Muse Bring Over-the-Top Theatrics and Special Guest to Glastonbury

Few bands divide music fans as much as Muse. To their fans -- and there are plenty of them -- Muse are a band big on showmanship, spectacle and ambition. To their detractors, they are a band with all the bluster of Queen without the humour, the pretension of Radiohead without the intellectual depth and the stadium-sized ego of U2 without the intimate communal touches.

Glastonbury, however, loves. In 2004 Matt Bellamy and company headlined the festival after the breakthrough success of third album 'Absolution' -- a triumphant gig marred by the tragedy of drummer Dominic Howard's father dying soon after the gig from a heart attack. Muse have some bitter-sweet memories from this most prestigious of festival slots.

The Edge had been rumoured to appear since the festival started on Thursday. With no U2, and the more low-key charms of Damon Albarn's multi-faceted Gorillaz filling the slot, Glastonbury 2010 was without the kind of arms-aloft moment some of the faithful argue you need in a Pyramid Stage headlining set. Well, until Muse's set.

So, after more than an hour of Muse's turbo-powered space-rock thetarics, there was a nod to the band that should have been making their triumphant Glastonbury debut the night before. To huge fanfare, the Edge -- looking as if he was just swinging by a rehearsal room to check on his guitar -- played the unmistakable intro to 'Where the Streets Have No Name,' with Bellamy adding his trademark vocal touches to give the U2 staple something of their own stamp.

Muse's 18-song set included nods to the Animals' 'House of the Rising Sun' andLed Zeppelin, before an OTT closer with 'Knights of Cydonia.' Short on subtlety it may be, but to Muse's thousands of fans it was undoubtedly a Glastonbury triumph.