We did have double shows in both Toronto and Montreal last time, which sold quite well iirc. So I wouldn't be surprised to see multiple nights there too, especially with how big of a production it sounds like they're going to have. On the Canadian front I would guess Calgary and Edmonton (or at least one of the two) would be likely as well.

It's all a matter of perspective! There is one train from Halifax to Montreal - it runs 3 times a WEEK. It used to be 6 days a week before government cuts forced it to be reduced (our passenger rail system is a federally-owned Crown corporation). That's still better service than anything west of Toronto. Our major "corridor" for rail service is between Toronto and Montreal. On a weekday, there are 9 trains in each direction, several of which go through Ottawa and therefore take nearly twice the time. The latest train in either direction is around 6pm. All of them run a schedule that is slower than it was in the 1990s, and there are even fewer trains on weekends... The trains themselves are great, very comfy, great service, very nice way to travel....but as a useful transportation system? Not so much.... So yeah, the British system looks pretty swanky by comparison

I had to remind myself how to do the whole multi-quoting thing - it's a must for this sort of conversation Yeah, we just get a lot of wind generally, so there are always some areas where it blows (and trust me, with enough wind that wet sleety stuff can blow pretty good too...). There's actually one place near here that has a permanent sign warning about blowing snow - it's a spot where you come down a good sized hill, cross a body of water, then go up again. So it forms a little valley and the wind just whips across there. Even if it isn't snowing, any snow on the ground can get blown across there. But yes, the drier stuff is generally better for driving on otherwise. Exactly. It's just one of the realities of living in a huge geographic area with a very small population density - it's just hard to cover all that area period, and you're always limited by budgets. Not fun, but good you had other drivers! Two winters ago I had a 1.5h drive turn into about a 6.5h one, and I was alone in the car (in a rental car without winter tires, no less!) That's exactly it! I always have a laugh during the first snowfall of the season - it's like everyone has forgotten how to drive on snow at all Yep, that's the crux of it. If you want to go to a show, your only option is to go a long way. That's also true for many other parts of the country, and to be fair, it will always be an issue for some even if they played every place in Canada that counted as a "city". It's just a bit frustrating here in the Maritimes, because so few acts come east of Montreal (Quebec City is actually pretty far "east" in terms of what a lot of them do). My gf and I have made plenty of trips up to Montreal and Toronto for concerts (up to Toronto for Pixies and Robert Plant this year, for example), and we always get the same reaction from people there: "you came ALL THE WAY from Halifax for a concert??" But their frame of reference is usually driving an hour or two tops (and being able to access some US markets), and we always have to point out that apart from the odd act that does come to Halifax or Moncton, we don't have any choice. As I said before....oh how I envy those train services! The distances in North America in general can be pretty massive (and with very little along the way) - Canada in particular has a very small population spread out thinly over a very wide distance. Halifax to Quebec City is 1,020km - for reference (borrowing from your example) that's like driving from Zurich to Naples, or Paris to Prague, or for a UK example: that's like driving from London to, well, basically the very northern tip of Scotland. Heck, London to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Bern are all shorter distances than that! And there's not really a whole lot in between...

^ Wow, that turned into a much longer post than I thought it would be. Long-story short, winter driving can suck, and January dates would really suck for any of us who don't live in or very-near the cities they're playing. Of course if the dates work out right I can just take the train up from here, because that can get through pretty much anything with only minimal delays (though there was one storm here last winter where a freight train got literally buried in snow almost up to the roof and blocked the line for almost 3 days while they dug it out ). Unfortunately the train from here to Quebec only runs 3 days a week in each direction (welcome to Canada's super archaic rail system....), so depending on what date they announce I may not be able to take enough days off work to make that work. And the longer they delay announcing anything, the more difficult that becomes.....

We certainly have an awful lot of resources dedicated to snow clearing (it's a massive part of every municipal and provincial budget) and a similar 24/7 on-call system, but sometimes they just can't keep up with how fast things come down. Especially when there is blowing snow, where a road can be re-covered in a matter of minutes after clearing. Plus some of these highways are a long way from any major (or even minor) centres where plowing equipment is located, and it may take an hour or two for a plow to get there. That's major highways still, not secondary roads! They do usually start putting sand or salt down in advance with the forecast, but even that has its limits. Well that depends - if your commute to work is maybe a 15minute or half hour drive over roads you know very well, that's a lot different from driving 10-15 hours over roads you don't know well (the nerves can only handle so much!) Plus in a lot of severe storms people don't make it to work. Last winter I had more than a week's worth of "snow days" off work, and there were other days where it wasn't official, but some people living farther out just couldn't make it in. It is a manageable condition, but when you're dealing with very large areas, many of which are quite remote (even on major highways, where major centres can be several hours apart), it just takes time. An hour or two for things to clear? Depends on the storm! Yes, actually they're even mandatory in some provinces (Quebec, for example). They do help for sure, though even they have their limits (and only work if people still drive appropriately for the weather!) Main ones are blowing snow (which results in white-out conditions, where you quite literally can't see more than a few metres in front of your vehicle), and a combination of snow and ice/freezing rain. White-outs can be terrifying because they can be very localized, so you're driving along and come to an area with strong cross-winds, and suddenly your visibility is zero. In the Maritimes we get lots of rain and snow combinations (gross mess), and some areas (especially through eastern Ontario and Quebec) get lots of freezing rain, which basically just turns the road into a sheet of ice. Sand/salt is put down on the road to help with that, but it all depends when you're driving and whether these things have been dealt with yet. These sorts of conditions are not *impossible* to drive in, they're just not fun. I actually like driving when it's "just snow" on the roads, because that's easy enough to deal with (unless it gets to be too deep) Without fail, every time you have a storm that involves ice and/or white-outs, you have major multi-car pileup accidents, plus single cars off the road. You can be the best driver in the world, but if that 18-wheeler behind you can't see you or loses control.... It is indeed, and I've worked outdoors in much colder temps than that! But standing around with little to do for hours is less fun, and the clothes you need are a little bulky once you get inside It's actually amazing how much weather conditions can vary from one area to the next. I'll just use the example of driving from here (Halifax NS) to Quebec City - over the course of a ~10 hour drive, you leave from a coastal area that is often more moderate climate (and wet), and within less than an hour you start to move through much hillier inland areas that often get more snow, and have localized areas with strong cross-winds. Moving farther along you hit that section of highway I mentioned, which is a pass at quite high elevation, and can see dramatically higher snow falls. As you get towards Moncton NB you get the effects of being inland from the Bay of Fundy, and temperatures can be either several degrees warmer (in summer) or colder (in winter) than they were in Halifax. Moving across NB you get into some very remote forested areas (hard to access by plows, etc.), and eventually as you get into Quebec you start to get the influence of the St. Lawrence, and so you get more things like freezing rain. Over that distance you can drive through entirely different weather systems, with some areas that are nice and others that are awful. Of course you can also get lucky and it's nice the whole way! The forecasting is not that bad really, but the thing is you'll always get these little micro-variations that are hard to predict very far before they develop. The simple fact at the end of the day is that winters here can really suck, and sometimes there isn't much you can do about it. Having said that, I love the snow and cold And a lot of people here are quite comfortable with driving extensively in winter weather (you have to be, really). The problem is just that there's no way to know too far in advance how the weather will be. If they were to announce say "January 15th" as a date, I have no idea now in October what that day will be like. Heck, I won't know until about a week before really. So can I feel safe buying tickets for that now? There are lots of nice days in January, so maybe.... That is very true, I've just been hoping they would avoid some of the worst winter areas in the middle of the winter. In addition to the challenging travel, they might themselves get stuck somewhere (remember they had to cancel a Denver show back in 2010). Last winter Interpol got stuck on their tour bus near Buffalo for about 2 days in that one really crazy storm

^exactly my thoughts. As an example: on the drive up to Quebec (or Montreal) from here, there are a few particularly nasty stretches of highway. There's one stretch that every winter has at least a few storms where people get stuck in their cars, just because the snow comes down so fast. Last year there was one storm where it took a couple of days to get all the cars and trucks removed from the snow. The weather can change quick too....a lot of these storms end up coming from systems that were just "supposed" to be light snow or flurries. So even if the forecast looks good, it can be a risky thing to commit to (unless you have a few days flexibility and can wait the weather out....sometimes though you're stuck in the middle of nowhere with no choice but to keep driving....) As I said, it's not that it's inherently impossible to travel at that time of year, just that it's not ideal to have a specific time and date well in advance that you can't change...

Dang it, I had been hoping that this continued lack of news meant they might actually be holding off until later next year to do more US/Canadian shows. I am among those not thrilled by the prospect of a mid-winter show. I'm sure Quebec is as far east as they'll come (better than Montreal anyway), but that's still a 10 hour drive from where I am (Halifax). As others here have said, January *could* be fine, but if we get a stretch of weather like we did at times last winter, there can be days on end where it is actually treacherous or downright impossible to drive, and flights are all cancelled (I'd be happy to take the train, but the schedule of that is such that it really depends when the show is as to whether that's do-able...oh how I envy you Brits and Europeans and your efficient rail systems....). Plus for that length of drive, you could have beautiful weather at both ends and nightmarish snow through northern New Brunswick or something like that. So yeah, it's very much possible to travel at that time, it just sucks to have to commit months ahead to a specific date that could be nice or could end up being a nightmare. I know they're probably catering mostly to people living in or closer to the target cities, but there are huge chunks of this country that are a long way away from anywhere these type of bands usually come, and we don't have much choice (note to Muse: play a show in Halifax, or heck, even Moncton, and I'll stop complaining ) And forget queuing...any time in January can easily be -20C or below (well, maybe it will be a nice day and only be -10...) Even we Canucks have our limits....

Saw Muse for the first time on TR tour (Toronto ACC show), and then twice on T2L tour (back-to-back Montreal shows). Here's my list so far: Showbiz Sunburn Origin of Symmetry New Born Plug in Baby (x2) Micro Cuts Feeling Good (x2) Absolution Interlude (x2) Hysteria (x2) Time is Running Out (x3) Stockholm Syndrome (x2) Black Holes and Revelations Starlight (x3) Supermassive Black Hole (x3) Map of the Problematique (x2) Knights of Cydonia (x3) The Resistance Uprising (x3) Resistance (x3) Undisclosed Desires (x3) United States of Eurasia (x2) Guiding Light Unnatural Selection Exogenesis Symphony Part 1 The 2nd Law Supremacy (x2) Madness (x2) Panic Station (x2) Survival (x2) Follow Me (x2) Explorers Liquid State (x2) T2L: Unsustainable (x2) T2L: Isolated System (x2) Miscellaneous (i.e. jams - not going to bother with riffs) Helsinki Jam Nishe Monty Jam Dracula Mountain

Good luck to all those trying to get tix! I'll be looking forward to seeing whatever sort of broadcast there is. I wonder, do you suppose we may actually get a proper live performance of IS, given that it's being featured in the film? So far all we've had are either full playback or partially-live versions (with Dom drumming towards the end and Matt doing fuzzy-waily-guitar stuff). I'd love to see a proper live rendition, with Matt on piano, etc. Although with some of their recent antics, I can almost picture them doing it with Morgan on piano and Matt just running around instrument-less doing some sort of completely pointless extra vocal stuff to the melody (a la Resistance, Blackout...)