll down our backs. But we still did our best to try everything we had highlighted on our list. The food and drinks that were part of the festival were delicious, but one of our favorite moments of the day was when we ate at a German-style buffet restaurant in the World Showcase complete with German performances, German-sized beers and delicious sausage and cheese concoctions. Oh yeah, and air conditioning.

We had planned to go out to Downtown Disney later that night, but were so wiped out from our long day of heat exhaustion that we ended up just ordering in at our hotel and passing out relatively early.

On Sunday, we decided to hang out around Orlando (basically a ploy to extend our vacation). We started our “hang out” in Downtown Disney where we had lunch at Earl of Sandwich, a delicious sandwich shop. Then we did some minor shopping and decided to hop back in the car and head to CityWalk. I had an uber fangirl moment when I saw the tip of Hogwarts castle as we drove past Islands of Adventure and it continued as the hubs and I took photos of the tallest spire as we were strolling around CityWalk. We were able to recover from geekdom long enough to have a couple of drinks at Margaritaville (not very impressed) and then head for dinner at the legendary Zaxby’s before starting our drive back home.

I really wish our vacation could have lasted longer, but we are already planning on putting our free passes to Universal to use when it starts to get a little cooler (if it ever happens) so that we are not knocked on our asses after only one hour at the park. At that time, I plan on stalking the area being built for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Don’t judge.

Have a great week, everyone!