Muse Is Aiming Big for Its Winter Tour: Building a "Spaceship" Onstage

Forget ELO and P-Funk: Muse is preparing its own "out of this world" stage prop for its UK and European arena tour this coming winter. Frontman Matt Bellamy told NME that the power-rock trio is going back to the future for the tour supporting their recently released tenth studio album, 'The Wow! Signal.' The goal: develop new laser techniques and build a mothership that can travel from arena to arena.

Bellamy describes the project as "literally a spaceship," saying the engineering team is working on a construction that can hang suspended above the stage. The band previously drew attention for large-scale visual productions on their 'Simulation Theory' and 'Will of the People' tours, but this new tour, according to Bellamy, will be the most ambitious stage setup Muse has ever attempted.

The 'The Wow! Signal' tour includes a lengthy European leg that kicks off in November in Newcastle and wraps in January in Amsterdam. Bellamy hinted that a concert film will be shot simultaneously. With 'The Wow! Signal,' Muse has returned to its science-fiction-inflected themes, ranging from the climate crisis to artificial intelligence, with the stage design conceived as the visual counterpart to that universe.