Muse: Milton Keynes National Bowl hosts first gig in seven years

A music venue described as a "cultural icon" has held its first concert in seven years, but had a number of complaints about parking problems.

British band Muse played at the 65,000-capacity National Bowl in Milton Keynes on Sunday, which has previously hosted rock royalty such as Queen and Oasis.

Some concertgoers told BBC Three Counties Radio about traffic issues and pre-paid parking being oversubscribed.

A venue representative said there was "learning" to be had from the show.

Ticketholder Steve Screech told the BBC he missed the start of the show, including support act Royal Blood.

He said: "About 16:00 BST, only about three miles (5km) from the venue, we hit some traffic and thought 'fair enough'. But three hours later we'd only moved half a mile (800 metres)."

Mr Screech said he eventually decided to park in a residential area before "legging it" to the venue.

MK Dons chairman Mr Winkelman, who is director of a consortium developing the bowl, said there was "learning" to be had, adding: "I'm hugely embarrassed by it [the parking issues]."

"There are various reasons. I apologise, but I don't want to take anything away from what was an amazing thing.

"The bowl is important in Milton Keynes, it's one of our cultural icons and you can see from last night why it's that."

Muse were supported by Royal Blood and The Warning and treated tens of thousands of fans to a hit-packed set, including Supermassive Black Hole, Time is Running Out and Knights of Cydonia.

The open-air amphitheatre was built in 1973 and held its last concert in 2016.

League Two side MK Dons have permission to develop two full-sized training pitches at the venue later this year, with plans to still hold concerts at the site in future.

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