Did you see the Devin Townsend Project at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, IL?

Please post your reviews, setlists, photos and video links here!

Thanks,

Mikey
hevydevy.com

We traveled from Kalamazoo, Michigan to see Devin in Chicago. It was a great show. We got to Lincoln Hall a little early and got to stand right by Devin's microphone. He is a great performer, and even gave my fiance and I a kiss on our heads. This is my second time seeing Devin on tour (the first time with BTBAM, cynic, scale the summit). Great show!

The "VIP" pre-show acoustic set was amazing. Dev took what could have easily been an awkward situation given the highly intimate setting--no joke, there were maybe 20 of us sitting 5-10 feet from him--and proved incredibly charismatic between songs in a setting that I'm not sure most could handle given the lack of the traditional artist/audience stage barrier. His acoustic was quietly amped with some serious ambient reverb/delay that could best be described as dreamlike. No vocal mic for this one and most of the songs were sung barely above a whisper. The experience was surreal and in stark contrast with his over-the-top stage performance. After the alternating song/q&a there was time for photos and autographs. My buddy brought the sleeve to his Infinity vinyl and Dev proceeded to make the otherwise anatomically incorrect photos of himself, well, correct. It was hysterical.

The normal show was spectacular. If there is someone out there with a more entertaining stage presence than Devin, I've never heard of them. At first the sound seemed quieter than I'd have liked, but I quickly realized that Dev and the sound guys are smarter than I am. The sound mix was great and it was nice to actually hear and comprehend vocals at a "metal" show. Now I'll admit I'm a bigger fan of Dev's earlier solo work (Ocean Machine, Infinity in particular) and of course I'd have liked to hear those albums get more space on the set list, but I'd be foolish to expect any different from what I got. That being said, the set was killer. We were treated to an impromptu song to start the encore which consisted of Dev saying "shut the fuck up," lowering the mic to his ass, and farting. Ladies and gentleman, my sensei in the art of staying young: Devin Townsend.

I've been waiting since Ocean Machine was released to see Dev headline his solo work--which until this point was #1 on my concert wishlist--and I now have the same odd feeling of satisfaction yet withdrawal I get when I finish a really great book. A 12-13 year wait is enough to do that, I guess.

Thanks, Dev. That made the highlight reel of my musical life.

The "VIP" pre-show acoustic set was amazing. Dev took what could have easily been an awkward situation given the highly intimate setting--no joke, there were maybe 20 of us sitting 5-10 feet from him--and proved incredibly charismatic between songs in a setting that I'm not sure most could handle given the lack of the traditional artist/audience stage barrier. His acoustic was quietly amped with some serious ambient reverb/delay that could best be described as dreamlike. No vocal mic for this one and most of the songs were sung barely above a whisper. The experience was surreal and in stark contrast with his over-the-top stage performance. After the alternating song/q&a there was time for photos and autographs. My buddy brought the sleeve to his Infinity vinyl and Dev proceeded to make the otherwise anatomically incorrect photos of himself, well, correct. It was hysterical.

The normal show was spectacular. If there is someone out there with a more entertaining stage presence than Devin, I've never heard of them. At first the sound seemed quieter than I'd have liked, but I quickly realized that Dev and the sound guys are smarter than I am. The sound mix was great and it was nice to actually hear and comprehend vocals at a "metal" show. Now I'll admit I'm a bigger fan of Dev's earlier solo work (Ocean Machine, Infinity in particular) and of course I'd have liked to hear those albums get more space on the set list, but I'd be foolish to expect any different from what I got. That being said, the set was killer. We were treated to an impromptu song to start the encore which consisted of Dev saying "shut the fuck up," lowering the mic to his ass, and farting. Ladies and gentleman, my sensei in the art of staying young: Devin Townsend.

I've been waiting since Ocean Machine was released to see Dev headline his solo work--which until this point was #1 on my concert wishlist--and I now have the same odd feeling of satisfaction yet withdrawal I get when I finish a really great book. A 12-13 year wait is enough to do that, I guess.

Thanks, Dev. That made the highlight reel of my musical life.

A powerhouse performance! Dev's energy was endless, the playing impeccable, and the crowd was jacked up. Deadhead was incredible as was Gaia. Like the previous reviewer; I've waited a long time for a headlining show. It was worth the wait. Dev also had a little gas. I count the days until the next tour. Devin gives me hope in an otherwise terrible music industry. It was worth 10 hours of driving. The one bummer was that there was a shortage of t-shirts. Thanks Devin!

I wrote out a big long review full of accolades and gushingly cheesy professions of love. But then I realized I could probably just sum the whole thing up in four words.

It kicked fucking ass.

I was there. My wife and I came down from north of Milwaukee and it was worth every mile of that haul. Work today is a little rough tho!I think I got 3 hours of bad sleep when all said n done.

It was my first time seeing Devin live in any capacity and I thought it was superb. The mix was almost perfect and there wasn't a bad 'seat' in the house. I swear my cheeks hurt from smiling for the whole show. Thanks, Devin for coming down from the stage and ripping a solo by all of us in the back of the room. That was killer! Gotta say though... I thought you'd bring a little more pain when you farted up the mic. It was a good college try though!

$15 tix & $20 shirts for an invaluable time.

Thanks

What an amazing experience. We arrived late (thanks, wife! - I'll be pissed about that for a while, but oh well), just in time to catch "Deadhead," arguably my favorite Devy tune (lately, anyway). The rest of the set was so good as to be surreal. Just wave after wave of crushing melody and hilarity. We embraced the beauty of absurdity, grinning the whole time, awash in music so lush you could almost scoop it out of the air with your hands.
I can't wait till next time.

Thanks Dev. That was awesome.

This was my 3rd time seeing Devin live, once with SYL and twice with DTP. I have to say this was, with no possible doubt in my mind, the best show I've seen you put on Devin. Wait no, this was best concert I've ever been to. Period. Pure bliss. like 11:11 said my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Everything about the show was perfect. The sound was amazing. I was standing right next to the subs on the left side of the room and I could still hear everything. The band as a whole was just spot effing on. Devin made me laugh so hard sometimes that I wanted to cry.

I love how much you interacted with all of us. The solo in the back of the room was just great. I think that speaks more to who you are as a musician than your technical superiority over the rest of the world. Even though I didn't get to be a part of it I though it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

The only thing I was would have been different would be that I still really wish I could at least get to shake Devin's hand and say thanks. I really wanted to stick around outside and try and catch him as he left but I was driving 3 other people 2 and a half hours back home and had to work at 7 am. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Thanks Devin!

I travelled up from St. Louis, got a friend to come with who'd never heard of Devy before (he likes Tool, etc. so it wasn't a stretch)

The venue was great for a metal show. Devy complained about not seeing the crowd very well, but I thought the ambience was great for this kind of music.

Tesseract was very good djent (Meshuggah-style) metal. Incredibly intense odd time signature stuff. I think I was the only one dancing to it but I'm into that style. The bass player had great stage presence, the singer actualy sang and was very gracious. Really did a good job of getting the crowd ready for Devy.

The "Ziltoid Radio" thing was fine, I was ready for it from reading about gigs on this forum. But everyone in the crowd was digging it, it was kind of a break in intensity between the two bands.

Maybe it was me, but there were issues with Devy's sound. He came out with "Addicted" and both his guitar and vocals were a bit low, but the sound guy corrected it. Devy never mentioned it and basically created an awesome show with the shear power of his personality. I was a few bodies back so didn't get to touch the Peavey "V" which is a f'ing awesome guitar, but almost...

By the time they got to "Supercrush" the whole crowd just sang along and it seemed like communal ecstasy. The sound was much more together by then, and I still have the song going in my head.

The sound still had little issues trying to mix the actual vocals with the background tapes, but it wasn't bad. It wasn't muddy at all, which is something I was worried about reading about other gigs. When Devy's voice and guitar were turned up, it was perfect.

I don't remember the whole setlist but it seemed to be a rearrangement of the standard list he'd done at other gigs. A bunch of us yelled for Earth Day but that didn't happen. Someone passed up a note and we got "Bad Devil" later in the set than other shows. We did get "Life" and "Gaia." The whole show was phenomenal, no low moments, but I agree with Deadhead as a highlight, and I'd add Deep Peace and Supercrush as other high points.

My friend walked out saying it was great show, I don't think I've ever taken someone to an artist cold and have them walk out totally sold like this occasion.

Devy was one of the last artists on my "must see" list and it was everything I hoped for. Can't wait for Decon and Ghost.

Arguably on of the best shows I've ever attended. I'm the fiance as mentioned above and getting a very light peck on my head from Devin was, well, remember-able. Being right up front made for a great time and experience. (quotations are not strictly accurate and may just be interpretations of what I remember)

Tesseract as the opener was quite a treat. I'd only heard bits a pieces online of who they were and was blown away by their performance. I feel they are a good starter for a guy like Devin with their intensity, presence, performance, musical style, and charisma. I picked up their album before I left and will have trouble putting it down for a while now! Oh, and a tesseract is a geometric object that is four-dimensional analog of the cube, perfect for those nerd-core DTP fans.

Between sets, the Ziltiod Radio bit was a lot of fun. It broke up the typically expected metal and other related bands that are supposed to "keep you pumped" for the coming act.

When Devin and the gang got to the stage, there was no sleep for the rest of the show. During his intro he yelled at some guy for touching his nipples, so I decided to appear to "play" with my fiance's nipples and he barked out "...and you don't play with her nipples either!!" His wit is comparable to most great comedians when it comes to dealing with the crowd and heckler's. He once asked what my watch said and then proceeded with his encore speech "If you don't make it worth my time to come back out, we're going to sulk. You don't want that now do you?"

I don't really remember all of the set, and there were quite a few songs I didn't know by name. I really enjoyed the the extended Ziltiod tracks. It is one of my favorite records and I even got a local DJ into it who does a weekly Sci-Fi radio program.

Another fun thing that happened to me was (i don't know when) Devin crouched down and just started staring at me it a peculiar way. I think I was zoning out a little but I just stared right back in a peculiar way as well. Once he got up and left my fiancee looked at me like "what was that about?" and we both started laughing for who knows how long. There was one guy who even reached over me at one point and pushed in Devin's nose and his reaction was hilarious.

All in all, this show was incredible. We had a three hour drive afterward which made for little sleep for work but it was worth it. I only own Addicted from the Project but hope to get more and can't wait until his next release and tours.