Reading Little John's Farm 2017 (gig)

Announcement picture

Official line-up

Post-show selfie

Brian Johnson and Muse

Muse pre-show with John West and Isaac Wright

Muse show
Venue	Little John's Farm (Reading Festival—Main Stage)
Date	27th August 2017
Location	Richfield Avenue, Reading
Country	United Kingdom
Songs	17
Support	Architects et al.
Start (GMT)	21:50
Capacity	90,000
Price
Sold out?

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Leeds Festival	←	Reading Festival	→	Shoreline Amphitheatre

Information

Confirmed on November 30th, 2016, Muse were headlining Reading and Leeds between August 25th and August 27th, 2017. It was later confirmed on February 24th, 2017 that they will headline Reading on August 27th.

The R&L website was confirming that Muse was an European exclusive, meaning that it was their only 2017 European festival appearance, although this turned out to be false when it was confirmed that Muse were headlining Belfast Vital.

The Show

After Showbiz Matt briefly played the riff to Breed by Nirvana.

At the start of the encore, AC/DC singer Brian Johnson was invited on stage to sing a cover of Back in Black. This marked the first time the band had played the song since 2010, when Nic Cester of Jet performed lead vocals. The collaboration was originally planned to take place at Glastonbury Festival the previous year, but for legal reasons it could not happen and it was postponed to Reading, as explained by Johnson in his autobiography named The Lives of Brian released in 2022:

Four months after leaving the AC/DC tour, I flew back to Britain to see my family and some friends – but no sooner had I arrived in Newcastle with my wife Brenda than the phone rang. ‘Hello Brian, it’s Peter Mensch. I’m managing Muse now.’ It was great to hear Peter’s voice after so many years. I told him I thought Muse were a really solid band. ‘Well, they’ll be glad to hear that... because they’d love you to sing “Back in Black” with them.’‘What? Really? When?’‘Tomorrow. At Glastonbury.’ Now, by this point my hearing had got a lot better, but I hadn’t performed on stage since the AD/DC show in Kansas before I flew home for Brendan Healy’s funeral. I looked over at my wife, Brenda, who’d overheard the conversation, and she gave me a ‘just do it’ look.

Next thing I knew, I was with the boys from Muse, running through the song behind a curtain at one of the backstage areas of the festival. But it was loud enough for people to overhear, and the second I walked out, there was a mob of promoters – a guy from Germany, in particular – all wanting to know what I was doing there. That was when I realized it would probably be a good idea to let AC/DC know what I was doing. So, I phoned George Fearon in New York, and he asked me if I could give him twenty minutes to talk to the band’s lawyers to see if there’d be any legal issues. And, of course, this being the music business... there were legal issues. Lots and lots – and lots – of legal issues. I couldn’t do it. I had to back out. I felt terrible, especially after Peter and Muse had gone out of their way to ask me to sing. ‘Well, how about Reading next year?’ asked Peter. ‘We’ll sort out all the legal stuff by then.’‘If you remember . . . I’ll do it,’ I told him. He did remember. And although I was nervous before I went on, it was wonderful – and when we had finished Matt Bellamy came over and gave me a great hug on stage. That’s when it all came flooding back. The excitement. The fun. The noise. There’s nothing like playing live rock’n’roll, and I got my life back – it just flew out there over all these kids in the audience, college-age kids who’d been singing along, because somehow they knew every word. My daughters were crying. My wife was crying. ‘I wish all my sets were this short,’ I told Matt, laughing with relief. It was only one song but after two years of silence, it felt like a victory.

Actors John Bradley West and Isaac Hempstead Wright (known for portraying Samwell Tarly and Bran Stark in the TV series Game of Thrones) were present at the gig.

Times

• 3:05PM - Against the Current
• 4:15PM - Architects
• 5:30PM - Giggs
• 6:35PM - Blossoms
• 7:55PM - Liam Gallagher
• 9:50PM - Muse

Media

The full show was streamed by BBC and is available to watch here.

Setlist

1. Intro SFX + Dig Down
   ^{(Manson Matt Black Stealth LED, Status Kitara Doubleneck Bass Mk2)}
2. Drill Sergeant + Psycho
   ^{(Manson Matt Black FR, woven chrome finish tricolor-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}
3. Interlude + Hysteria + Heartbreaker riff
   ^{(Manson Chrome FR, aqua blue finish white-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}
4. Plug in Baby (extended)
   ^{(Manson Mirror 2.0, aqua blue finish white-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}
5. Stockholm Syndrome + Township Rebellion riff + Reapers outro
   ^{(Manson Matt Black 2.0, woven chrome finish tricolor-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}
6. Isolated System (shortened)
7. Showbiz + Ashamed outro + Breed riff tease
   ^{(Manson Holoflake, graphite finish blue-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}
8. Close Encounters intro + Supermassive Black Hole
   ^{(Manson M1D1 Stealth, aqua blue finish white-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}
9. Mercy
   ^{(Manson Matt Black 2.0, aqua blue finish white-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}
10. Munich Jam (fast ending)
    ^{(aqua blue finish white-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}
11. Madness
    ^{(Manson Matt Black Stealth LED, Status Kitara Doubleneck Bass Mk2)}
12. Prelude + Starlight
    ^{(graphite finish blue-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}
13. Time is Running Out
    ^{(Manson Matt Black 2.0, aqua blue finish white-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}
14. Take a Bow
    ^{(Manson Matt Black 2.0, aqua blue finish white-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}

    Encore

15. Back in Black (with Brian Johnson)
    ^{(Manson Holoflake, graphite finish blue-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}
16. Uprising (extended)
    ^{(Manson Red Alert, red finish red-LED custom Status Original Series II)}
17. Man With a Harmonica + Knights of Cydonia
    ^{(Manson Chrome FR, aqua blue finish white-LED Status Chris Wolstenholme Signature Bass)}

See also

• Little John's Farm, Reading

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