The British trio known as Muse had quite a fright last week, as the plane the group was preparing to travel on from the U.K. to Germany was forced to abort its flight after one of the engines erupted into flames during takeoff.

No one was injured in the incident at London City Airport, although Muse frontman Matthew Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme, and drummer Dominic Howard were all forced to abandon the Lear jet, which the pilot guided into the grassy area just adjacent to the runway. Muse, which issued its debut album, "Showbiz," last fall, was in London on February 1 to pick up the NME Premier Award for Best New Artist and was heading back to Germany to open for Bush at a concert at Hanover. After wrapping up its slot on the Bush tour, which concludes on March 4 in Lisbon, Portugal, Muse plans to return to the U.S. for its first extended tour since wowing audiences at last fall's CMJ Music Festival in New York City. To that end, the band

has just signed on to open the first half of the Red Hot Chili Peppers-Foo Fighters tour, beginning on March 24 in Minneapolis and continuing through an April 12 gig in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

3/24 - Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center

3/25 - Madison, WI @ Expo Center Coliseum

3/27 - Carbondale, IL @ SIU Arena

3/28 - Urbana, IL @ Assembly Hall

3/30 - Dayton, OH @ Ervin J. Nutter Center

3/31 - Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center

4/2 - Amherst, MA @ Mullins Center

4/3 - Albany, NY @ Pepsi Arena

4/5 - State College, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center

4/6 - Roanoke, VA @ Roanoke Civic Center

4/8 - Bloomington, IN @ Assembly Hall

4/9 - Lexington, KY @ Rupp Arena

4/10 - Knoxville, TN @ Thompson-Boling Arena

4/12 - Chattanooga, TN @ UTC Arena

Dates where you can catch Muse opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers-Foo Fighters double bill:

-- David Basham

What

do you think about this story? You Tell Us.