Drones World Tour

The Drones World Tour^[1] was a worldwide concert tour by the English rock band Muse. Staged in support of the band's 2015 album Drones, the tour visited arenas and festivals throughout 2015 and is the tenth concert tour the band has carried out. It began on 23 May 2015 in Norwich, England at the BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend. The Drones World Tour sold over 1.2 million tickets and grossed $23M from 34 shows in 2015, plus $65.5M from 64 shows in 2016.^[2][3]

Drones World Tour

Tour by Muse
Promotional poster for the band's April 2016 UK tour
Associated album	Drones
Start date	23 May 2015 (2015-05-23)
End date	21 August 2016
Legs	8
No. of shows	92 in Europe 27 in North America 7 in Asia 6 in South America Total: 132 (1 cancelled)
Box office	$88.5 million (98 shows)
Muse concert chronology

A live video of the tour entitled Muse: Drones World Tour, was released in cinemas worldwide on 12 July 2018.^[4]

Rehearsals

Rehearsals for the Drones festival tour took part in late April and were held in Air Studios, where Muse previously rehearsed for the Origin of Symmetry anniversary concerts at Reading and Leeds festivals, and where Muse also recorded Absolution and parts of The 2nd Law, Drones and Simulation Theory.

European Festivals

Muse using the LED pillars in Paris 2016

Muse played various festivals around Europe on the first leg of the tour, which started 23 May 2015. This leg of the tour also included Muse's debut performance at Download Festival, which they also headlined.

The second leg of the European Festivals tour began on 24 June 2016 at Glastonbury. The new stage set up featured 11 LED pillars which could be manually pushed back and forth by members of the crew to accommodate the show. Bellamy compared this set up to The Resistance tour on his Instagram. An updated version of this set was used for the remaining dates in 2017, complete with new lighting rigs and lasers.

Drones Arena Tour

Drones used in the show

Matt Bellamy confirmed that Muse would be tour North America in late 2015, and Europe in 2016. The stage setup is an 'in-the-round' setup, with a circular stage in the middle, similar to U2's 360 Tour, with catwalks on either end of the stage. Bellamy has also said that they will be flying drones over the audience during the shows. This set up was first used on 17 November 2015 in Mexico City at the start of the band's North America tour. The Arena tour dates prior in South America and Asia the band used their festival production.

Confetti and streamers during Mercy

The show begins with spherical drones being launched from a space station-style grid at the top of arenas, and they later re-appear during the course of the concert. There are also retractable video screens using projection, a spherical 360 screen over the main central stage, and a giant inflatable device designed to look like a Reaper drone. Confetti and streamers were also shot into the audience during performances of "Mercy".

However, the show has had technical difficulties. Two concerts in San Diego & Las Vegas were rescheduled due to "technical and logistical" challenges, while the drones were not used at all in three gigs, and one gig in Detroit saw several drones fail simultaneously.

Average Setlist

 

1. "Drones"
2. "Psycho"
3. "Reapers"
4. "Dead Inside
5. "Interlude + Hysteria"
6. "Bliss" or "Citizen Erased" or "Plug In Baby"
7. "The 2nd Law: Isolated System" (shortened)
8. "The Handler"
9. "Supermassive Black Hole
10. "Prelude" + "Starlight"
11. "Apocalypse Please" or "United States of Eurasia" or "Feeling Good"
12. "Munich Jam" (drum and bass jam)
13. "Madness"
14. "Resistance" or "Undisclosed Desires"
15. "JFK" + "Revolt" or "Stockholm Syndrome" or "Reapers" (if not played earlier)
16. "Time Is Running Out"
17. "Uprising"
18. "The Globalist"
19. "Drones" (reprise)

Encore:

1. "Mercy"
2. "Man with A Harmonica" + "Knights of Cydonia"

Exceptions:

• "Drones" was very occasionally replaced with "Drill Sergeant" at the start of the show
• The piano slot after "Starlight" was not always played; instead the band would skip straight to "Munich Jam"
• A range of different songs have been played after "JFK", including "Assassin", "Hysteria" and "Defector"
• "Take a Bow" was added to most setlists from 1 March 2016 onwards as the first song of the encore
• On 18 April 2016, during the second of their shows at Glasgow's SSE Hydro, the band were joined onstage by a lone bagpiper and a group of Highland dancers to play "Glasgow Jam" (a different drum and bass jam) that replaced "Munich Jam".

Song	Album
"Sunburn"	Showbiz
"Muscle Museum"
"Showbiz"
"Uno"
"Agitated"	Uno (single)
"Yes Please"	Sunburn (single)
"New Born"	Origin of Symmetry
"Bliss"
"Hyper Music"
"Plug In Baby"
"Micro Cuts"
"Citizen Erased"
"Futurism"
"Feeling Good"
"Dead Star"	Dead Star/In Your World
"Apocalypse Please"	Absolution
"Time Is Running Out"
"Sing For Absolution"
"Stockholm Syndrome"
"Hysteria" (paired with Interlude)
"Blackout"
"Butterflies & Hurricanes"
"Fury"
"The Groove"	Time Is Running Out (single)
"Take a Bow"	Black Holes and Revelations
"Starlight"
"Supermassive Black Hole"
"Map of the Problematique"
"Assassin"
"Knights of Cydonia"
"Glorious"
"Easily"
"Uprising"	The Resistance
"Resistance"
"Undisclosed Desires"
"United States of Eurasia"
"Supremacy"	The 2nd Law
"Madness"
"Panic Station"
"Prelude"
"The 2nd Law: Isolated System"
"Dead Inside"	Drones
"[Drill Sergeant]"
"Psycho"
"Mercy"
"Reapers"
"The Handler"
"[JFK]"
"Defector"
"Revolt"
"The Globalist"
"Drones"

Tour dates

List of concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, tickets sold, number of available tickets and amount of gross revenue

Date	City	Country	Venue	Opening act	Attendance	Revenue
Leg 1 — European Festivals (Leg 1)[5][6]
23 May 2015	Norwich	England	BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend	—	—	—
29 May 2015	Munich	Germany	Rockavaria
30 May 2015	Gelsenkirchen		Rock Im Revier
5 June 2015	Vienna	Austria	Rock In Vienna
6 June 2015	Biel	Switzerland	Sonisphere Festival
12 June 2015	Landgraaf	Netherlands	Pinkpop Festival
13 June 2015	Castle Donington	England	Download Festival
14 June 2015	Warsaw	Poland	Orange Warsaw Festival
19 June 2015	Moscow	Russia	Park Live Festival
21 June 2015	St. Petersburg		Tuborg GreenFest
24 June 2015	Seinäjoki	Finland	Provinssirock
26 June 2015	Norrköping	Sweden	Bråvalla Festival
28 June 2015	Werchter	Belgium	Rock Werchter
30 June 2015	Cologne	Germany	Gloria Theater	Royal Blood
2 July 2015	Roskilde	Denmark	Roskilde Festival	—
4 July 2015	Arras	France	Main Square Festival
5 July 2015	Roeser	Luxembourg	Rock-a-Field
9 July 2015	Lisbon	Portugal	NOS Alive
11 July 2015	Bilbao	Spain	Bilbao BBK Live
13 July 2015	Aix-les-Bains	France	Musilac Music Festival
16 July 2015	Carhaix		Vieilles Charrues Festival
18 July 2015	Rome	Italy	Rock in Roma
Leg 2 — Asia
25 July 2015	Naeba	Japan	Fuji Rock Festival	—	—	—
Leg 3 — Europe
11 September 2015	London	England	Electric Ballroom	—	—	—
13 September 2015	Berlin	Germany	Lollapalooza Berlin
16 September 2015	Brussels	Belgium	Ancienne Belgique
Leg 4 — Asia[7]
19 September 2015	Beijing	China	MasterCard Center	—	7,573 / 7,573	$753,180
21 September 2015	Shanghai		Mercedes-Benz Arena Shanghai		10,122 / 10,122	$1,058,479
23 September 2015	Bangkok	Thailand	Impact Arena	The Ruse	6,711 / 7,902	$623,301
26 September 2015	Singapore		Singapore Indoor Stadium		9,558 / 9,558	$1,094,708
28 September 2015	Hong Kong	China	AsiaWorld–Expo		9,066 / 9,066	$894,088
30 September 2015	Seoul	South Korea	Olympic Gymnastics Arena		10,595 / 10,837	$974,494
Leg 5 — South America
15 October 2015	Santiago	Chile	Movistar Arena	—	—	—
17 October 2015	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Complejo Al Río	Utopians
19 October 2015	Córdoba		Orfeo Superdomo
22 October 2015	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	HSBC Arena
24 October 2015	São Paulo		Allianz Parque
27 October 2015	Bogotá	Colombia	Parque Deportivo 222	Telebit
Leg 6 — North America (First official leg of Drones World Tour)[1][8]
17 November 2015	Mexico City	Mexico	Palacio de los Deportes	The New Regime	—	—
18 November 2015
20 November 2015
21 November 2015			Corona Capital	—	—	—
1 December 2015	Houston	United States	Toyota Center	Phantogram	7,482 / 11,224	$551,820
2 December 2015	Dallas		American Airlines Center	—[a]	9,924 /11,163	$643,334
5 December 2015	Glendale		Gila River Arena	Phantogram	6,714 / 11,225	$415,490
10 December 2015	Vancouver	Canada	Rogers Arena		—	—
12 December 2015	Seattle	United States	KeyArena
13 December 2015	Portland		Moda Center
15 December 2015	Oakland		Oracle Arena
18 December 2015	Los Angeles		Staples Center
19 December 2015
7 January 2016[b]	San Diego		Valley View Casino Center
9 January 2016[c]	Las Vegas		Mandalay Bay Events Center
13 January 2016	Chicago		United Center	X Ambassadors	13,439 / 13,439	$819,321
14 January 2016	Detroit		Joe Louis Arena		8,748 / 13,109	$518,330
16 January 2016	Toronto	Canada	Air Canada Centre		—	—
18 January 2016	Quebec City		Centre Videotron		27,279 / 29,250[d]	$1,468,520[d]
20 January 2016	Montreal		Bell Centre		28,475 / 29,660	$1,315,450
21 January 2016
23 January 2016	Quebec City		Centre Videotron		[d]	[d]
25 January 2016	Boston	United States	TD Garden		11,111 / 16,372	$740,815
27 January 2016	Brooklyn		Barclays Center		14,916 / 14,916	$874,783
29 January 2016	Newark		Prudential Center		—	—
31 January 2016	Philadelphia		Wells Fargo Center		13,103 / 13,563	$586,933
1 February 2016	Washington, D.C.		Verizon Center		10,865 / 17,144	$801,188
Leg 7 — Europe[1][11]
26 February 2016	Paris	France	AccorHotels Arena	X Ambassadors	108,182 / 108,182	$7,787,807
27 February 2016
29 February 2016				Phantogram
1 March 2016
3 March 2016				Nothing But Thieves
4 March 2016
6 March 2016	Cologne	Germany	Lanxess Arena		—	—
7 March 2016	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Ziggo Dome
9 March 2016
10 March 2016
12 March 2016	Brussels	Belgium	Palais 12
13 March 2016
15 March 2016				The Van Jets[e]
16 March 2016
31 March 2016	Munich	Germany	Olympiahalle	De Staat
2 April 2016	Birmingham	England	Barclaycard Arena Birmingham	Nothing But Thieves
3 April 2016	London		The O2 Arena		92,167 / 92,167[f]	$8,119,590[f]
5 April 2016	Dublin	Ireland	3Arena		—	—
6 April 2016	Belfast	Northern Ireland	SSE Arena
8 April 2016	Manchester	England	Manchester Arena		37,777 / 38,058	$3,214,350
9 April 2016				Phantogram
11 April 2016	London		The O2 Arena		[f]	[f]
12 April 2016				Phantogram My Vitriol
14 April 2016
15 April 2016				Phantogram
17 April 2016	Glasgow	Scotland	The SSE Hydro		22,069 / 22,760	$2,000,800
18 April 2016				Nothing But Thieves
30 April 2016	Ischgl	Austria	Top of the Mountain	—	—	—
2 May 2016	Lisbon	Portugal	MEO Arena	De Staat
3 May 2016
5 May 2016	Madrid	Spain	Barclaycard Center Madrid
6 May 2016
9 May 2016	Vienna	Austria	Wiener Stadthalle
11 May 2016	Zürich	Switzerland	Hallenstadion		26,000 / 26,000	$2,869,240
12 May 2016
14 May 2016	Milan	Italy	Mediolanum Forum		—	—
15 May 2016
17 May 2016
18 May 2016
20 May 2016
21 May 2016
3 June 2016	Berlin	Germany	Mercedes-Benz Arena Berlin	Jack Garratt
4 June 2016	Prague	Czech Republic	O2 Arena Prague
6 June 2016	Hamburg	Germany	Barclaycard Arena Hamburg		9,316 / 11,943	$622,544
8 June 2016	Copenhagen	Denmark	Forum Copenhagen		—	—
9 June 2016				The New Regime
11 June 2016	Stockholm	Sweden	Ericsson Globe		—	—
12 June 2016	Oslo	Norway	Telenor Arena		—	—
14 June 2016	Helsinki	Finland	Hartwall Arena		—	—
16 June 2016	Riga	Latvia	Arena Riga	My Vitriol	—	—
17 June 2016	Kaunas	Lithuania	Žalgiris Arena		—	—
21 June 2016	Moscow	Russia	Olimpiyskiy		—	—
Leg 8 — European Festivals (Leg 2)
24 June 2016	Pilton	England	Glastonbury Festival	—	—	—
28 June 2016	Paris	France	Eiffel Tower	X Ambassadors	—	—
30 June 2016	Marmande		Garorock	—	—	—
2 July 2016	Montreux	Switzerland	Montreux Jazz Festival
8 July 2016	Kyiv	Ukraine	U-Park Festival
14 July 2016	Bern	Switzerland	Gurten Festival
16 July 2016	Benicàssim	Spain	Festival Internacional de Benicàssim
18 July 2016	Nîmes	France	Le Festival de Nîmes
19 July 2016	Nyon	Switzerland	Paléo Festival
23 July 2016	Athens	Greece	Ejekt Festival
29 July 2016	Bucharest	Romania	Rock The City
6 August 2016	Reykjavík	Iceland	Laugardalshöll	—	—	—
13 August 2016	Budapest	Hungary	Sziget Festival	—	—	—
19 August 2016	Biddinghuizen	Netherlands	Lowlands Festival
20 August 2016	Konstanz	Germany	Rock am See
21 August 2016	Kraków	Poland	Live Music Festival
Total					315,794 / 349,554 (90%)	$24,057,848

Cancelled shows

List of cancelled concerts, showing date, city, country, venue and reason for cancellation

Date	City	Country	Venue	Reason
26 July 2016	Istanbul	Turkey	Nebula Festival	2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt[13]

Notes

1. Phantogram was supposed to play but were cut due to technical difficulties.^[9]
2. The concert on 7 January 2016 in San Diego at the Valley View Casino Center was originally planned to take place on 16 December, but was rescheduled due to unforeseen logistical and technical challenges.^[10]
3. The concert on 9 January 2016 in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Events Center was originally planned to take place on 6 December, but was rescheduled due to unforeseen logistical and technical challenges.^[10]
4. The score data is representative of the two shows at the Centre Videotron on 18 and 23 January 2016 respectively.
5. Nothing But Thieves were supposed to play but got replaced by The Van Jets after one of the members got sick.^[12]
6. The score data is combined from the shows held at The O₂ Arena from 3, 11, 12, 14 & 15 April 2016 respectively.

References

1. "Tour Dates". Muse.mu. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
2. "Pollstar Year End Top 100 Worldwide Tours" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
3. "Year End Top 100 Worldwide Tours" (PDF). Pollstar.com. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
4. "Muse: Drones World Tour: Cinema Screenings & Ticket Booking - the Official Showtimes Destination". Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
5. "12 Music Festivals You Don't Want to Miss in 2015". Arcticdrones.com. 5 March 2015.
6. "Muse reveal Drones plans for upcoming tour". Gigwise.com.
7. Box score

   • "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. 21 October 2015. Archived from the original on 5 June 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
8. Box score

   • "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. 8 January 2016. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
   • "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. 29 January 2016. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
   • "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. 8 February 2016. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
   • "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. 26 April 2016. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
   • "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. 17 May 2016. Archived from the original on 17 May 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
9. "Attn: Dallas regarding tonight's show with @muse". 2 December 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
10. "LAS VEGAS AND SAN DIEGO TOUR UPDATE". 4 December 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
11. Box score:

    • "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. 26 April 2016. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
    • "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. 31 May 2016. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
    • "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. 7 June 2016. Archived from the original on 7 June 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
    • "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. 14 June 2016. Archived from the original on 15 June 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
12. "MUSE KIEST LAST MINUTE VOOR THE VAN JETS ALS VOORPROGRAMMA". 15 March 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
13. Earls, John (20 July 2016). "Muse cancel Turkey gig after country's attempted coup". nme.com. Retrieved 23 July 2016.

External links

• Media related to Drones World Tour at Wikimedia Commons
• Muse Official Website