Is Muse Playing at the Rickshaw Stop on Friday? Facebook Says Yes, Promoter Says No

Muse: Apparently not playing the Rickshaw on Friday.

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Those of you watching the lineup for this year's Outside Lands night shows may have noticed a little bit of interesting verbiage for Friday's bill at the Rickshaw Stop. The lineup is advertised as Vetiver, Extra Classic and "surprise special guest TBA."

Who might that special guest be?

The Facebook page of Muse, the British rock giants who are playing the headlining set at Outside Lands on Saturday, says they're playing that venue on that date. The show is listed right there under Muse's tour dates for anyone who "likes" them to see: Aug. 12 at the Rickshaw in S.F.

For band that normally plays arenas -- and headlined Glastonbury last year in the place of U2 -- a small club show in S.F. would be a very, very special thing.

But officials at Another Planet, the Bay Area firm copromoting Outside Lands and presenting Friday's show at the Rickshaw, says Muse isn't the special guest.

"It's definitely not Muse," marketing director Danielle Madeira told SF Weekly.

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Which, if true, officially makes that Facebook posting an epic letdown. Even though we're not the biggest Muse fans (surprise!), seeing a band that big -- in all senses -- at a club show would be pretty nuts.

Official word indicates this won't happen. We called Madeira to double-check after hearing a tip and seeing the show listed on Muse's Facebook page. She was skeptical.

"I would doubt that," she told SF Weekly about Muse being the special guest. "I have not heard anything about that."

She called us back a few minutes later and said that she had spoken with Muse's manager, and that the band has no plans to play Friday at the Rickshaw Stop, "unless Matt [Bellamy] decides to show up and grab a drink and call that a show." She said the band's manager wasn't sure why that date was posted on its Facebook page.

"We know who the special guest is, but it's not Muse," Madeira said of Friday's show. "We're trying to get to the bottom of why that's up there."

Curious how this all happened? Us too -- and we can't help holding out a smidgen of hope that Muse might actually play the Rickshaw, as unlikely as that seems. (Tickets are still on sale -- at $15 -- if you want to hedge your bets.) We'll update this post if we find out any more.

Update, Wednesday, 10:51 a.m.: Muse's publicist says the band's Facebook page was hacked, and that's why the Rickshaw date appeared there. Which just goes to show what disappointing messes hackers can make.

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