[Live Review] DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT (Brisbane)

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The HiFi, Brisbane
Thursday, October 10, 2013 :

Australian fans of Devin Townsend have been waiting a long 20 months since he last played here at the 2012 run of Soundwave Festival and the accompanying sidewaves with Meshuggah. Since those shows, Mr Townsend and his band Devin Townsend Project, released their Naked & Spiritual masterpiece, Epicloud.

The Brisbane crowd were highly anticipating the bands 1st Australian performance of the Epicloud world tour and Melbourne based band Toehider kicked off proceedings with a solid set of heavy rock; a ‘Motorhead meets Led Zeppelin’ kind of vibe. Donning a beanie and a cape, vocalist Mike Mills, evoked his superhero powers with an amazing array of high pitched howls that sent chills through the masses.

The main act shenanigans began even before Devin Townsend Project stepped onto the stage. A large screen behind the stage, with humorous viral YouTube clips and an ad lib from extraterrestrial Ziltoid, is played during soundcheck, lightening the mood of the anticipating crowd. A visibily very happy Townsend makes his way on stage, and the band open with their classic track ‘Truth’, from their 1998 album Infinity. Early material features early in the set with tracks ‘Regulator’ and ‘Christeen’, coming in after the opening track. Epicloud gets a run next, with three tracks from the latest album played in straight succession.

Townsend interacts with the crowd throughout the set with his interesting array of facial expressions and when one over excited punter yells out to him, he promptly replies “shut up dickhead” much to the crowds amusement. Mid set features material from their 2009-2011, four album series and a mix of tracks from Infinity. Townsend also throws in a guitar duel with Ziltoid, consisting of some sweet sweep picking arpeggios, proving that he is no slouch when it comes to shredding.

Another barrage of Epicloud songs, ‘Liberation’, ‘Grace’, ‘Heatwave’ and ‘Funny Animals’ are played with no let down, before the staple favourite of many a Townsend fan, ‘Vampira’, concludes the epic 19 song set for the evening.

Photographer/Reviewer: Davey Rintala

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3 thoughts on “[Live Review] DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT (Brisbane)

  1. What a nothing review.
    Failed to mention the continued technical difficulties that plagued the night, causing the band to stop mid-song numerous times
    The show was nothing like the epic performances of the “Retinal Circus” Live DVD/Cd that he’s promoting at the moment (no female vocals, no keyboards or extras, just the four piece band with backing-tracks)
    Also, they didn’t finish on Vampira. You clearly left before the encores.

    1. I have been to many concerts and I have never walked away from one as inspired and ecstatic as I have from The Devin Townsend Project at The Hi-Fi. His showmanship and energy was infectious and more than made up for a couple of glitches. If anything his ability to roll with the minor (and they were minor) imperfections made the night more memorable. A great set spanning many great songs (the pathos of Grace or Kingdom were immense, Lucky Animals with jazz hands made me smile from ear to ear and to roar with Juular left me hoarse). To top it all off a visibly exhausted Devin mustered up more energy at the end of the night to meet many fans, chat with them, sign autographs and buddy up for photos. He is now my benchmark for what is a great musician and person. Thanks for a great evening Devin and band.

    2. Yeah I was expecting at least a mention of the tech difficulties and fuck ups but nothing… pretty biased review on the authors part…

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