Manchester Evening News Arena 2003 (gig)

Gig poster

Muse show
Venue	Manchester Evening News Arena^[1]
Date	29th November 2003^[2]
Location	Manchester^[2]
Country	United Kingdom
Songs	18^[2]
Support	Kinesis, Elbow
Start (UTC)	18:00
Capacity	19,000 (max seated capacity)
Price (GBP)	15.00 (seated, standing)^[3]
Sold out?	Unknown

Gig nav

National Ice Centre Arena

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Manchester Evening News Arena

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Cardiff International Arena

Part of the 2003 European leg of the Absolution Tour.

Information

Tickets went on sale Saturday 5th July 2003 at 9.30 AM.^[4]

You can read a review of the gig here

The Show

Matt balanced his guitar on his head after performing Blackout, just as he did at Glastonbury the following year. He also omitted the words "scream and she'll shout" from Stockholm Syndrome, instead opting to step away from the microphone and pop an on-stage balloon with his guitar.

Prior to this gig, Matthew Bellamy would sing all of the lead chorus vocals for performances of The Small Print himself, unlike later gigs where Christopher Wolstenholme would take over during certain lines. This would be the first instance where Chris sang the line "you watch this space" along with Matt. However, it wouldn't be until the Club Quattro gig on 14th February 2004 where Chris would completely take over for the lines "you watch this space" & "slave to the grave" with Matt no longer singing those lines in any capacity.

Speech

Before Butterflies & Hurricanes	Bellamy	"Gonna play another new song, if you haven't heard this song it's called 'Butterflies & Hurricanes'".
After Plug in Baby		""Easy tiger! (?) fucking".
Before Blackout		"Cheers! Cheers... we'll play a new song, if you haven't heard this song yet... this song is called 'Blackout', and Chris is gonna play the keys... It's one for the lighters I think..."
Before Stockholm Syndrome		"Thank you very much people of Manchester, you're the best! Thank you very much for coming this song is called Stockoooolm Syndroooome"

Assorted "Cheers!" and "Thank you"s throughout, sometimes in strangely hilarious voices with accompanying facial expressions (e.g. New Born, Blackout)