Reading Little John's Farm 2011 (gig)

Citizen Erased

Set-list sheet

Curtain before New Born

Official line-up poster

Day ticket

Guest day ticket

Muse show
Venue	Little John's Farm[source?] (Reading Festival—Main Stage)
Date	28th August 2011
Location	Richfield Avenue, Reading
Country	United Kingdom
Songs	20
Support	Elbow et al.†
Start (UTC+1)	21:30, 11:00 (doors)
Capacity	Unknown
Price (GBP)	89.50–266.18‡
Sold out?	Yes

Gig nav
Leeds Festival	←	Reading Festival

Muse performed for Reading and Leeds Festivals 2011 as headliners. Muse had originally intended to end the Resistance tour in 2010. Upon being offered to headline Leeds and Reading festivals, however, the band decided to continue touring. The first substantive rumours of Muse appearing at the festivals began in January with VirtualFestivals including Muse among its headliner predictions, while implicitly claiming inside knowledge. Morgan Nicholls purportedly stated during the NME Awards that the band would be performing.[source?]

From the point of accepting the headline slot, the band didn't wish for the the festivals to be part of the Resistance tour. After the band pondered how to differentiate the occasion, Matthew Bellamy recalled that it was the tenth anniversary of Origin of Symmetry's release, and suggested that the album be performed during the festivals.

The Muse website in mid-March announced that Muse would be headlining the festivals, as a renaissance of sorts for Origin of Symmetry, including songs from across their "career[s] to date". Showbiz and pre-Showbiz works of the Muse repertoire were not included within "career". Said announcement also stated that a stage different from those used on the Resistance tour would be used.

Bellamy later said on his twitter account that the band will "probably play Origin in its entirety" at the two festivals. In mid-August Christopher Wolstenholme confirmed that the entire album would be performed, while the band's intention was for it to be performed in order. Wolstenholme claimed that five songs which hadn't been performed for a long time were causing the trio to worry, including Darkshines and Screenager.

Two competitions were held for single pairs of tickets. The first asked for Muse t-shirt designs and the winning design was chosen by the band. The second was a Muse forum popular poll for ideal Muse performance venues. The former was for Reading Festival only, while the latter was for either Reading or Leeds.

The 'What's He Building' intro was used.

Matt played the New Born piano intro for only the second time since the start of The Resistance Tour.

The rare guitar outro for Space Dementia was played.

Chris sang the chorus to Hyper Music in place of Matt.

Eye balloons were released during Plug In Baby.

Lasers were used for Micro Cuts.

Screenager was played on the guitar, and Dark Shines was transposed a semitone down.

Flame throwers were used during Megalomania and Stockholm Syndrome.

There was a fireworks display at the end of Knights of Cydonia.

Line-up

• 21:30 – Muse
• 19:50 – Elbow
• 18:35 – Interpol
• 17:20 – Friendly Fires
• 16:15 – Enter Shikari
• 15:10 – The View
• 14:05 – Frank Turner
• 13:00 – Taking Back Sunday
• 12:00 – We Are the Ocean

Speech

After Micro Cuts	Bellamy	"Thank you very much!"
Before Megalomania		"Thanks very much for listening to us, we've had a really good time here. It's been a long time since we've played some of these songs. [Clears throat] Here we go.

Price details

Type	Base price	Booking fee	Postage	Total	Sold out?
Day	82.50	7.00	5.25	94.75	Yes
Weekend	192.50			204.75	Yes
Weekend with early entry	207.50		7.25	221.75

Media

BBC Three broadcast Muse's set partially, from 22:20–00:30 on the night of the performance.

A fan-led coalition began on Facebook in protest against the BBC only airing 3 of the 11 songs from Origin of Symmetry. However, the BBC claimed that Muse only permitted them to broadcast certain songs because they were not comfortable with the rare songs from Origin of Symmetry.

Setlist

• What's He Building? (intro music)

1. New Born
   ^{(Manson Red Glitter 2.0)}
2. Bliss [watch—1080p]
   ^{(Manson M1D1 Black)}
3. Space Dementia
   ^{(Black Kawai Grand, Manson DL-1 Delorean)}
4. Hyper Music [watch—1080p]
   ^{(Manson M1D1 Black)}
5. Plug In Baby
   ^{(Manson Mirror, red Fender Jazz Bass)}
6. Citizen Erased
   ^{(Manson 7 String E Guitar, black Kawai Grand)}
7. Micro Cuts
   ^{(Manson Mirror)}
8. Screenager
   ^{(Manson Chrome Bomber)}
9. Darkshines [watch—1080p]
   ^{(Manson Ali Top)}
10. Feeling Good
    ^{(Black Kawai Grand)}
11. Megalomania [watch—1080p]
    ^{(Black Kawai Grand)}

    Encore

    Stadium Siren / We Are the Universe (intro music)
12. Uprising (riff version)
    ^{(Manson Mirror)}
13. Supermassive Black Hole
    ^{(Manson M1D1 Black)}
14. Interlude + Hysteria + Back in Black outro [watch—1080p]
    ^{(Manson M1D1 Black)}
15. Bored riff + My Own Summer (Shove It) riff + Stockholm Syndrome + Negative Creep riff + Endless Nameless riff
    ^{(Manson DL-1 Delorean)}
16. Helsinki Jam
17. Undisclosed Desires [watch—1080p]
    ^{(Manson Keytar)}
18. Resistance
    ^{(Manson M1D1 Black)}
19. Starlight [watch—1080p]
    ^{(Manson 007)}
20. House of the Rising Sun riff + Time Is Running Out + Power of Soul riff [watch—1080p]
    ^{(Manson M1D1 Black)}
21. Man With a Harmonica + Knights of Cydonia
    ^{(Manson Chrome Bomber)}

Preparations gallery

• 

  Morgan Nicholls practising Darkshines

• 

  Dominic Howard practising Screenager

• 

  Stage test

• 

  Testing stage lights

• 

  Console before journey to Leeds

See also

• Little John's Farm, Reading
• Muse forum thread about the 2011 Leeds and Reading festivals
• Muselive forum thread about the 2011 Leeds and Reading festivals
• BBC's Reading Festival twitter account

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