The 2nd Law Tour
The 2nd Law Tour or The 2nd Law World Tour was a tour that took place between October 2012 and December 2013 in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia in support of The 2nd Law. The tour started in Montpellier in France and ended in Sydney.
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Information
The tour and it's first gigs in Europe were announced in early Summer of 2012. The tour started in Europe, in Montpellier's Park&Suites Arena and spanned over three European legs in 2012, with the second one beginning in Olympiahalle Munich and the third one scheduled to begin in Oslo's Spektrum. The latter one had to be postponed due to Matt breaking his foot and started in Helsinki's Hartwall Arena instead.
The tour then went on to a short Japanese leg in 2013, with two gigs at Saitama Super Arena before heading over to North America with three legs - The first one starting in San Diego, the second one in Fort Lauderdale and the third one in Charlotte. In the Summer of 2013, the indoor tour went on a break for The Unsustainable Tour to take place in Europe.Ž
In October of 2013, the band went on a South American tour with leg one of the arena shows starting in Guadalajara's VFG Arena and ending in Mexico City's Palacio de los Deportes. After the South American gigs came the Australian leg which started in Perth and ended in Sydney.
Additionally, allthough not officially part of the tour, seven additional festival gigs took place in 2013. The production was similar to the arena gigs.
In North America, Muse also had V.I.P. posters made which were made unique for each gig and were designed by local artists.
Support Bands
The support bands for The 2nd Law tour included The Joy Formidable, who opened for Muse during the first leg of the tour between Montpellier and Manchester gigs, with the exception of night one in London, where, due to illness, fIN opened. Between the Dublin and the Łódź gigs, EverythingEverything opened for Muse and Deap Vally joined the support line up, performing between the Helsinki and Hamburg gigs. For the Amsterdam, Antwerpen and Strasbourg gigs, Andy Burrows opened for them.
For the North American legs, the support bands included Band of Skulls, Dead Sara, Biffy Clyro, We Are Wolves, Circa Survive, Cage the Elephant. We Are Wolves and Circa Survive each supported Muse once. Circa Survive opened in Montville while We Are Wolves opened in Québec City.
The Ruse supported them on the South American and Birds of Tokyo opened for Muse during the Australian leg.
Stage Setup
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
- Riffs_and_jams#Montpellier_JamWMontpellier 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
Encore 2
Exceptions
- 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.
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.