Post your reviews, photos or videos of Dev's shows here! All tour dates included
#284965 by swervedriver
Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:20 pm
Did you see the Devin Townsend Project at the Black Sheep in Colorado Springs?

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

Thanks!
#285015 by sylkicks
Sat Oct 22, 2011 8:33 am
Well here I am, sitting in a hotel room. I saw Devin Townsend last night. One of the things that was easily on my top 5 things I needed to do in my lifetime is accomplished. Words can't express how I'm feeling right now, it was beyond any and all of my expectations. It's just incredible. But anyway, seeing as how I'm typing this on an iPod touch which is kind of a bitch, I'll wait until I get home to tell the entire tale. Many words will fly at you. But in the meantime, here's the setlist:

Truth
Om
By Your Command
Deadhead
The Way Home! (fuckin awesome)
Earth Day
Supercrush!
Kingdom
Stand
Juular
Bad Devil

Heaven Send (holy shhhhhiiiitttttt)
Vampira

Mo fuckin' awesome setlist. Was really hoping for Seventh Wave or Regulator but I CANNOT complain. Anyway, expect a complete rundown in a few hours...
#285333 by devious_mischievous
Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:09 pm
I finally wrote up a blog entry about seeing Devin live (twice) and meeting him. Here's the link (http://dementia-divine.tumblr.com/post/11932370962/post-28-the-devin-townsend-experience , but I'll also copy and paste my experience here. :D

Note: This includes my experiences at the Colorado Springs show as well as the Denver show!

Another Note: This is the first time I was up front for a metal show since 10/9/10, which was the first time I had seen Devin live. I got hit by a car while standing on the sidewalk in Seattle the day after that show ( :shock: ) , and I usually choose not to be in the crowd at metal shows because of the back pain I have from that accident.

Warning: It is very long. :P

It’s been a few days since I saw Devin Townsend live (twice), and the reason I haven’t written about my experience before now is because I wanted to do it properly (ie. have photos to share, not be dead tired, etc).

Hmm. Where to begin?

I saw Devin Townsend twice last week. I had a VIP ticket for the show in Colorado Springs (at the Black Sheep on 10/21/11), and a regular ticket for the show in Denver (at the Marquis Theater on 10/22/11).

Around 3:00 in the afternoon on October 21st, I decided to call the venue to ask when the meet and greet would be. The email I had received from the ticketing company said to be there an hour prior, but I wanted to be sure. It turned out that it was a really good thing that I had called: I found out that the band’s bus had broken down 130 miles from the venue, and that the people at the venue had to go and get them, so I was told that the meet and greet might actually be after the show, and they really weren’t sure what time it would be because of the situation.

We showed up at the venue around 6:30, and there weren’t very many people there at the time. The doors were supposed to open to everyone at 8, but didn’t open up to everyone until around 8:30. There were only nine of us with VIP tickets, and we ended up going into the venue for the meet and greet at 7:30. We stood around for a bit, the manager explained what had happened, and we ended up being called up one by one to receive the merchandise that came with our VIP packages. (The merch was: a Devin Townsend Project drawstring bag, a VIP tour t-shirt, a VIP laminate on a DTP lanyard, a huge tour poster, and a Ziltoid puppet).

The Ziltoid puppets that were supposed to come with VIP packages weren’t there at first - we were told that they were supposed to be available for the tour, but were stuck in customs for two weeks and that we would either receive them later on or via mail. They ended up arriving when we were meeting with Devin (who was really excited to see them), so we were among the first people to receive Ziltoid puppets, bitches!

Meeting Devin was absolutely AMAZING. I feel like this is an understatement. He really makes it seem like you are doing him a personal favor by being there. When he came out to see us, he shook everyone’s hands. He was more than happy to sign anything. I ended up getting my Ziltoid, Ki, Addicted, Deconstruction, Ghost, and The Calm and The Storm covers signed. I had my tour poster signed as well (and it’s signed by Ryan and Dave, too)! In the end, he was looking for more things to sign: he wrote “I LOVE MY MOM” on the back of someone’s VIP shirt, and drew some things on the poster tubes, including: Ziltoid, Ziltoid having a staring contest with a cat, a cheeseburger, a femur, and what was originally supposed to be a hamster in a truck, but turned out to be a dog instead. (I didn’t have my poster tube drawn on, which is actually a good thing, because it’s not exactly in the greatest condition after going through the baggage claim at the airport).

When we met Devin, someone asked him if he was going to release Z2, and he said yes, definitely, but he doesn’t know what he’ll end up releasing next. He said that he has lots of material and ideas, but that he hasn’t found a theme to connect some of them yet. For example, he said that the theme for Terria developed around the song “Mountain,” and that, for Ghost, it was “Heart Baby.” When he was asked about the demo song that was playing in the background of a recent video he posted on YouTube, he said that it was from Epicloud. (I definitely hope that it ends up being released). He asked if there were any songs we were looking forward to hear, and someone asked about “Storm.” He said that he actually could play it if he weren’t missing a few things, with one of them being his voice after doing nine shows in a row.

Since there were only nine of us, the meet and greet was very intimate. At one point, we all crowded around Devin’s MacBook to see the puppet show he had been working on for the London shows. It featured Ziltoid for president, and I can’t wait to see the final product!

Zach and I had someone take a photo of us with Devin and our Ziltoid puppets, and while I think I look like crap in it, I’ll post it anyway for the sheer awesomeness of everything else in the picture:

Image

When the meet and greet was over, Devin shook everyone’s hands again before leaving. He is an amazing person: he’s very nice and down to earth. I’m so glad to have met him. :]

When the meet and greet was over, I went to the stage (although nobody else was), because I really wanted to get a spot at the front and center of the stage. I briefly left my spot to look at the merchandise, but decided that I’d deal with that after the show and promptly returned to my place.

I didn’t enjoy the opening bands, although that’s no surprise, as I rarely ever do. The first band was a local band from Colorado Springs called Malachi, and the other band, The Ocean, was from Switzerland.

I saw Devin Townsend in Seattle last year, and before the show, Devin had terrible pop songs from the 90s playing in the venue. This happened to be the case this time as well, but this time, Ziltoid was the ‘dj,’ so it we got to hear a few words and insults from Ziltoid in between the songs. :p I can’t remember all of the songs, but I do remember “Barbie Girl” by Aqua being played, as well as “Single Ladies” by Beyonce, some song by Gwen Stefani, and “Mambo #5,” although I don’t remember who made that song anymore. :p

Meanwhile, photo-shopped pictures with some of Devin’s hilarious facial expressions were playing on the screen, most of which I had already seen on his forum, but it was neat to see them again and to see people’s reactions.

Before the band came out onto the stage, Ziltoid appeared on the screen dancing to a familiar-sounding song that I don’t know the name of, and afterward, we got to see some takes of Ziltoid rambling and throwing out some insults. It was hilarious. Between the pop songs, photo-shopped pictures, and hilarity from Ziltoid, my cheeks really hurt from laughing before the show even started!

I was actually surprised that Devin did not open with “Addicted,” because he opened with that song when I saw him in Seattle last year, and I think it’s a great opener. Here’s the setlist from the Colorado Springs show (“Kingdom” wasn’t actually played - the show started rather late because of the bus dilemma earlier that day, and I’d rather have that song cut than anything else on the setlist):

Image

This was the second time that “The Way Home” was played live, and I am SOOOO glad that we got “Earth Day!” (It was not played at the Denver show the next day). “Earth Day” is one of my favorite Devin Townsend songs, so I was really excited to be able to experience it live - that’s when I really killed my voice during the show. :p

It was really neat to see the Ziltoid puppets in the audience - at one point, Devin asked for someone to hand him their puppet for a second, so Zach gave him his, and Devin did a little talking as Ziltoid with it, before kissing it and giving it back to Zach and saying, “That was a dude’s puppet!” (We now refer to Zach’s Ziltoid puppet as “The Sacred Ziltoid”). At one point in the show, I got to put my Ziltoid puppet on Devin’s guitar. :D

I think it would have been neat to get more than one song from Ziltoid, especially since this was the first show with Ziltoid puppets, but at least we got “By Your Command.” The most epic moment of the Seattle show last year was during “Color Your World,” when the whole crowd screamed, “I’M ZILTOID! I DON’T GIVE A SHIT! I FLOAT ABOVE EARTH IN A BIG ROCKET SHIP! I’M ZILTOID! THE HORROR! THE HORROR!” and swayed back and forth during a part of the song. (There were three Ziltoid songs played at the Seattle show: “By Your Command,” “Color Your World,” and “The Greys”).

The concert was amazing. Devin is a great performer. He’s very charismatic, and watching the facial expressions he makes is just awesome. You can tell he’s really having fun on stage. I don’t know how anyone could attend a Devin Townsend show without laughing or smiling at one point or another. I will say, though, that I’ll never think of the “Now I’m letting go…” part in “Stand” the same way again. Devin felt the need to rub his nipple, pick his nose, and lick his finger afterward during that part of the song! :p

I have to say that I didn’t really appreciate “Deadhead” as much as I do now. I’ve seen it performed live three times. I thought it was a good song, but didn’t understand why the crowd would go wild as soon as the first notes were played (please don’t kill me). :p It’s not that I dislike “Deadhead,” it’s just that I really like “Storm” and “Suicide” from Accelerated Evolution and thought it would be neat to hear something else from that album played live, and thought that, with it being 8 minutes long, another song or two could be placed into the setlist in place of it. However, the sheer emotion of the song hit me when watching him perform it in Denver, and I was in awe.

The crowd at the Colorado Springs was actually rather tame, but, of course, there’s always that one asshole that pisses you off. My back had already been killing me that week (it’s worse now, unfortunately), and it was very trying to be up front because of that, but the crowd wasn’t actually bad (particularly since Jeff was around to throw the moshers back). However, there was this one drunk asshole who felt the need to get Devin’s attention, tell him that he didn’t know who he was, but that he thought he was awesome, to which Devin replied, “Man, you must be drunk as fuck!” Of course, after that, the guy craved more attention from Devin and felt the need to make his way up to the front row and wedge himself beside Rose. He kept reaching onto the stage, trying to get Devin’s attention (asking for a guitar pic and what not), and he was just generally annoying. Jeff, Rose, and I all pushed at once to get the guy to go away, and we did this a few times, but he wouldn’t budge. I couldn’t properly enjoy “Bad Devil” because of the moshing (I always find it odd that people mosh to this song the most, although it’s the danciest of Devin’s songs - Devin actually jumped into the crowd during this one!) and this drunk fuck, whose mere presence was annoying. When Vampira started, and we were still trying to get rid of the guy, my tolerance reached an end and I decided to do something really stupid (no, I didn’t grab the guy’s hair, cuss him out, and push him back like at the Seattle show). I’m generally not an impulsive person, but my tolerance was at its end, and I ended up trying to empty my water bottle on the guy and throw the bottle at him (Zach tried to stop me, and I really regret this now, especially since most of the water wound up on Jeff!). I don’t know if Devin saw me throwing the water bottle, or the three of us trying to push the guy away, but he stopped “Vampira” and asked me if I was okay a few times, to which I replied yes, even though my body felt differently, and he made everyone in the crowd back up so that there was plenty of space, and we finally got rid of the drunk asshole. I thanked Devin then, and I shook his hand again after the show and thanked him again. Like I said, the crowd was actually pretty tame, but the back pain and memories of previous concert experiences where people tried to shove Rose and I over or take our spots resulted in me having a really low tolerance for assholes near the end of the show. He ended up starting “Vampira” from the beginning again (although it was mostly instrumental because he mostly let the audience sing it), and I was then able to enjoy the rest of the show properly.

The setlist in Denver was mostly the same, but instead of “Earth Day,” “The Way Home,” and “Heaven Send,” we got “Life,” “Disruptr,” the catchy riff from “Regulator” (the one after the chorus is about all the elaborating I can do), “Hyperdrive,” and "Deep Peace." Also, Devin opened with “By Your Command” in Denver instead of “Truth,” which he played afterward. He had been changing up the setlist for this tour, which I think is pretty awesome, especially for those who were able to attend more than one show.

At one point during the Denver show, Devin got everyone excited by saying he was going to play a song from Addicted (and hinted at “Supercrush!”), and then realized that they were actually going to play “Disruptr” from Ki. When “Disruptr” was over, it was time for “Supercrush!” but Devin forgot to switch guitars, and I must say, it was really funny to hear the intro to “Supercrush!” with the Ki sound. :p

Zach ended up running into someone at the Denver show who went VIP for both shows, and they said that the VIP for the Colorado Springs show was a lot better, since there were so few people and it was more intimate. It turns out that the transmission in the band’s bus was fucked, so they had to take a Greyhound to Denver, and the entire situation with the hotels and everything was more chaotic than what had happened the day before.

At the Denver show, Rose, Zach and I sat at a table near the back the whole time, but Jeff was in the crowd. I would have loved to be in the crowd, but I knew that my back would not be able to endure it. The crowd at the Denver show was a lot more energetic than the Colorado Springs show (the Denver crowd was really into the opening bands as well), and there was better sound at this venue, but the venue was much smaller and much hotter. Devin ended up having water brought out for all the people in the front row near the end of the show (and Jeff said it was much needed!), which was really fucking awesome. He’s such a wonderful guy.

At one point during the Denver show, Devin mentioned the two albums he released this year, “Deconstruction” *the crowd cheered* and “Ghost” *the crowd cheered louder*. His response was, “Really, guys? Well, here’s a song from Deconstruction!” I don’t think he was expecting that! I think it would have been neat to hear one song from “Ghost,” but I can’t complain!

When he played “Vampira” at the Denver show, he actually sang the whole thing instead of letting the audience do it, and I thought it was great to hear it again (and with vocals this time), because I always thought it would be a fun song to do live, and I was right. :p I was also happy that Denver had “Hyperdrive” in the setlist, and that I saw the Colorado Springs show, as “Earth Day” didn’t make the Denver setlist. At least we had "Deep Peace" in Denver, though!

If you managed to make it through this entire entry, I’m surprised! I hope you enjoyed the read, because I really enjoyed the shows and couldn’t wait to share my experience!
#285344 by sylkicks
Wed Oct 26, 2011 12:05 am
Yup, I read it all! :D Well, you basically just covered my ass for not posting a summary yet... It's in the works! Sorry about that drunk dickhead, he was wearing on me as well. Really wished I could have made it to the Denver show too but couldn't pull it off. It was nice meeting you, and glad you enjoyed the show just as much as I did!

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