Muse To Play Homecoming Gigs
Chris meets with fans after the meeting.
Chris Wolstenholme, bassist of Muse, met with 3 Teignmouth councillors to discuss the idea of playing two homecoming gigs on the 4th and 5th of September this year.
As soon as the news got out via Muse's twitter account, online petitions sprung up everywhere begging the council to let the gigs go ahead at the small Devonshire town. Late last morning the meeting took place, and after a short deliberation the council agreed to let the multi-award winning band play in their home town, which will act as a preview for their upcoming 5th studio album, The Resistance. Roughly 25 fans managed to attend the meeting, but soon spread the news to the thousands of other fans via social networking and fan sites.
Teignmouth Today confirmed that the gigs were going ahead with the provision they didn't exceed 84.1 decibels. This has caused some outcry among fans, as normal conversation is only 60 decibels, and 84 is roughly the volume of busy traffic. Sources indicate that Muse play at 112 db normally, and the council's health officer wanted them to play at 65db. Muse said that the lowest they'd play was 85db, the councillors eventually conceded at 84.1.
10,000 tickets will be available to buy, and another 5,000 given away in competitions etc. Locals of Teignmouth will get priority booking for the tickets, which will be released at different times over different regions.
The local population of Teignmouth have expressed no negative views on the band's gigs, in fact many have embraced the idea of 'the local lads' returning to their home town.
Chris stated after the meeting: "I am really chuffed. This is something we wanted to do for our local fans, and we can’t wait for the gigs", and added: "The sound level is quite low for our concerts, but we believe we can still put on a good performance."
The benefits of the concerts to the town "would be immense", stated Teignbridge MP Richard Younger-Ross, as the business would boost the town's economy and renown.
Radio 1 have confirmed that they will be doing live radio coverage of one or both events, and the BBC have expressed interest in filming on the days in question.
All that is left to be decided is the venue, although the band seem to have their heart set on The Den, "one of the most popular open space destinations in the Teignbridge District".
The news of the gigs follows very soon after the events of Project Eurasia, a world-wide treasure hunt which over 50,000 fans participated in in order to release the new song United States Of Eurasia.
Whether there in body or spirit, Muse fans around the world will be following the outcome of these 2 local gigs closely, which are set to be some of the most famous Muse have ever played, and will be followed soon after by a European tour.
Sources:
Teignmouth Today 14th August.
Teignmouth Today 17th August.
Muselive.
Muse.mu.
The Den.
