Muse is building a spaceship for their European tour and will play the Ziggo Dome twice

Muse has big plans for its upcoming European arena tour this winter. Frontman Matt Bellamy told NME that the band is literally building a spaceship as a stage piece for the shows in the UK and Europe. "We're trying to build a spaceship, as you do," Bellamy said. "The quote came in and it's more expensive than some of these houses [in Primrose Hill], and that's saying something around here."

The spaceship is not the only thing the three Brits have up their sleeve. Bellamy emphasises that the band is also working on laser techniques that have never been used before. "We're trying to work with that, build a spaceship, do some new stuff with lasers that's never been done before, and yeah, it will be a classic. It's going to be more in the space, sci fi realm, which I think is cool for us," he added. Whether the ship will actually fly is another matter. "I don't think it will," Bellamy admitted. "That's the thing that costs more than a house, but it will be something cool, I promise."

The space theme ties in seamlessly with the band's new tenth studio album, The Wow! Signal, which came out on Friday 26 June. The title references one of the most intriguing interstellar mysteries in recent history: a powerful, unexplained radio pulse lasting 72 seconds that was detected in 1977 by Ohio State University's Big Ear radio telescope. The signal came from the constellation Sagittarius and was so strong and focused that the astronomer who discovered it wrote the word "WOW!" next to it, convinced it might be of extraterrestrial origin. Muse had previously drawn on cosmic and philosophical themes on albums such as Black Holes and Revelations and Simulation Theory.

The European tour kicks off on 12 November with two nights in Manchester at the Co op Live. That is followed by two shows at the O2 in London, performances in Berlin, Milan, Düsseldorf and Paris, and then two concerts at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on 29 and 30 November. The tour wraps up on 8 December with a second night at the Hallenstadion in Zurich. For Dutch fans this is particularly exciting: two Ziggo Dome shows in a single week offer the chance to experience the entirely new production that Bellamy describes as a completely reimagined spectacle.

Before heading to Europe, Muse will first play an extensive North American tour. That begins on 2 July at Summerfest in Milwaukee and runs through to the end of August, with Bloc Party, Portugal. The Man and The Temper Trap among the supporting acts. The shows at American amphitheaters will feature a more scaled back production compared to the European arena version. "It's in between arena and stadium size, but the issue is you can't do the craziest production," Bellamy explained. "It'll be a similar production to what we used last summer, but with a few step ups and a few customisations for this show. But when we come back to the UK in November, that'll be a brand new really cool production."

Muse has been known for years for spectacular live productions featuring pyrotechnics, drones, robots and elaborate visual installations. The new album received a glowing four star review from NME, which described it as the best Muse album in twenty years, comparable to Black Holes and Revelations. In the same interview Bellamy also spoke about personal struggles he processed while writing the record, and about advice he received from, among others, Chris Martin of Coldplay and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones.