The 2nd Law Tour

The 2nd Law Tour was a tour that took place between October 2012 and December 2013 in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia in support of the newly released album The 2nd Law.

Gig nav
The Resistance Tour	←	The 2nd Law Tour	→	New Album Tour

Europe

Stage Set-Up

Held above the centre of the stage was a giant upside down pyramid composed of many screens, which was revealed usually after the third song of the set. There were also screens lining the back and front of the stage. The screens displayed various different visuals during the concerts fitting with the themes of the individual songs.

During Undisclosed Desires Matt would walk up and down the barrier, shaking hands with fans.

After Plug In Baby the screens would display a falling white ball and a roulette with red and black tiles and also a single green tile. Stockholm Syndrome was printed on the black tiles and New Born on the red. Whichever one the ball landed on decided which song the band would play. However, this was for visual purposes only and the song they would play was always printed on the setlist. The ball would not land on the green tile until the North American leg of the tour.

Typical setlist

Falling Down returned to setlists for the first time in nearly 12 years and part of Host returned for the first time in about 14 years. A new drum and bass jam was introduced to the setlists, dubbed Monty Jam by fans after it was first performed in Montpellier.

• Unsustainable
• Supremacy
• Interlude + Hysteria / Map of the Problematique
• Supermassive Black Hole
• Panic Station
• Resistance
• Animals
• Montpellier Jam + Explorers
• Falling Down / Sunburn
• Host intro + Time Is Running Out
• Liquid State
• Madness
• Follow Me
• Undisclosed Desires
• Plug in Baby
• Stockholm Syndrome / New Born

Encore 1

• Isolated System
• Uprising
• Knights of Cydonia

Encore 2

• Starlight
• Survival

Variation

• Bliss was sometimes played instead of Hysteria / Map Of The Problematique or Resistance.
• Supermassive Black Hole, Panic Station and Resistance often had their positions in the setlists swapped around with each other.
• Beginning with the Antwerp gig Knights Of Cydonia was played after Animals. It would remain there for the majority of the T2L era setlists.
• Ruled By Secrecy was played instead of Sunburn / Falling Down at Glasgow and United States of Eurasia was played instead of them at the Riga gig.
• The gig at Strasbourg did not feature the Falling Down / Sunburn slot.
• Save Me was sometimes played instead of Liquid State.
• Survival and Knights Of Cydonia were rotated for the first few gigs of the the tour, but eventually Survival became the sole closer.

Japan

Muse played two consecutive nights in Saitama, Japan. The setlists were identical to those of the European leg of the tour. However, on the first night, Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3 (Redemption) made its live debut, replacing Sunburn / Falling Down. This was the only time the song has been played live to date. During the song, a music video directed by Japanese comedian Tekken was displayed on the pyramid. Sunburn was played on the second night.

North America Leg 1

The setlists remained largely unchanged from the previous legs of the tour. However, there were a few notable changes. Falling Down and Host were both dropped from the setlists. Feeling Good returned to setlists for the first time since 2011. The second piano slot was removed, leaving Explorers, Sunburn, United States of Eurasia and Feeling Good to fight for a position in the setlist. Sign o' the Times was played once on the tour. Animals was not played at a lot of the gigs. Towards the end of the tour Dracula Mountain was played instead of Monty Jam. Mutations in the order of the setlist were not uncommon, but the general structure remained the same.

At the second New York gig the roulette landed on the green tile for the first time ever. Matt asked a member of the audience what song they wanted to be played, and Dead Star was subsequently performed. It also landed on green during the second Montréal gig, resulting in Muse playing Micro Cuts for the first time since 2011.

The Unsustainable Tour

Stage Set-Up

The stage for the stadium tour was completely different to that of the arena tour. There was no pyramid. Instead chimneys lined the back of the stadium, releasing fire at various points of the gig.

Chris began joining Matt shaking hands with fans during Undisclosed Desires.

The roulette remained.

Typical setlist

The setlist structure was similar to that of the arena tour, albeit longer and with a slow section played on the B-stage.

Blackout returned to setlists for the first time since 2007 and Unintended for the first time since 2010. Guiding Light also made a return.

• Supremacy
• Supermassive Black Hole
• Panic Station
• Bliss / Map of the Problematique
• Resistance / Interlude + Hysteria
• Animals
• Knights of Cydonia
• Montpellier Jam + Sunburn / United States of Eurasia
• Butterflies & Hurricanes / Dead Star
• Dracula Mountain + Feeling Good
• Follow Me
• Liquid State
• Madness
• Time is Running Out
• Stockholm Syndrome / New Born

Encore 1

• Unintended
• Blackout
• Guiding Light
• Undisclosed Desires

Encore 2

• Unsustainable
• Plug in Baby
• Survival

Encore 3

• Isolated System
• Uprising
• Starlight

Variation

• Explorers was played instead of Sunburn / United States Of Eurasia on two occasions, both in Italy.
• Near the middle of the tour, Butterflies & Hurricanes / Dead Star were replaced with Map of the Problematique / Interlude + Hysteria, however Butterflies & Hurricanes and Dead Star both made one more appearance in this slot.
• During the second night at Paris the roulette was used twice. On the first run, the ball landed in the green slot, but unlike previous gigs, Matt did not ask the crowd what song to play. Instead, Dead Star was already printed on screen and Micro Cuts was seen alongside as alternate options. On the second run, the usual Stockholm Syndrome / New Born roulette was shown. This extra song being played in the main set resulted in Guiding Light being dropped later on.
• During the final gig of the tour in Helsinki, Bliss was on the setlist but wasn't played. However, after Stockholm Syndrome Muse spontaneously played Agitated and Yes Please. This was their first time being played since 2001/2000.

North America Leg 2 + Mexico

Some of the songs featured during The Unsustainable Tour and Asian festival dates were carried over into this leg of the tour. Neutron Star Collision and Unnatural Selection were played for the first time in 3 years in Nashville, with Unnatural Selection replacing Stockholm Syndrome and New Born for much of the leg, though they both made occasional appearances. Agitated was sometimes played after them. Citizen Erased returned to setlists for the first time since 2011. Blackout and Hyper Music were occasionally played at the start of the second encore. Guiding Light and Butterflies & Hurricanes also appeared. Fury was played at Pittsburgh for a fan's 100th Muse gig.

Australia

The Australian setlist was identical to the previous leg's. No new songs were introduced.