NME 2012-10-16 – “It began as a sketch on a napkin...”

"It began as a sketch on a napkin..." ...and evolved into ninja suits, a giant robot face and a shape-shifting pyramid that eats the band. Muse give Tom Howard an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at their maddest tour ever.

To a normal pair of eyes, it looks a lot like an enormous LED light structure hanging from the ceiling, directly above Muse drummer Dom Howard's kit. The structure is moving, like a Transformer, constantly changing shape. One minute it's a pyramid. The next, an inverted tornado. The one after, it's sort of dancing. In front of Howard's drumkit and below the raised plinth it's sitting on are two black circles, each with a microphone stand. One is for the band's bassist Chris Wolstenholme to stand on. The other is for the trio's frontman, Matt Bellamy. Bellamy's is spinning. This is so when Muse begin their initial 20-date European tour to promote new album 'The 2nd Law' at the Park & Suites in Montpellier, France, fans sitting behind the stage get to see Bellamy's face - and more importantly, his goatee beard - rather than the back of his head.