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Ahead of Muse’s first live performance in three years, singer Matt Bellamy revealed he’s been buying The Big Issue since the 1990s.
Art Direction: Jesse Lee Stout + MUSE
Muse frontman Matt Bellamy has declared his longstanding backing for The Big Issue, ahead of the band’s comeback show in support of the magazine.
The rock superstars have not played live since 2019 but will be in London for two intimate shows on May 9 and 10 in aid of The Big Issue, Médecins Sans Frontières and War Child.
Their collaboration with The Big Issue felt “natural”, Bellamy said in an exclusive interview, available in the magazine out on May 9.
“We made the album partly in Abbey Road, but the majority was made in LA in our own studio. It’s in a pretty central high street-type location,” he explained.
“The homelessness issue in Los Angeles is pretty severe. Every time I was heading into the studio I’d be walking past people sleeping rough. Definitely, that had a bit of influence on the album. And so, when we came to talk about the causes we’d like to get involved with, we thought of you guys.
“With our first comeback show in a long time being in London, The Big Issue seemed like a natural collaboration.”
Bellamy has had a long connection to The Big Issue and said he’d been a fan for at least a quarter century.
“I remember when I first came to London, part-time in the mid-to-late ’90s. My girlfriend at the time was at a university in London, and I’d come up and stay with her,” he recalled.
“I’d get off at the tube station and I’d always buy The Big Issue. It was always The Big Issue and Time Out, if I was getting on a tube in London in the ’90s, either one of those magazines would always be with me.”
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As one of the world’s biggest rock band, Muse are more used to playing stadia, so the 5,000 capacity shows at the Eventim Apollo will be a chance for fans to get close to the band.
Bellamy said that it will be a special moment for the band, and so they wanted to use the opportunity to support The Big Issue, as well as two charities that have been active in supporting victims of the conflict in Ukraine.
“These are the first shows we have done in a long time,” he added. “The first couple shows, coming back, we felt it would be appropriate to do fundraiser shows.”
Muse’s album Will of the People is out on August 26. They play two shows at London’s Eventim Apollo on May 9 and 10 in support of The Big Issue, Médecins Sans Frontières and War Child. muse.mu
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