[swervedriver]

Well, France's setlist certainly had some surprises! Did you see the Devin Townsend Project at Substage in Karlsruhe?

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Thanks!

After two days of letting it sink in, here's my "blathering on about" the Karlsruhe show last Friday.

I should add that this was the first time I saw Devin live, because, even though I've been aware of him since the Vai days, I've only become a "proper" fan quite recently, through the "Retinal Circus", to be precise. If some of the things I adress in this text should be "old bollocks" or "been there, done that" to long term fans, please feel free to let me know.

First up, the choice of support bands was, IMHO, a bit odd. Shining worked really well for me - but not for the more "metal" part of the audience, which was obviously abit shocked by their mix of shouty, Refused-style Hardcore and rather free Jazz elements that came across as very intense and original. They only played 30 minutes, but about 75% of the audience were clearly not ready to give their music a chance. Shame really, to me they were a very positive surprise, a truly original and very energetic band.

A lot of visitors welcomed Periphery with open arms though. Yet, even though their set was musically perfect, their stage presence impeccable and lively and the songs clearly very tightly arranged with good melodies and enough power, I felt it was the sort of slick, supercool, MTV-styled music tailored towards cracking the Billboard charts that really didn't fit in with Devins (and Shinings) very individual approach to music.

I hadn't looked at the Paris setlist, I wanted to be surprised. And there were certainly a few of them. After the opening "Truth" we immediately got "Fallout", which is one of my favourites on Sky Blue. Sadly, Devin had to change the melody lines to fit his vocal range - as he told us afterwards, he's by now beginning to lose some of his upper range between tours. Kudos for still doing the song, but he looked very tense, stressed even, and I wouldn't be surprised if the song got dropped sometime during the tour. A lot of rarities throughout the set in the shape of "Namaste", "Storm" and "Night" (the latter nearly brought tears to my eyes), only two more songs from Z² and a great run of "hits" near the end (Life, Christeen, Ih-Ah, Kingdom) made for a very enjoyable show. The band was of course simply awesome as well, and Devin himself was most charming, natural and funny without "putting on a show". When he persuaded the audience to do "jazz hands" during the chorus of "Lucky Animals", it was amazing to realise that you were standing among about 700 people having the time of their lifes and wearing the hugest, silliest, happy grins on their faces. Whenever I get the feeling that Rock'n'Roll (in broad terms) may not be what it used to be might not be anymore and all a bit hopeless, I'll remember that moment... The only real downer was that the show only ran for about 75 minutes, which I think is way too short for a headlining artist with such a huge back catalogue and left a lot of fans, not only me, rather disappointed.

What really puzzled me though was how apologetic Devin seemed throughout the night. He held a long speech about how he just wanted to play some music on this tour, without playing the clown or catering to anyones expectations, then apologised for not dressing up for the show (he looked fantastic and healthy though) and for the set list not being "heavy" or "proggy" - which I found seriously baffling. Apart from a few lost causes I believe that everybody who came to see him on this tour was certainly aware that Devin isn't the same guy as he was in SYL anymore, and since there hasn't been much "proper" metal (in the sense of heavy, dark, aggressive music) in his last couple of albums, I suspect that there would have been even less metal guys if Periphery hadn't brought them in. And he promised to at least try to stop the "self-deprecating thing" - I never understood how or why in many interviews he would dismiss 75% of his outputs as "cheesy", particularly as there are millions of bands who can build an "extreme" metal tune out of a bunch of complicated riffs, but only a few who can make music that puts a smile on your face and yet still make you feel you're listening to a proper, talented artist who pours his soul into it.

Maybe it's finally time for Devin to step out of the very image-conscious "Metal" community, as I got the feeling that he really doesn't belong there anymore. The difference in attitude between Periphery and DTP was so huge, it was hard to believe. On one hand, the angsty, dark, complex music, the riffing and shouting that felt like a show put on for the kids in the audience, and on the other hand Devin, a grown-up, mature individual, simply playing some of the most awesome music ever written, being himself and yet radiating so much more charisma, integrity - and honesty.

Maybe I've strayed quite a bit from just commenting on the show, but a lot of what Devin said on the night amazed and partly baffled me, yet it definitely made me appreciate him and his art even more - and made me want to give him a - very heterosexual, very manly, but sincere nonetheless! - hug. He's probably lucky we didn't run into him after the show... I think I'll hug my brand new Ziltoid puppet instead.

First up, the choice of support bands was, IMHO, a bit odd. Shining worked really well for me - but not for the more "metal" part of the audience, which was obviously abit shocked by their mix of shouty, Refused-style Hardcore and rather free Jazz elements that came across as very intense and original. They only played 30 minutes, but about 75% of the audience were clearly not ready to give their music a chance. Shame really, to me they were a very positive surprise, a truly original and very energetic band and I ended up buying their last three LPs on the night.

A lot of visitors welcomed Periphery with open arms though. Yet, even though their set was musically perfect, their stage presence impeccable and lively and the songs clearly very tightly arranged with good melodies and enough power, I felt it was the sort of slick, supercool, MTV-styled music tailored towards cracking the Billboard charts that really didn't fit in with Devins (and Shinings) very individual approach to music.

I fucking love Shining. If Devin could tour North America with Shining, I would be happy. But I don't really understand the appeal behind Periphery. I guess they are commercially viable and everything, which makes sense. But a tour of "metal" madmen would include the likes of Devin, Shining, and maybe Melechesh or something. They all sound different from each other but are quite individualistic in their approach.