They were supposed to be but we had a technical hitch...which kinda sucked because it took a lot of effort to set up the gag! Never mind though; on the plus side I wanted the mouths to move but the logistics of putting it into the build was too time-consuming, except we accidentally managed to do it anyway. So swings and roundabouts love

...In your opinion.

Yes... it was my opinion. Does that really need to be stated? A: No.

Obviously your post and what it contained is 100% more correct than other authors individual experience and subjective opinion of the show. Apologies for not realising this sooner.

Pick which you feel is most appropriate:
A) Are you saying there would be a problem if it was correct over other peoples interpretations? or perhaps...
B) Are you saying it's impossible for my interpretation to be better or more accurate than others? That other peoples are so great and with it that - mine could clearly never have anything over and above, or add an extra/new angle to that? or perhaps...
C) My interpretation of events is upsetting and unsettling your own thoughts and feelings on the matter ? And stopping them being 100% amazing and great and happy?

Again, you're clearly an expert and your "ratings" are the be-all-and-end-all judgement of how it good or bad the show was. Instead of (probably unintentionally) coming off as a bit of an entitled/elitist tit and instead of utilising the "you can agree with me and be wrong" approach, get over it.

Obviously I didn't say that but - your need to focus on this particular aspect is good for my own personal sense of self worth, as you are clearly feeling under mental attack of some kind by this slightly emotional outpouring?

If it would make you feel any better - you are welcome to perform your own detailed review with ratings figures also. Although I suspect the process may bore you.

Perfection is subjective

I disagree for the most part.

Individual definition differs. You must deserve far more than the rest of us.

Perhaps I do. Or perhaps I just want to see him keep improving - which is less likely to happen if every fan and sound engineer alike is shouting something along the lines of: "YAAAAAAY, THAT WAS AMAZING, BWEEST SHOW EVAA!!!".

Now imagine you worded this better and actually made a constructive or remotely useful comment here and imagine how much more improved your overall standpoint could all be.

Now you're just entering truly pure emotional, reactionary mode for the hell of it, and everyone knows this not true. We have cures for that though - although I doubt the forum will permit all of them as it tends to work like an exorcism.

who wanted to hear those tracks live shouldn't be able to because it wasn't what you would've picked? You'd prefer a full run of Decon/SYL etc again? 'respecting'? Ironic.

Again - like the other person who had a disagreeable reply, you haven't been paying attention to the details of what I've said about what tracks I thought could have actually been played instead. Which is a bit funny given this will be only my 3rd post on the matter, and yet you have already provided quite a detailed and assertive response at this early stage, whilst simultaneously missing the very details of my own points you are attempting to address in your response.

Jesus...I hope the view is great from that high horse you're on.

The view is grand and mighty. And the sound is very good too.

As an established artist, he absolutely would have played that set for the fans if he asked them for their input on the setlist. It was intended to give the fans what they wanted. Not explicitly you.

Stating the obvious - albeit incorrectly. As a fan, I am entitled to my input on it, and if I was around and thought I could speak on the matter, I probably would have said that set-list does NOT look ideal for the context of the venue, and please abandon. Maybe there are some other fans lurking around who would agree.

I'm sorry if it wasn't to your taste, but you don't speak for all of those in attendance. I love the crushing heavy tracks as much as anyone else, but they don't exactly completely dominate his back catalogue,

A lot of the super aggressive stuff has been largely absent from his shows for a long time now

I think you are failing to see the grey area here so I will try again.

The Set-list, wasn't entirely NOT to my taste - I just think it could have been IMPROVED a fair deal.

I could easily listen to that whole set-list and pay to see it anywhere - but I would rather see it unplugged or in some smaller venue. I think the Royal Albert Hall is for showcasing a wide-variety of the best - and he didn't entirely do that in the second half, thanks to the fan-list.

Crushing was the wrong choice of word by me - and if you see my list of suggested alternative tracks, they hardly count as "crushing." E.g. Triumph.

I appreciate you're a big fan, SilenceHarmsYourEars; but it ain't Olympic diving mate! Just enjoy the show for what it is, if you didn't like the setlist then that's unfortunate for you, I think the rest of the crowd quite enjoyed it.

Again, you are coming from a perspective of thinking and assuming I have HUGE, EXCEPTIONALLY high standards that are extremely hard or impossible to meet. Which would not necessarily be a bad thing at all.

But to set things straight again, I am informing those who disagree - that this is not the case. And that It is in fact a majority, non-professional mindset whose standards are stuck down with mediocre standards, and would rather not be too critical or "create a stir" in their minds than look for ways to improve things, and make the issue known.

So I repeat: I did enjoy it, else I would not have taken all the footage - it just could have been better, quit a deal better. That is my opinion, and I am entitled to it. But you aren't going to change my mind with non-intellectual arguments like "It's waz AWWEZSSOMZE man... why u creatin a fusss... just relaaaaaaaax and enjoy it maaaaan!!" (exaggeration obviously.)

I'm not chucking you non-intellectual arguments, I'll admit I'm being defensive but you have to bare in mind this wasn't Iron Maiden, Cirque du Soleil or Les Miserables; it was totally new territory for a group of people who worked way harder than they had to, to actualise a piece of art. Time and finances are limited (with an emphasis on the former) and learning curves are apparent every single step of the way in order to make the next show even better. I'm not saying you should suppress anything you didn't like from the show, there were many things in Retinal that I didn't like which I made clear- but do acknowledge that big production is still a work in progress for the band and simply saying "it could have been better" without understanding the true complexity of putting the show together in such a short amount of time feels a little coarse. Basically what I'm saying is; if there were genuine issues with the show, then the crew will definitely be aware of it as those issues will not be there at the next show. So like, easy tiger.

They were supposed to be but we had a technical hitch...which kinda sucked because it took a lot of effort to set up the gag! Never mind though; on the plus side I wanted the mouths to move but the logistics of putting it into the build was too time-consuming, except we accidentally managed to do it anyway. So swings and roundabouts love

Bahahaha! My comment was entirely not serious and referring to the Poozers as characters on the album, and how they power their space travel, as I've pondered this deep and philosophical question since the release. All in an attempt to lighten the mood round here. I am now highly amused at the fact that this was considered and what exactly that may have entailed.

Mood lightening failed

You can still save it! Frankly it's no bother because it was just a little extra effect which didn't trigger in time for one scene but it wasn't necessary and absolutely no one noticed...But like I said, the lads got the mouths to move which was absolutely lightyears more cool and they were amazing performing in them- got the sheepish, lost little toddler feel down to the T.

I'm not chucking you non-intellectual arguments, I'll admit I'm being defensive but you have to bare in mind this wasn't Iron Maiden, Cirque du Soleil or Les Miserables; it was totally new territory for a group of people who worked way harder than they had to, to actualise a piece of art. Time and finances are limited

Again: I am aware of what it is, smaller teams compared to Iron Maiden, hard work that goes in, complexity etc, so I am not discrediting that. Obviously it takes a lot of work to get that right but -

With guitars, it is to my knowledge more or less purely a case of turning a knob or 2 up - which happened in the 2nd half. So why the 2nd half, after an entire hour? And it's not going to be much different for the backing tracks I would have thought.

That does not require a team of specialist to do. It requires 1 or 2 people at best with some critical skills in front of the band, or at the back sitting with the audience to then buzz through and say: This needs turning up immediately.

We are now in 2015, so you would have thought after hundreds of shows, if not thousands, that the DTP would have got FIRMLY on top of such poop - no matter the venue. So that in itself is another reason it's worth mentioning.

BTW on another note, those Poozer puppet things were done very good.

[Octillus]

A+ usage. Stuck the landing and timed appropriately.


Considering the end of Ocean Machine is my favorite thing he's ever done, I'm jealous.

Can't speak to the production - definitely wasn't there, but I do know that Dev typically sounds best in a smaller club environment - I'm sure it was pretty fantastic some quibbles aside. As a creative myself, I'm often of the mindset that perfection is never achieved and everything's a work in progress.

Violet, your space genitalia always makes me smile.

With guitars, it is to my knowledge more or less purely a case of turning a knob or 2 up - which happened in the 2nd half. So why the 2nd half, after an entire hour? And it's not going to be much different for the backing tracks I would have thought.

That does not require a team of specialist to do. It requires 1 or 2 people at best with some critical skills in front of the band, or at the back sitting with the audience to then buzz through and say: This needs turning up immediately.

We are now in 2015, so you would have thought after hundreds of shows, if not thousands, that the DTP would have got FIRMLY on top of such poop - no matter the venue. So that in itself is another reason it's worth mentioning.

If you can do a better job, then by all means go for it and see how far you get.

With guitars, it is to my knowledge more or less purely a case of turning a knob or 2 up - which happened in the 2nd half. So why the 2nd half, after an entire hour? And it's not going to be much different for the backing tracks I would have thought.

That does not require a team of specialist to do. It requires 1 or 2 people at best with some critical skills in front of the band, or at the back sitting with the audience to then buzz through and say: This needs turning up immediately.

We are now in 2015, so you would have thought after hundreds of shows, if not thousands, that the DTP would have got FIRMLY on top of such poop - no matter the venue. So that in itself is another reason it's worth mentioning.

If you can do a better job, then by all means go for it and see how far you get.

Sorry to barge in like this, but, dear SilenceHarmsYourEars, your posts read like those of 14 year old Doctor Who or Star Wars fans rambling about "if I were in command, my show would be so much better than it is". Or, in this context, "If I were Devin, I'd be much better at it than himself ".

So, it wasn't what you wanted or expected? Tough luck, but it was what Devin wanted. You're free to not like it, but by trying to patronise Devin effin' Townsend (of all artists!) on a DT forum (of all places!) ... well, let's say it doesn't make you look like a competent professional, but quite a bit like a seriously delusional wannabe.

This gig was awesome, and I thought that the sound was also amazing. I've never been to a gig where it has sounded so perfect and exactly how I thought it should. It was so loud that I could feel it yet everything was clear and it didn't hurt my ears or leave me wanting earplugs. Just like I thought standing in the middle of the arena at the Royal Albert Hall should sound!

My only complaint is that they took our tickets away on the way in and when we came out I couldn't find anybody to get one back from . I collect all my tickets too and this one would take pride of place on my wall

Does anybody have a scan or flat photo of their tickets so I can print it out and pretend!

i've got mine in perfect condtion buts from circle

So, it wasn't what you wanted or expected? Tough luck, but it was what Devin wanted.

Again: Another user and citizen of the modern age, struggling to fathom the critical, struggling to see that grey area. It wasn't that, and it wasn't the total opposite either. It was IN THE GREY AREA on this particular point. You do know what that means don't you?

As for Devin - as I say, he sounded somewhat nervous when he announced the final 3-4 Biomech tracks. I'm not Devin to speak for him but - I am very good with psychology and people, and I'm fairly confident he was nervous about the choice of set-list.

Devin may be more on the jolly-side of wanting to please everyone at the hands of an increasingly decaying Western civilisation but - I'm sure he still has a large amount of critical left enough to know that the masses do not know what is best about anything - and that rocket scientists like him are in the minority.

You would do well to learn the true meaning of "patronize".

Sorry to barge in like this, but, dear SilenceHarmsYourEars, your posts read like those of 14 year old Doctor Who or Star Wars fans rambling about "if I were in command, my show would be so much better than it is".

Please barge in - the more the merrier. Most of those fans actually do have better ideas and would make better movies than the directors. And I literally did make the sound better - or least me and whoever else pointed out the guitar issue. See below post.

It was so loud that I could feel it yet everything was clear and it didn't hurt my ears or leave me wanting earplugs.

Well perhaps you are not so sensitive to the details of things. We required ear plugs to protect our 'ickle ears.

If you can do a better job, then by all means go for it and see how far you get.

The proof is in the pudding as we say here. I can indeed do a better job of turning up a lever of 2, and I did... having instructed the sound blokes and witnessing the improvement.

And at least 2 have commented here on the improved sound as a result

Nice pics! So which one was Tracy? The redhead , I assume?

@silenceharmsyourearms: I seriously doubt you (some random fan) telling the soundboard guys (professionals) to fix the guitar levels actually made them change anything. no offense to you, but let's be realistic. as for your complaints with the setlist, it's great that you didn't enjoy it as much as others. nothing wrong with having differing opinions and expressing them here, that's what a message board is for. But please don't act like your opinion holds value over everyone else's. Funeral is one of my all-time favorite Dev songs and TDOM was also a song I always thought would be cool to hear live (so jealous of all of you that could go!). So just because you and a few others were a bit disappointed, doesn't mean it was wrong of Dev to play these songs. I'm sure his "nervousness" was due to the fact that they've never played them live before the previous warm-up show. It would be impossible to please everyone - I thought the choice of Lucky Animals (one of his worst songs ever) was odd, and deadhead I can do without, but that's my opinion. What makes Devin's music so great is the vast diversity in styles. Everyone stop bashing Silence for having a different opinion; Silence - stop acting so high and mighty. now everyone play nice