Muse Rock Out on 'Saturday Night Live'

Capping off a successful 2009, Muse appeared as the musical guest on 'Saturday Night Live' in an episode hosted by actor James Franco. The UK rockers performed 'Uprising,' the lead single off their latest album 'The Resistance,' as well as 'Starlight,' their hit single from 2006's 'Black Holes and Revelations.'

Although the band knew that playing 'SNL' was a great opportunity, drummer Dominic Howard confessed to Spinner that they're not exactly familiar with the show. "To be honest, none of us have ever really seen it before," he said before the taping. "I know it's this huge, big American institution and everyone watches it, so I'm looking forward to seeing what it's all about. I've seen a few like classic band performances on it, like Nirvana in '92. I'm excited to be doing it."

The gig marked only the band's second appearance on American television, following their performance of 'Uprising' at the MTV VMAs. Rather than play at Radio City, the trio recorded their gig at the nearby, Kanye-free Walter Kerr Theatre. "That particular thing was a really cool experience because we were in our own theater and effectively did our own gig," Howard said. "Even though it's only song that went out on the air for MTV, we actually played for about an hour and filled the whole place up with like 900 fans. It was a really fun experience."

Fresh off a tour opening for U2, Muse next heads to Asia and Australia before returning to North America for a headlining tour in late February. In the meantime, check out clips of their 'SNL' performances below.