Muse Drones UK Tour Birmingham/Manchester/London/Glasgow Tour Preview

 

Muse - Drones UK Tour 2016

 Birmingham/Manchester/London/Glasgow

 Birmingham Opening Night of Muse's "Futuristic and Mind Blowing Drones Tour"

 and I'm out early AM to check out where I will

 be queuing, its turned out door E is NOT the

 door as someone told me over the phone its

 actually door C which I realise with a bit of

 help from 2 fellow #Musers and later on

friendly staff,eventually by 1pm more #Musers gather its sunshining and we are all in great

 spirits,catching some rays and bantering, 1

 #Muser in particular is more entertainment

for the whole queue, he can sing every

 'Tenacious D' as 'Jack Black' and do impressions the atmosphere is buzzing.

 6pm we are let in line order, we were numbered up

I was No1 (If only every 'Muse' show run to plan like this).

 

 

 

I Chose a spot on left side left middle of round stage.

the stage is Gargantuan in 3 parts made up of a Round Stage, walkways either side one on the left one on the right it looks like a fantasy skate park they slope up at the ends.

there is 1 support band tonight #NothingButTheives they are a five piece from 'Essex'.

they walk down the walkway to the stage and begin their set, these are my new fav band ,I first heard them on MTVRocks last year well before their new album came out.

they are a punchy energetic 'Indie Rock Band'.

they are overwhelmed by the size of the audience they are playing to they surprisedly exclaim

 "We've never played to this many people before,Thank you"

 

 

Singer Connor is all but 5ft and few inches but his vocals are varied in range .

 the crowd soon realise how good they are and they get good response it being the first night is pretty impressive. 

 

 

8.30pm the lights go down again above our heads Four orb shaped Drones flutter to life over our heads behind us and they move in formation in line with the stage,

'Drones Choral' begins proceedings its a choral chant that makes you feel like you've come to worship, not that you've come to a gig ,

in a way we have come to worship "The Greatest Experimental Rock Band In The World".

  Futuristic Riot Police align the corners of the stage with Blue Flashing Head Gear and truncheons "oooh whats gonna happen?"

,fortunately the crowd don't get battered lol ...

they march off to the stage (some of them are actually the band in disguise who duck under the stage and change underneath secretly haha)

 

 

 

As 'Drill Sergeant' kicks things off and then from the left walkway 'Matt' appears pouting angrily to 'Psycho' he struts down and onto the round,

there are visuals of the video above our head on cylinderical Hi- Tech CGI video screen its projecting the lyrics and occaisional crowd shots,'Matt' is in his 'Men In Black' style Jacket ,Trousers and Trainers,

'Chris' follows on from the right with his Murky Green Bass and 'Dom' is postioned in the middle already drumming away,

 'Morgan' is tucked away in front doing his thing on Percussion, all the while the stage slowly rotates from right to left and back in repetitions. 

 

The lasers are really 'Epic' looking at this show  rather like 'Close Encounters Of Third Kind'

they move along in time to the music, on the stage there are lots of projected eyes everywhere watching us like a scene in '1984' we are being watched,

 'Matt' shouts out "Good Evening Birmingham its good to be back home !"

they've just toured the U.S. and some of Europe its the first time since 'Donington's Download Festival which was in 'June' last year that they last played a UK venue.

 

 

 

Next song 'Reapers' my fav track off 'Drones' it reverberates into life,

as 'Matt tweeks the guitar its like 'Dead Star' on PCP and Bass bleeds your ears it sounds like a sequel to #BackinBlack possibly due to the fact of 'John Mutt Lange's' production on this record, its even better live than on record 

 as 'Matt' strolls about the 360 stage with his funky strut and confident aggressive skipping,

the lyrics collide out of his mouth with more conviction last witnessed on their 2001 'Origin Of Symmetry Tour' proof the heavy 'Muse' never really went away!!!  

 

 

This is clearly cemented on 'Plug in Baby' as 'Matt' teases the crowd with small telling shreiks on his Black Manson Guitar,

I of course am used to all his tuning up techniques and finger twiddles up  and down the frets as 'Plug In Baby' is now in full flow,

'Chris' equally captivatiting onstage doing his classic 'Fxxk Yeah' head nod,

losing himself in the heavy bass, 'Dom' going for it in the round becoming visable with every rotation and he barely comes up for air.

 

 

 

 There is no real need for dialogue at a 'Muse' show but I feel at an event as Big as this there should have been some crowd participation and banter

 not 'Matt's strong point in an arena of 13'000 people as the 'Epic' turns to the new age sound of 'Dead Inside' where 'Matt' keeps still for much of the song,

then its a short trip back to the 2nd Law for 'Isolated System' and a visual specticale on either walkways with Matt on the left and Chris on the right

 looking like they are being controlled by a big hand with puppet strings its superb its one of the highlights it looks awesome!! .  

 

 

 

Already it has been a superb journey its hard to keep track of everything going on around us for 'Supermassive black Hole' the 'Drones' reappear around the round stage lit in colours not celestial white glows as before they dance around the band

as they belt out their biggest hit to date that gave them exposure to the U.S, market,

from the same album the crowd pleaser 'Starlight' which the crowd join in the rhythm of 'Matt's hand claps the one song he gets the crowd to connect with them in some way without dialogue.  

 

 

Halfway through the setlist big surprise of the night 'Citizen Erased' 'Matt' brings out the 6 string Red guitar and goes for it on the chorus loads of fans are moshing good style now

 the floor is jumping oh my what next? how can that be topped, 'Chris' joins 'Dom' on stage for 'Munich Jam' and an Instrumental battle off in front of the crowd,

followed by another trip to '2nd Law' album with 'Madness' and back to 'Black Holes & Revelations' for my fav album track of all time 'Map Of The Problematique' .

 

 

 

No sign of 'The Defector' Yet I had hoped they would showcase it on this tour but no, we do however get 'Stockholm Syndrome' which still has the power to override my sanity to this day,that guitar solo of 'Matt's is pure 'Rock Genius',

 

 

 

The memories of BH&R 2006 (I was fortunate 10 years ago to keep one of his Black Jackson Flying V guitars he smashed the edges up, lifted it overhead  threw it out and it landed on top of us the E and F string didn't survive they were ripped off and although the guitar was taken off us for fighting over it 'Tony Duncan' then head of 'Muse' Security pointed at me specifically and said you were at the last show its yours, I'd never been so happy I always thought I got on his nerves hanging around and he was giving me his guitar). 

 

 

Meanwhile back on this tour another classic 'Time Is Running Out ' with an AC/DC outro and another one 'Uprising' getting the 13,000 strong crowd to punch the air yelling "Hey, Hey" in time

 the visuals then take over for the very poigniant 'The Globalist' Video Visuals once more drape down the walkways and accross the middle of the round hiding the band onstage temporarily,

the piano utilised only at the end of the earth wrenching vocals of 'Matt',

as all this is happening there is a secret weapon released just to the left of us behind us a Thunderbird style 'Reaper Drone' no2 is flying slowly past round the arena low so everyone can see it .

 

 

 

It looks awesome I can only imagine what they have planned for 'Glastonbury'. 

For the encore we were treated to 'Take A Bow' followed by 'Mercy'

 as billions of little Drone men fall on the crowd and band and lastly the big finish 'Knights Of Cydonia'

the crowd bouncing along up and down the platforms moving underneath me and then they bow to us and leave the stage

OMG what a show as it ends I'm trying to piece together what I've just seen . 

 

 

 

Part 2

 

Manchester and they are hosting #2 Drones shows here its really early by the looks of it

No #Musers camped out its just after 5am time to perfect my strategy for tonights show,

 I want to be on the left side of right corner of the round ,as I know queuing is a total F-Up for this venue I always have a plan B,

there are a lot of familiar faces in the #MuseFamily and some of my friends have made it here too ,

so we have a right laugh, and I buy some merch to take back to my room and later I'm back relaxed until bag search and ticket check,.

 

 

 

Instead of my usual routine I go to the right but I'm queuing 2 doors down to where I'm heading ,

I'm hyperventilating waiting but somehow I'm a few down along the wall waiting to descend 'The Neck Breaker Stairs'

the only venue where its possible to feel like a lemming with vertigo!!!  

 

 

 

 As we get to the floor theres already a free for all but I got the spot I wanted Thank God,

the show starts the crowd are wild tonight and there are already moshpits when 'Psycho' is on its always like that it reminds me of the good old head crushing rib cracking gigs of theirs in Manchester back in early 2000's,

 so we are rewarded tonight with 'Bliss' wow its a real surprise and we get the Big Balloons the floor is bouncing more than normal ,

crowd going apeshit trying to grab at the balloons, I once had one popped right over my head cant remember which show but I think it was here lol. 

 we also got 'Feeling Good' they always pull it out of the bag for us .

 

 

 

After much pondering over what was missing at the 'Brum' gig we got it 'Hysteria'

 a 'Muse' show is incomplete without this gem, it is by now a well known fact that No songs off 'Showbiz'

 the awesome debut album are being played on this tour, I

 still want them to play 'Showbiz' and maybe 'Uno' I keep asking tweeting. 

 

 

#Show2 in Manchester not fussed about being No1 I want walkway right tonight,

 the usual stress of queueing not helped by security stewards not opening the tape on time

 when others are going through before our queue

I am now shouting "Open it there's others getting in before me, you've not opened it what are you doing ??!!"

 

 

 

Eventually after a pathetic response he lifted the catch he goes "Oh what this ,open this"

and a slow bag search of which they were not bothered over either it seemed I got to the wall again,

people were shouting and pushing I was joined by a bunch of #Musers from 'Download Festival' and one girl from #Unsustainable shows man crazy days,

 it was a great crowd not as wild where I was standing but equally enjoyable I had room to move,

the setlist moved about a bit we got 'Reapers' first which actually sounded awesome as a starter . 

we got 'Resistance' instead of  'Map' and 'Revolt' which is really good live first time heard on this tour . 

 

 

Part  3 

 

London I'm here, 3 miles from the venue surprisingly I'm no17 again as in Manchester for the last gig, my timings are getting good,

 at 9am we are allowed in to queue indoors its sunshining so I don't want to, we are using the number system but it works to a point

there is extra security and guy who is in our queue dressed as the 'Drill Sergeant' from the 'Psycho' video is attracting a lot of attention

 with #Musers wanting pics unfortunately security are not happy and tell him he "Must not wear any kind of Military uniform in the venue as Muse are against Military uniform at their shows" 

 

 

 (more likely venue have said that not the band tbh but #SignOfTheTimes) he's apparently he spent over £200 on his outfit

 he was not happy about it he bought a Muse t-shirt to cover up and his girlfriend dressed in camo had to do the same. 

 

 

 

So #Show4 bring it on after the initial bodysearch stress

 I get to my place on the left walkway exactly where I want third light down,I want to watch 'Matt' on 'The Handler' close up,

he appears from the top of the walkway so we're first to see the band get on stage from this viewpoint,

 tonight support is from 'Phantogram' a band from 'New York'  the female singer with a blonde and black #Blondie hairdo and skimpy top,

the music is not very rocky if I could describe the sound it would be more like 'London Grammar' with the vocals of 'Amy Lee' from 'Evanescence' its ok but not every #Musers cup of tea I much preferred 'Nothing But Theives'

 

 

When the show starts its another awesome viewpoint during the show

I'm thrown a curveball 'Dom' has moved in front of me with a drum machine ha whats happening ??

 'Matt' is wearing Red flashing glasses then it starts 'Undisclosed Desires'

OMG memories of 2013!! it was great to hear it again there was No walkaround I wasn't expecting to even hear it.

 

 

 

 

At the end of the show I bagged a setlist from the stage with floor tape,

I mindlessly forget my hairgrip left on the barrier so it'll be on tour with them in London watching the show when I'm not there

 as there are 4 more nights in this venue Haha

 I get back to my hotel strange message appeared on my heater blower swear it wasn't there 'Just Chill Hold Stiff Still' bizarre.??...   

 

Part 4 

 

 

Sat April 16th #RecordStoreDay ,

Thanks guys I'm outside 5am queuing again for the 'Reapers' pic disc and I've got to go to Glasgow in the afternoon,

I'm so ill so by the time I get there I've totally lost my voice, coughing started bad it can only be the beginning of #Muse-Flu!! 

 

 

 

Sunday Morning A windy one near the River Clyde, its sunny and where I am I'm lucky sheltered by the venue corner on Door D chatting amongst #Musers

 but feeling like #MargSimpson I feel sorry for them having to put up with my costant choking every now and again I manage to eat my sandwich and snacks whilst drinking copius amounts of water,

I walk over to the SECC complex to keep warm reapply my make up .

 

 

 

 Later another strange message appeared on a spliff wrapper blew right at me ...this time it read "It Matters What Happens At The End," now I am spooked ??

 anyhow I think I've got the plan until a major coughing fit floors me an hour before doors opening so I go to the medical centre inside and they give me some linctus, paracetomol and strepsils

I go back to our queue and though I'm worried I go through the doors.

 

 

 

As we go through Door D after bagsearch, I'm told that I cant take my bag in I need to take it to the cloakroom, as they were opening the line to go in

 I said "You've got to be having a laugh you are opening up now ,I'm at the front if I go to do that I'll be last in ,

I've queued all day you did bagsearch on me I've no food in there just purse, accessories etc there was no info on this communicated

 " he said I'll check comes back says "No bags on the floor tonight at all".

 

 

 

 I'm getting more stressed so I hand the bag to him saying here you take it to the cloakroom I'm not losing my place do you have any idea how bad my day has been"

, "I canne do that sorry you have to" the steward opens up ahead and I just run through with my bag on my shoulder and try to find my spot the stage has flipped piano is on the right walkway

I'm not sure if I'm on the right side let alone where I want to be ,so I try to run round while someone saves my place

I'm told I can not go over to that side its barriered off on both ends so I go back and settle for the back view

I'm on the side I need to be but wrong place on top of  battling #Museflu I've now made an error in 360 stage positioning.

 

 

 

 

So show starts 7.30pm with 'Phantogram' again  8.40pm 'Muse' onstage #Riotpolice appear

 I think 'Matt' is further down as those walking past have not got his trainers on must be near piano #Bollocks!!! 

Anyway show begins its fantastic, but to the back of us there are no seated crowds its all one way from the left of the stage it rotates less its the #Hydro layout

 I'm waiting for my moment to change my fate .

 

 

 

I wanted to be further down near the steps so as soon as 'Mercy' comes on midway whilst confetti is coming down I shuffle down past at least 20 people across and onto the right barrier for 'Knights Of Cydonia'

and I wait for them to come off stage 'Matt' first he walks past me and get a hand slap, then 'Dom'another one and lastly 'Chris' another one, job done

I originally intended to do this on the last night but I'm on the other doors tomorrow other side

 I survive the gig just.. get cab back after 12pm I'm delayed due to football match #Celtic and #Rangers. 

 

 

Part 5

 

Monday morning , last show ...cant do it, cant get up yet... 'Fxxk It' went back to sleep,

woke again 11.30am slowly prepared myself for arrival at 1.30pm!!!

never have I ever been that late but hey I can only go one way no rush I'll manage,

I'm 26B but when the doors open I'm suddenly No5 as people in wrong queue moved, 

I'd already struggled choking so I took myself back to the medical centre early on ,

got some strepsils and a #Muser bought me a tea which helped,

but I wanted to be prepared for tonights show.

 

 

Later on ...not good 10 minutes before doors open I choked drank litre of water half a bottle of orange juice you'd think I was running the London Marathon FFS!!!

First Aid came out to check on me "I'm OK " I splutter, "I'm fine" doors open got to be fine now,

I put the lozenge in my mouth before the show started I managed yesterday but I only have 1 today and yes someone stole my #Redbull which may not have helped,

 this time I left my bag in the hotel, found a spot on the right corner of the round exactly where I wanted, felt ok but kept drinking water I was like a fxxking fish,

'Nothing But Theives' on they were great but wasn't able to sing along or shout I could only mime, great I thought what could possibly go wrong now???  

 

 

The band came on to 'Psycho' and the crowd rowdier than last nights show ,

everything was fine until #GlasgowJam

'Matt' ran onstage waving the flag I started choking bad and trying to breathe holding on tight to the barrier

this pushy Scots bloke intimidated me he said "Move over let someone else have a go" I acknowledged his forceful nature by turning and kneeing him out of the way and telling him to "Fxxk Off!!"

 

 

 I was choking but worse I needed the loo rejecting the idea

I watched 'Matt' lunge the flag at the crowd right by me and just smiled drinking more water from the stewards handing it out,

 so I endured to the end the wildest gig on the tour.

 

 

 

 Well its the last show gotta go out in style,

 Hopefully the band if they seen me dying thought I was just overexcited..

oh The Shame of being 'Lady Muse'

So yes 'It Matters What Happens In The End' 

 What a Bloody Tour almost #KilledByDrones...