Dev confirmed on Facebook a day or two ago that (Norwegian) Shining will be supporting him on his Finland dates in March. Now, I'm not overly familiar with the process any artist (including Devin) goes through in choosing/booking support acts for when they're on tour, but I think it'd be ridiculously awesome if he could bring Shining with him to the states, should he tour again here this year. I've only been a fan for a few months, but I literally bought Blackjazz after only hearing two songs off it... and, believe me, the album didn't disappoint. Fantastic, fantastic group, IMO; them opening for Townsend would just about be the greatest concert ever. To my knowledge, they haven't yet toured outside of Europe, so this might be the only way I could see them live for a long while...

They're definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but would any other American fans be interested in seeing this happen?

Um, yes I would be quite interested. I just listened to Blackjazz today after not hearing it for months and forgot how good it was. Here's a link to what we can expect from Shining

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqn2QMD3ZSE

I saw them in November. Most mental thing I've seen. I really enjoyed seeing Munkeby tune his E string down to B in the middle of a song and up again, lolz. It's like... give freejazz musicians distortion pedals = Shining. Keyboard guy runs his keys through a few guitar pedals and an amp, drummer does "jazzblasts" instead of blast beats

great band. I really was stunned when I heard they are going to open for the DTP in finland and wished, they would do so on all European dates. but I'm afraid there's no chance...

best wishes to those who are concerned that Shining will make it to the states.

I saw them in November. Most mental thing I've seen. I really enjoyed seeing Munkeby tune his E string down to B in the middle of a song and up again, lolz. It's like... give freejazz musicians distortion pedals = Shining. Keyboard guy runs his keys through a few guitar pedals and an amp, drummer does "jazzblasts" instead of blast beats

Haha, jazzblasts

The middle secti- er, freakout in 'The Madness and the Damage Done' would definitely be a prime example of that. If I need something seriously demented to listen to (like absolutely nothing else) I'll either put that on, or 'Exit Sun'... both are awesome songs. And, yeah, it's probably futile to hope for them to come to the states (in ANY way shape or form... let alone with Devin), but a dude can dream, right?