[swervedriver]

Nearing this tour's halfway point... Did you see the Devin Townsend Project at the House of Blues in Cleveland?

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

Thanks!

I was there!

This was my fourth time seeing Dev; first was in Cleveland back in 2010, then Cleveland in 2011 and Pittsburgh in 2013. Only difference this time was that I brought my sister with me (who's gotten into his DTP-era work) in addition to my old man, who's been to all four shows. I had my DTP jersey on and everything and not one person commented on it!... I was so bummed, haha. At least I saw some other cool shirts while I was there; Voivod and Coroner alone as soon as I walked into the venue.

As far as I know the setlist was the same as the last few shows; IE, no Ziltoid Goes Home, no Deathray, etc - a bummer but I can understand why they're trying to consolidate a bit. Dev's mentioned how this whole tour has been a rough adjustment for him and I thought it (kinda) showed; they moved through the setlist much more quickly than I remember them doing in the past and his banter - while always hilarious - seemed a bit more awkward than usual. He commented repeatedly about how hard some stuff was to sing (Kingdom!) and I just got the impression he's got a lot on his mind right now (understandably so)... but anyways. Some songs were absolutely superb (A New Reign! Holy shit; they absolutely nailed this one - the performance, the atmosphere, everything) while some just left me scratching my head. Rejoice is a good example of a track that I think they're still figuring out; Dev said as much - it was OK, but the whole thing just felt a bit... off, I guess. One thing that really stood out to me was just how much more comfortable they seemed to be playing the newer material; the oldies like Regulator and Bad Devil were good but Ryan, for example, just went nuts with the new stuff. So much tighter and so much more confident. Anyone else notice that? (Or was it just me? haha)

Overall, a solid show. I watched from the balcony because I'm a wuss and didn't feel like getting elbowed in the head like I did when I was in the first row for Opeth there a year prior; either way we all had a lot of fun and it's always a pleasure to see Dev in the flesh.