Gig Review: Muse - Drones World Tour: Barclaycard Arena Birmingham 02/04/16

Muse last saturday night in Birmingham.

Muse rocked the roof at the Barclaycard Arena last weekend as the 'Supermassive Black Hole' trio brought their mammoth 'Drones' world tour to the midlands for the start of the UK leg of the tour. With them, they brought their famous 'Muse 360' stage which is placed in the centre of the arena and a number of remote control drones which were brought out a numerous amount of times during the night.

'Killed by Drones' - Drones used in the set

Supporting Muse were Essex rock quintet Nothing But Thieves, getting the crowded warmed up and rocking. They were performing tracks from their debut album. Highlights from their set were 'Trip Switch' and 'Excuse Me' (which was featured in my New Music Monday feature last week).

Nothing but an awesome support act!

Then the drones were brought out for the start of Muse's epic two hour set. Kicking the show off with titled track from their latest album 'Drones'. The haunting slow ballad set up the show and then was switched up with 'Psycho' and 'Reapers' which are two heavy rock songs to get the crowd going. Fan favourite 'Plug in Baby' from their second album 'Origin of Symmetry'. Being one of my favourite Muse songs and this being my first time seeing the band, it was amazing to finally hear this song live as opposed to listening to it on an album.

After performing 'The Handler' with amazing visual effects, it was on to playing some classic Muse starting with 'Supermassive Black Hole' and following it with 'Starlight' with everyone joining in on the chorus. Then they played the epic 'Citizen Erased' complete with Matt playing the grand piano at the end. Then as trandition of all Muse gigs Dom and Chris perform a jam for this tour it's the 'Munich Jam' which was amazing to see. Madness followed with an amazing visual display and was followed on by 'Map of Problematique' which is another classic from Black Holes and Revelations and the rocky 'Stockholm Syndrome'. 'Time is Running Out' was another highlight from the set and amazing to experience live. Another highlight was getting to see the epic 'The Globalist' live with drones and visual effects adding to the awesomeness of the song. 

Finally, the band did an encore playing another off 'Black Holes and Revelations', 'Take a Bow' and then playing 'Mercy'. The final song of the night was 'Knights of Cydonia' complete with Chris' harmonica solo intro of 'Man with Harmonica'. As gig/concerts go, this one was one of the best I have ever experienced and seen, the production of the show was incredible. Muse are definitely one of the best band live to see and if you have the chance to see them and go!