Drones General Tour Discussion Thread

[RedArrow]

That was probably down to the board glitch - quite a lot of posts yesterday evening got deleted by the gremlins going awry.

 

Ah, I thought I crossed a line. In that case I will retype my issues:

 

We had two problems on Sunday night in Glasgow. The first was that we entered via door D, our friends door C. Security refused to allow us to cross over and join out friends which was a massive disappointment. As we just assumed if you have a standing ticket you could easily join your friends, it’s one of the reasons why we all bought standing so we could be together and not worry about getting seats in the same row etc. Was this a new thing or have they done this the entire tour so far?

 

The second issue was I know there isn’t supposed to be a front to the stage, but it really felt like there was in Glasgow and that was the half facing the seats. I swear it felt like Matt spent the majority of his time facing out towards the seats and ignoring the “rear” of the stage. All the standing mics that weren’t on the rotating platform were set up so he was facing out towards the seats. When the platform did roate it always stopped again with him facing the seats. I guess it could have been due to the layout of the Hydro with the seats just on one side so the production team decided to focus the band that direction most the time. But that’s not really fair for the people who were forced to stand at the rear. Maybe that is why you weren’t allowed to cross to the other side, to ensure the floor wasn’t empty on one side as people spotted that Matt wasn’t really going to be turning round often.

 

Overall it was just rather annoying, not to get to be with our friends and spending most the time staring at the back of Matt’s head. But we did still enjoy the show and I got to touch Chris and Dom’s hands as they left

Edited April 19, 2016 by Red Arrow

[forevermusic]

Ah, I thought I crossed a line. In that case I will retype my issues:

 

We had two problems on Sunday night in Glasgow. The first was that we entered via door D, our friends door C. Security refused to allow us to cross over and join out friends which was a massive disappointment. As we just assumed if you have a standing ticket you could easily join your friends, it’s one of the reasons why we all bought standing so we could be together and not worry about getting seats in the same row etc. Was this a new thing or have they done this the entire tour so far?

 

The second issue was I know there isn’t supposed to be a front to the stage, but it really felt like there was in Glasgow and that was the half facing the seats. I swear it felt like Matt spent the majority of his time facing out towards the seats and ignoring the “rear” of the stage. All the standing mics that weren’t on the rotating platform were set up so he was facing out towards the seats. When the platform did roate it always stopped again with him facing the seats. I guess it could have been due to the layout of the Hydro with the seats just on one side so the production team decided to focus the band that direction most the time. But that’s not really fair for the people who were forced to stand at the rear. Maybe that is why you weren’t allowed to cross to the other side, to ensure the floor wasn’t empty on one side as people spotted that Matt wasn’t really going to be turning round often.

 

Overall it was just rather annoying, not to get to be with our friends and spending most the time staring at the back of Matt’s head. But we did still enjoy the show and I got to touch Chris and Dom’s hands as they left

Hey - if censorship was the board's will, at least half of this thread would've been deleted.

 

It is odd though - in London there were 2 standing entrances but you could walk around it, and indeed, I did do that. Twice before the gig started and once or twice during the gig itself. Which makes it odd Glasgow was much more of a closed shop.

 

I felt that about Dublin as well as Glasgow, in that it was still 360 but moved forward from a normal end-stage location so people where were the stage was, and likelier to be ignored for large parts.

[RedArrow]

Don’t get me wrong, I liked this stage setup as we got right at the barrier about 30min before they came on stage very easily. Although that could partly be due to the fact the standing area in the Hydro never seems full and you normally get a good spot regardless of how late you turn up.

 

But it was just a bit annoying to pay so much money to in a sense watch a band from behind the stage.

[Rustyy]

I had door D for night one, I'm still pissed off about it. I managed to swap tickets with someone for last night thankfully

[Brello]

I had door D for night one, I'm still pissed off about it. I managed to swap tickets with someone for last night thankfully

 

I was D aswell, didn't think it was that bad was right next to the catwalk but then again I was only there for night 1 so can't really compare it anything, didn't really have any good view during TAB though

[Rustyy]

If anyone is interested, I've done a short blog post ranking the Muse gigs ive been to, Inc. Drones Tour

 

http://thatpulse.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/ranking-my-muse-gigs.html

[RedArrow]

I had door D for night one, I'm still pissed off about it. I managed to swap tickets with someone for last night thankfully

 

So comparing the two sides, do you agree that they played out to one side of the crowd only for the majority of the gig?

Edited April 19, 2016 by Red Arrow

[Rustyy]

So comparing the two sides, do you agree that they played out to the main crowd for the majority of the gig?

 

Actually... It's hard. Thinking back it's hard; we did get a lot of action where I was. But having done both sides I feel the other side got more. From Matt anyway

[loveis_ourresistance]

I had a good gig in Manchester despite Feeling Good being played (honestly what else fits between Starlight and Madness???). It is just that every other piano song they were realistically going to play is better.

 

I was so hopeful of Sunburn last night in Glasgow (knew AP was most likely out, as it was played the night before). Though, I agree with an earlier poster that it was still a brilliant set, despite this. The enthusiasm of the band really helped. Of course, everyone has off days, but it was the best gig of the three I attended by far.

 

Maybe I should add catching a plectrum or a fistbump from the band to my bucket list, once I pluck up the courage to do standing and also the dedication to try for barrier (the floor didn't seem to fill up too quickly last night, though, so maybe there's hope, one day!).

[frozenbanana]

If anyone is interested, I've done a short blog post ranking the Muse gigs ive been to, Inc. Drones Tour

 

http://thatpulse.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/ranking-my-muse-gigs.html

 

This is so great It mirrors so many of my thoughts about the gigs I've attended. I wish I'd been a bit older and had appreciated R&L more (I was at Reading). TaB was also the song I was absolutely dying to see - I didn't want to post about it on here before the gigs last week in case I jinxed it. Emirates 2 was so special as well, a lovely day all round.

[Rustyy]

This is so great It mirrors so many of my thoughts about the gigs I've attended. I wish I'd been a bit older and had appreciated R&L more (I was at Reading). TaB was also the song I was absolutely dying to see - I didn't want to post about it on here before the gigs last week in case I jinxed it. Emirates 2 was so special as well, a lovely day all round.

 

R&L now would probably be nearer the top for me... Wasn't as into the songs after PiB back then

[Jobby]

I find it nigh impossible to choose between Leeds Fest, London 12th, London 14th, Manchester Academy or LCCC as my best/favourite gig. Each one has it's own set of massive sentimental values to me, as well as being great gigs obvs.

 

Can safely say London 11th was the worst though

[forevermusic]

If anyone is interested, I've done a short blog post ranking the Muse gigs ive been to, Inc. Drones Tour

 

http://thatpulse.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/ranking-my-muse-gigs.html

Interesting thesis.

 

I'd say my favourite is either Wembley 2010 or Reading 2011, my least favourite was either the Resistance or 2nd Law gigs at the O2, and all the others in an ever-changing spread in-between.

[Ran]

That was probably down to the board glitch - quite a lot of posts yesterday evening got deleted by the gremlins going awry.

 

Ah, THAT explains it! I was confused as I wrote some posts last night, (Basically me keeping tabs on the gig, wondering if Madness is actually going to get dropped, dreading the idea of it appearing in the encore with UD, laughing that it IS dropped & then quoting Brello's reply to my post by celebrating the inclusion of TaB).

 

Anyway, here's the first post I wrote last night which got deleted -

 

Wow, so I was pleased with Glasgow's Setlist (17th)

 

Map of the Problematique, Bliss, Citizen Erased, Stockholm & Take a Bow? That was amazing!

 

Only low point was "Madness" It wasn't enough to ruin the show but the crowd pretty much calmed and some folk left when it played - can hardly blame them. Madness is shit

 

Hell, I hate "Dead Inside" & that was more fun live!

 

My favourite was "Citizen Erased" I was just drawn in, It was spectacular! Matt's mistake was hilarious and I could see Chris laughing! The band seemed to have enjoyed themselves that night!

 

I'm actually fine with ManHarmonica, I know alot of folk hate it but I'm cool with it.

 

Mercy with all them effects was a nice touch!

 

JFK got me excited as I wondered what song we were going to get. In my mind: "Is it a surprise Defector? Assassin 2.0?" & then Stockholm Syndrome played, I was NOT disappointed

 

In short, fantastic gig! Had an amazing time!

[Tom//P]

I find it nigh impossible to choose between Leeds Fest, London 12th, London 14th, Manchester Academy or LCCC as my best/favourite gig

 

Gotta be Leeds, surely? I was ever so slightly disappointed with the Manchester Academy concert given they played Assassin, Futurism and Muscle Museum at previous shows. Still, can't complain...

 

 

I can't choose between the two shows I went to, Assassin and AP were great to hear again but night 1 at Manchester just seemed to flow a bit better, plus Take a Bow really is one of their best songs.

 

Plus, MotP which sounds great on this tour IMO.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Tom//P

[Rustyy]

For a minute I thought they were gonna play Assassin last night, Matt was faffing about with the guitar before interlude came on

[Tom//P]

If anyone is interested, I've done a short blog post ranking the Muse gigs ive been to, Inc. Drones Tour

 

http://thatpulse.blogspot.co.uk/2016...muse-gigs.html

 

Surprising order. I went to a few of those gigs so it's interesting to see how you've ranked them.

[Rustyy]

Surprising order. I went to a few of those gigs so it's interesting to see how you've ranked them.

 

It's always good to see how people order them and things, makes for an interesting conversation

[ryanp16]

It's always good to see how people order them and things, makes for an interesting conversation

 

For me, from lowest to highest ranked; Most of the bad points were no fault of Muse's.

 

9. Dublin 09; I barely knew Muse. Set was utter shite anyway. Strange experience, I was basically a casual in the sense that I only knew the singles mostly, but knew some rarities, and spent the whole gig shouting for Citizen and Dead Star. Map was really good at this gig iirc.

 

8. Belfast 16; You all know how I feel about this one. AP was fun though, and I got some picks from Glen.

 

7. London 13 night 2; Was sunburned to fuck and running on two hours sleep and had a very unfortunate experience as doors opened. Really good set though, which I appreciated much more the morning after.

 

6. Belfast 15; Was holding in a piss all through the gig. Great set and met Chris beforehand, and great company.

 

5. Dublin 12; Great gig. Unsustainable, Sunburn, Liquid State were the high points.

 

4. Download 15; Great setlist. Security guard I met and was speaking to at Manchester 13 was also on security at this. We had a moment. During [JFK] he gave me a setlist.

 

3. Manchester 13; all I wanted was Dead Star. Got it, and Bliss, which is my favourite memory of any muse gig. Enjoyed it so much, as evidenced by Jamie's video.

 

2/1 tied; Rock Werchter 15 / Dublin 16. Both absolutely perfect. Dom gave me a stick at Dublin.

 

 

lol my first post since Assassin was played at London. Guess I'm over my sulk

 

Edited April 19, 2016 by ryanp16

[Jobby]

Gotta be Leeds, surely? I was ever so slightly disappointed with the Manchester Academy concert given they played Assassin, Futurism and Muscle Museum at previous shows. Still, can't complain...

 

You'd think so, but when you take all this into account:

 

LCCC - First gig, top crowd, Butterflies + Map + TAB + New Born + Stockholm + US + CE, great performance, Matt's brief chuckle at me (meant a lot to a pre-jaded 14 year old me )

Leeds Fest - Origin in full + amazing visuals but pretty dull (if expected) second half

Manchester Academy - Fury + The Groove, tiny venue, top crowd, waited outside all day, met Matt + Dom afterwards

London 12th - Sunburn after years of waiting, Map + TAB, generally had a great time the whole way through, first ever setlist from Dom A, bands' reaction to the sign + Chris' high five, barrier (great super close view)

London 14th - Assassin (can't stress how much I was legit crying), AP + Bliss, sign unexpectedly worked (again - many tears), recognition from Matt + Dom at the end, barrier again

 

You can see why it's so hard for me to choose an out-and-out #1 Push comes to shove, I might say either London 14th or the Academy, just 'cause of how special they felt on a personal level. Leeds Fest might win just going off setlists though.

[Rustyy]

For me, from lowest to highest ranked; Most of the bad points were no fault of Muse's.

 

9. Dublin 09; I barely knew Muse. Set was utter shite anyway. Strange experience, I was basically a casual in the sense that I only knew the singles mostly, but knew some rarities, and spent the whole gig shouting for Citizen and Dead Star. Map was really good at this gig iirc.

 

8. Belfast 16; You all know how I feel about this one. AP was fun though, and I got some picks from Glen.

 

7. London 13 night 2; Was sunburned to fuck and running on two hours sleep and had a very unfortunate experience as doors opened. Really good set though, which I appreciated much more the morning after.

 

6. Belfast 15; Was holding in a piss all through the gig. Great set and met Chris beforehand, and great company.

 

5. Dublin 12; Great gig. Unsustainable, Sunburn, Liquid State were the high points.

 

4. Download 15; Great setlist. Security guard I met and was speaking to at Manchester 13 was also on security at this. We had a moment. During [JFK] he gave me a setlist.

 

3. Manchester 13; all I wanted was Dead Star. Got it, and Bliss, which is my favourite memory of any muse gig. Enjoyed it so much, as evidenced by Jamie's video.

 

2/1 tied; Rock Werchter 15 / Dublin 16. Both absolutely perfect. Dom gave me a stick at Dublin.

 

 

lol my first post since Assassin was played at London. Guess I'm over my sulk

 

 

That video I totally forgot! That crowd we were in was great. Raised the gig for me. Didn't you have sign too?

[denise3112]

You can see why it's so hard for me to choose an out-and-out #1 Push comes to shove, I might say either London 14th or the Academy, just 'cause of how special they felt on a personal level. Leeds Fest might win just going off setlists though.

 

Much more interesting if you choose how the gigs worked personally, for you, imo. Not sure you can ever detach it really anyway. Setlist builds into that but is only a part.

 

eg Thurs at the O2 was prob the most special of the O2 run for me... was with my teenage son, he went mental for AP and Assassin with me, was impressed by the high-tech visuals... we had a great bonding

 

Whereas Leeds... yes it had OoS played in full yippee, but it was pissing it down and the crowd was miserable as fuck as I recall, therefore good on paper but didn't work great on the day.

[Mozza]

It's always good to see how people order them and things, makes for an interesting conversation

 

1. Wembley Night 2 2010 - Had very low expectations given how the arena tour had gone but a set with Bliss, Citizen Erased, Take a Bow, an unexpected performance of MK Ultra, and a very unexpected Ruled By Secrecy was incredible. Added to the fact they cut the slow mushy-stuff out the encore and just did Overture into Stockholm.

 

2. Nottingham Arena 2003 - Was my first gig of a proper band, and Absolution is/was a fantastic album. Great show

 

3. Wembley Night 1 2007 - Micro Cuts...amongst others

4. Ulster Hall 2015 - Would be higher but I glanced the setlist and ruined my surprises and it was a bit all over the place

5. V Festival 2004 - Showbiz, The Groove, first time I saw Ruled By Secrecy...

6. Manchester Night 1 2016

7. London Night 4 (14th April) 2016

8. London Night 2 2009 - Major improvement on the previous night

9. Emirates Stadium Night 1 2013 - Simultaneously the best and worst things about this band

10. Nottingham Arena 2006 - Looking back now that will never happen again (ignoring the fact it did a few days later) but at the time I didn't like it

11. Glastonbury 2010 - The middle of the set did allow me to get some sleep at least

12. London Night 1 2009 - The worst gig i've been to other than The Big Pink at Nottingham Rescue Rooms (and to be fair I lived next to Nottingham and it was only £12).

[Nigel_Tufnel]

Good. It allowed people to get a great set despite Feeling Good being played. Resistance/Madness is a decent rotation anyways though it should be Resistance/Uprising I think. Imagine what could be done if Resistance was rotated with Uprising, Madness with Dead Inside, Mercy with Starlight and SMBH with Time is Running Out. It'd be amazing.

 

 

Most likely, it would allow the band to end their concert 15-20 minutes earlier.

 

Probably see that next tour.

[Clunge]

Ranking is so difficult . I found it easiest to go from worst to best firstly.

 

1. Reading Festival 2011

 

Yeah, I was quite surprised to put this number one myself actually. But nearly everything about what they did with the OoS set was just perfect, from the stage setup itself to the incredible bespoke visuals to how they gave some of the songs a modern twist - and just to get to hear some of those songs. It was both fiercely nostalgia, yet refreshing. I think it just reinforced what a genuinely classic album Origin is. It sounded fresher than anything Muse had done since. Those songs haven't aged, they still sound weirdly futuristic. The second half of the show was a bit run-of-the-mill, but there was a real party atmosphere that night too.

 

2. Eden Project 2006

 

My second Muse gig. The setting was/is just perfect for gigs (I've been to five or six Eden Sessions now). It felt like a bit of a homecoming. We got Showbiz too. And I personally think it was a better all-round performance than Reading two nights later (which had the same setlist).

 

3. Earls Court 2004 (night one)

 

My first Muse gig. My memory of this has faded somewhat, I was only 15, I think, at the time. But in other ways, while some aspects have dropped away, others are more vivid than ever. The huge 'crack' as ALL the lights in the arena went off simultaneously, Dracula Mountain, that red coat, the Dead Star / Micro Cuts encore, seeing Crying Shame's debut, how absolutely deafeningly loud it was - and then my parents driving me and my mates home, all of us wearing about six layers and covered in sleeping bags because the car heating had broken .

 

Also, it was the announcement of the EC gigs that made me sign up here, so that gig has played something of a significant role in my life.

 

4. Download Festival 2015

 

Riffs. Lots of them. This was just a great fun show.

 

5. Royal Albert Hall 2008

 

Amazing setting, the only BH&R gig I saw with Take A Bow opening and Knights closing, Fury, Megalomania on the organ and Osaka Jam. Tres cool.

 

6. Wembley Stadium 2007 (night one)

 

Blew my mind at the time. Muse's first headline stadium show. City Of Delusion absolutely smashed everything. I even enjoyed Invincible that night. Plus I had a great pie. Oh, and watching Dirty Pretty Things get bottled was lol.

 

7. Brighton Dome 2015

 

First time I ever really, properly met us with 'the Musers'. Like Download, this was just a really good fun show, and it was cool to see Muse in such a (relatively) small venue.

 

8. Teignmouth 2009 (night two)

 

Amazing gesture by the band and really well executed. Only problem was these were the first two gigs of the tour and they just felt a bit flat, a bit out of practice. The performances were a little lacklustre. However, Jazzy Cave (!).

 

9. London O2 Arena 2016 (night five)

10. London O2 Arena 2012 (night two)

11. Manchester MEN 2006 (night two)

12. London O2 Arena 2009 (night two)

 

I CBA to go through these four. They ranged from okay, not bad, so-so, to bland and meh. After every single one of them, I've vowed only to see Muse in future at special or one-off shows. But I always inevitably get roped into going to one of the main arena shows.