Devin Townsend -- St. Paul, MN -- October 8th, 2011

[electrocute1031]

Originally Posted by mastodon421

That setlist is insane. Too bad he is getting shafted when he comes to MA at Rock and Shock with a 45 minute set and a (mostly) shitty lineup. Hopefully, he will back soon.

+1

holy shit regulator, christeen, vampira, life, bad devil, kingdom (even though he's played it everytime i've seen him) man devin always puts together incredible sets.

[ShatteredFlame]

Regulator, Christeen, and Vampira are new. The rest I'm pretty sure I've all seen. I'm surprised the set isn't more DTP material focused by now.

[dcmetal108]

I want to go but I work that day.

On a side note if you shaved your head you and him would look just about alike.

[ChildrenofSodom]

Fuck. I bought tickets to the Columbus show because I figured something being billed as "The Devin Townsend Project" would play more than 3 songs from the 4 albums that I absolutely love. I am complete unfamiliar with any of the DT Band and Devin Townsend albums. This is going to be fun....

[MPF]

Originally Posted by endless_pain

Great set! How was the crowd? Was it pretty packed? Station 4 was sold out back in July but, I think there were a lot of meatheads there to see Bodom. It would be nice to be in a crowd that was mainly there for Devy.

I'll say this before I write my review. The first band it was half packed, 2nd band no one was really around, 3 band it was fully pakced, more so then COB.

Originally Posted by ChildrenofSodom

Fuck. I bought tickets to the Columbus show because I figured something being billed as "The Devin Townsend Project" would play more than 3 songs from the 4 albums that I absolutely love. I am complete unfamiliar with any of the DT Band and Devin Townsend albums. This is going to be fun....

You know you could...just putting it out there....CHECK OUT HIS OTHER MUSIC!

It's Devin fucking Tonwsned, why would he not play music that would be under his name? Any real fan knows that the DTP is just a name and that he showcases all from his solo work. Come on Guy, you're missing out on some of his best work. Check it out.



Now onto the review

[MPF]

Alrighty.

My bassist and I showed up at Station 4 about 20 minutes before 5 (when the doors were to open) right before I got into line I saw Ryan Van Poderooyen (Dev's drummer) I quickly shook his hand and then went back to line.

Doors opened at 5:10, not too bad all things considered. Especially the Zombie Pub Crawl that was going on at the time...more on that later.

There was a shitton of great merchandise. My favorite being a brown shirt that said DEVIN in disco lettering with Dev riding a tricycle. The only reason I didn't buy it is because I had 6 bucks cash on me. I don't know the prices of the Merch. I'm guessing 20-25 for shirts, probably $20. All I remember was that wristbands were 8.

The first band up was a local band called Defeating The Pacifist. There were one giant breakdown, with no bassist for 20 minutes. during the last song the singer tried being ironic and played some Saxaphone by putting his mic inside of it. 3 seconds later the sound guy shut off his mic. When he realized this he just took the mic back out and started playing just the mouthpiece as if he thought "Hey, John Zorn can do it, so can I."......no.....you can't. How the fuck did a group of Deathcore teenagers with no bassist get to open for Hevy Devy? it's not right.

The next band up was another local band called Zebulon Pike, They were fucking amazing! Its as if back in 73-74 Sabbath and Rush made an instrumental band. They played 3 very long songs (over 10 minutes at least) and 1 short 5 minute song. I am a new supporter of these guys and the crowd who was around for these guys are as well.

Then came the Almighty Hevy Devy. I have been waiting since 2005 when I bought Strapping Young Lad's Alien to see Devin live, and of course wanting to see him headline a show. Back in July I saw him open for Children Of Bodom, and that made my life. Seeing him headline made my life complete.

Before he got on stage he had Ziltoid radio as the PA music playing the...um...."Best." in pop music. Beyonce, Britney Spears, Abba, Lou Vega. It was fucking hilarious.

Then there was a short Ziltoid speech before Dev and Co. came on stage with Truth. He played songs I figured I was never going to hear, Regulator, Vampira, etc. It was fucking awesome. Dev was hilarious between every song, and during every song. During By Your Command, some asshole jumped up on stage and took a picture with Devin then did a stage dive. For the rest of the song where he ad-libs Dev just made fun of him.

near the end of the set. Dev made it feel like an 80's Glam Metal show with all the cliches and taking breaks and all that traditional stuff you expect from a band now, and making fun of it. Ending with Deep Peace was one of the greatest moments of my life, as Terria is my favori9te album of all time. and Deep Peace has always been one of my favorite songs.

Of course there are songs I would have loved to have heard, The Mighty Masturbator, Earth Day, Bend It Like Bender (I wanted to go on stage and Dance damn it!) but honestly with a set like this, how can you honestly complain? It was everything. And they are coming back next year.

Of course as always with the shows I go to, the fun doesn't start till after the show is done. I tried to get the setlist, but the security guards were pushing everyone out because of the Zombie Pub Crawl (usually Station 4 lets people stay as long as they want, if they are over 21). but after 2 failed attempts, one of the raadies called me back over, against security guards attempts and handed me Beav's setlist.

after 15 minutes of trying not to die from the heat (Yes it is October, but it's in the 80's every day here lately). My bassist and I went over to the bus and waited for a bit. Found a nice curb to sit on and got to relax. Once we looked to our right, we saw Dev signing autographs and taking pictures, so we went right over. I waited till almost everyone is done because I wanted to talk to him for a bit. But he really did look like he needed some sleep so I just asked for an autograph and a quick picture. I did also want him to do a Station ID for my show, which I know he would have done without question, but from everyone talking to him and all he did, I figured that would be asking a bit too much for one night. I will next time!

Before we left I wanted to talk with RVP one more time. I've known him since 2005 and we both felt bad that there want one single MN show before July with Children Of Bodom, so we try to hang out after the show even if for a few minutes. I waited till he was out of Station 4 and he immediately shook my hand and thanked me for coming out. We shot the shit a little bit, and all of 2012 is pretty much up in the air right now, but they are most likely going back on the road in Summer 2012 after Dev is done recording Epicloud. We took a quick picture then he immediately went on the bus. Which I totally understand. Station 4, while my favorite venue in Minnesota, is the hottest places to stand/play for 4 hours. It sucks, but it's all worth it.

So there you go, my night of Hevy Devy!

[InFlamesOfBirchmen]

You lucky bastard.

I know I'm in a minority, but Addicted is my favorite DTP album, so I'm glad he kept Supercrush in there.

[ShatteredFlame]

Originally Posted by InFlamesOfBirchmen

I know I'm in a minority, but Addicted is my favorite DTP album

i would think that's most people's favorite, including non-Towsend fans

[daimonos]

Ocean Machine is more than likely my favorite Devin Townsend album. Terria is definitely near the top, along with Synchestra. I love all of them really. I've been spending the last day trying to figure out how I would rank the DTP albums in comparison to each other, and I'm finishing up listening to all four of them right now, and I couldn't even tell you which one I like the most, or least.

I like them all for different reasons, because they're all different. Every album he's ever released. That's why it's so hard to put numbers on them.

[ChildrenofSodom]

Originally Posted by MPF

You know you could...just putting it out there....CHECK OUT HIS OTHER MUSIC!

It's Devin fucking Tonwsned, why would he not play music that would be under his name? Any real fan knows that the DTP is just a name and that he showcases all from his solo work. Come on Guy, you're missing out on some of his best work. Check it out.

I downloaded his discography a month ago but I've been too busy to given ALL of his albums a proper listen. I've mostly had his DTP stuff on repeat because its so good/newer.

I'm not saying I don't like his other stuff, I just haven't listened to it enough to let it grow on me.