In revealing news of the tour, music magazine
NME quoted the band as saying "We are coming up with a different and exciting stage set and production which will encompass our fans", suggesting that the stage will be placed in the middle of each arena, with the audience surrounding the band, In September 2009, the
BBC quoted drummer
Dominic Howard as revealing that the band members will "be on these three pillars moving up and down", adding that "There might be a loose narrative that we're trapped in some kind of institution and we're trying to break out of it", which he promises will "look impressive." Music website
Drowned in Sound also spoke to Howard, publishing the following quotes regarding stage setup: For the stadium performances, the band changed the set design completely. Like the arena tour, the design was based on the book 1984 by George Orwell but this time the new design featured the band on a triangular-pyramid shaped stage. The stage was designed and built by the Belgian company
Stageco (who also designed the stage for
U2's
360° Tour). It features a ball on the top which is said to be the "All Seeing Eye" from the book 1984. On the pyramid itself there are separated blocks, with most of them being screens which project animations and also turn inside out occasionally. There is a catwalk-like structure leading from the front of the stage into the crowd, with an elephant lift at the end which moves 10m in the air and 15m forward, with space for 3 people. This so-called elephant lift would rise into the air and over the audience during performances of
Undisclosed Desires and Take a Bow (the latter of which involved frontman
Matthew Bellamy wearing an
LED suit). During performances of "Exogenesis Symphony: Part I – Overture" a U.F.O is released into the crowd with an acrobat hanging from the rear of it reaching for the people. However this has not been used in all stadium performances. The band's festival performances have been different from both these stage performances. For the shows in Australasia in early 2010 and the headline appearance at Coachella the band used 3 video strips in a similar arrangement to the top halves of the pillars but on the back wall of the stage. The festival stage was redesigned for the 2010 European festival shows with 3 groups of hexagonal video screens on the back wall of the stage and different visuals to those used earlier in the year for some songs, although for one show in Latvia and two shows in Asia Muse used only one solo screen. Also on one occasion, the UFO was used, in Germany. For the band's headlining set at Glastonbury Festival 2010, U2 guitarist The Edge was invited on stage to play "
Where The Streets Have No Name" with Muse, seeing as U2 had cancelled their planned slot for the previous day due to Bono's back injury from rehearsals weeks earlier. ==Tour dates==