Well it appears that there's no button to make new posts in the live reviews section so I figure I'll just drop this in here and a mod can move it at some point.

The show was intense! I had no idea what to expect seeing as the only setlists we've seen so far have been very short. Well... The show went for around two hours and was an extremely varied setlist. I have to say, comments in prior threads about the volume of the performances are entirely correct! It was deafening; oppressively loud even. Don't get me wrong, I like a bit of volume but this was unnecessarily loud!

That gripe aside, every other aspect of the show was brilliant. Everything came across really well, the mix was a little bit lacking in definition due to the intensity of the volume but at least it did all sound fucking huge. Dev only had Beavis, Dave and Ryan with him but they did a good job and it sounded great. They've certainly gotten damn tight, there were some dazzling moments whilst pulling off especially technical sections (some of the Ziltoid stuff particularly was impressive to hear delivered so well).

I was really pleasantly surprised by how big the crowd was in the Tivoli. I remember the last time Dev was in town (with SYL back in 03) the venue was by no means packed but this time there was quite a sizable crowd indeed! There were a lot of very keen people in the audience, which made me happy. It's good to see he's really starting to get a lot more people on board, he certainly deserves it!

I can't quite remember everything that was played in the right order but we're looking at something like this:

Addicted
Supercrush
Kingdom
Truth
Om
Deadhead
ZTO
By Your Command
Ziltoidia Attaxx
Seventh Wave
Life
Earth Day
Disruptr
Namaste

Colour Your World
Ki
Bend It Like Bender

The live version of Kingdom was so good it made me like the song better, it helped me to feel differently about some of the sections in there and really got me to connect with it in more of an Infinity way. I think it was that some of the ambient parts were more obvious in the mix and it really drew attention to ho lush the textures are underneath the metal surface.

Truth was brilliant as always. Perhaps the most classic Devin song, and an absolute pleasure to hear with some wattage behind it. They did the full version of Om, it was absolutely incredible. I'd always hoped that one day Dev would try doing the whole thing and I'm glad to report that they fucking nail it! It's so good to hear stuff as tripping as this be represented.

Deadhead was perhaps the highlight of the show, it was an overwhelming moment... It's an intense song and the execution was simply immaculate. Devin sang incredibly this evening (especially considering how long the set was!) and he did exceptionally well on this. When it was finished they had a whole Ziltoid interlude and did a good chunk of that record with Ziltoid commentating.

They certainly didn't shy away from doing some of the more difficult sounding songs... Disruptr was a beautiful thing live, the warped Infinity-like sections were mindblowing. Again, Devin's singing was just fantastic and this track really slammed. Colour Your World was pretty devastating and Ki was simply epic. It's a monster of a song and hearing that outro build-up live is an extremely gratifying thing!

After the show was over Dev came round to the fence at the back and hung around for ages signing things and chatting to people (despite saying he shouldn't talk much because his voice was shot). Still very much a very friendly, humble and funny guy. Good to see him having so triumphant a return!

Not to ruin it for anyone, but the ziltoid bit rules

Did you see this Devin Townsend Project show at the Tivoli in Brisbane, Australia?

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

Thanks,

Mikey
hevydevy.com

There are a few people saying the show was really loud... But are you using earplugs?

Such an incredible setlist. I hope videos and a possible audio recording will arise at some point.

What can I say? I'm blown away.

Thanks Devin and the gang!

The Ziltoid parts were spectacular.

I never wear earplugs to any show, generally you don't need them but last night I was definitely regretful not bringing a pair. That was unquestionably the loudest show I've been to in four years, the last thing that even approached that volume was Mogwai at Splendour in the Grass.... but they were in a field in Byron Bay, this was in a little room :-S

Deadhead was perhaps the highlight of the show, it was an overwhelming moment... It's an intense song and the execution was simply immaculate.

Amen, highlight of the night.

And yes it was quite loud, but I didn't really notice till I got out, was an awesome show.

amazing show!!! i've been waiting years to see devin, it was awesome to hear songs from nearly every solo album! the first 'chunk' of ziltoid was mild blowing.

he seems to have a real grip on aussie profanity

will end up being one of those show's i'll never forget for sure, other highlights were Addicted (what a great opener!), Earth Day, Seventh Wave and Deadhead! (the whole set overall was incredible!) i thought the full version of Om dragged a bit, and it was all incredibly loud, but it didnt change how awesome the show was! i was hoping for Pixellate, but there were enough surprises i'm sure to keep any fan of Devin's work completely and utterly amazed.

keep it up Devy!!! i have a feeling your career is about to skyrocket!!!

hi folks,

thanks so much on already commenting this gig! I wish we could watch such a long set in Europe as well, but I'm afraid he'll do just festivals.. what a pity. anyway, I try to catch him in summer as often as I can though
In fact I already thought of travelling to Melbourne or Sydney some months ago to catch him on this tour, but doing that all alone would be a bit awkward and it's a financial thing as well of course.

Concerning the great setlist: I wonder why so little Terria and AE was played, no War as well.. but you can't have everything. Maybe in Europe then I'd give my sweaty balls (yes, two of them) to see Deadhead, OMG!

Although I'm jealous as hell I feel really happy for you having gotten this experience!
And although I may sound like the 0815 fanboy, it's just witnessing music in perfection

Rock on guys!

my review.

performance:
wow fucken wow. devin is the ultimate frontman. [but we all know this anyway]. funny, charismatic and his vocals are spot on live! thats the amazing part. he nailed all the notes. his rock pig face was in full effect and really enhanced the musical vibe. he pulled out some wicked one liners, lots of boobie talk lol. eath shit, suck dicks. purile humour that he pulls off. lots of talk about letting your inner nerd free! he mentioned he is 37 yrs old with a kid, how things change but how they stay the same. he changed up certain lyrics for comedic value. [if there were 2 omnisciences, i would be all 3.]
his performance was peerless and perfect.
A+

set list:

addicted.
supercrush.
kingdom.
truth.
om. [full version]
deadhead.
ZTO
by your command
ziltoid attaxx
seventh wave.
life.
earth day.
numbered.
namaste.
colour your world.
the greys.
ki.
bend it like bender.

a varied list as you can see, but not varied enough for me.
no synchestra tracks? only one for terria and accelerated evolution. while ziltoid had 5.
and not enough quiet mellower tracks. [which imo are some my fave dev moments.]
he didnt play funeral which is my fave song of all time, nor deep peace.
namaste wasnt needed in the set imo. and ziltoid was represented enough. where was storm, and/or hyperdrive?
my issue with the setlist is basically that there wasnt enough respite from the heavy assault.
which brings me to the issue i had with the show....
B.

SOUND.
the 1st 5 or so tracks i was basically blown out! incredible power and energy. but once ziltoid attaxx started, you couldnt hear the riffs, just a massive wall of relentless noise. the issue of the show being too loud became prevalent. basically imo the decibel level was too high to truly enjoy the soundscape devy has in his music. the multi layered wall of sound that is his trademark becomes like noise when turned up too loud and thats what ziltoid attax was. and namaste. the faster heavier tracks became too noisy. you couldnt hear the nuances in the music.
basically i was getting fatigued by the relentless loudness of the show. ki was tops. because you could actually hear everything properly. the quiet moments in the songs sounded great. but some of the heavier moments were too drowned out be loudness.
if the setlist incorporated some of his mellower work, it wouldve allowed some respite.
C.

STANDOUTS:
the intro to the show. addicted. its a great opener.
but for me. truth and om were just AMAZING.
seventh wave and night went down really well. the latter is a track ive never really been that into due to its strong pop leanings, but it sounds so much more powerful live.
earthday went down a treat too.
oh and the ziltoid intro. just BRILLIANT. ziltoid came on booming over the speakers and addressed the brisbane crowd, saying enough of this poxy poof shit. its time for some real heavy music. lol. and then dev said something like. geez what an asshole. before kicking into ZTO.
by your command was amazing to see live too.

LETDOWNS:
zitloid attaxx and namaste. too loud to be heard properly.
the setlist didnt consist of most of my all time fave dev songs. but oh well you cant please everyone.

still.all in all. great show. and worth it to see dev command the stage. he is my fave artist and he knocked it out the park with his performance.

yeah i agree. deadhead was awesome. so EPIC.
and kingdom was tops too. his vocals in the verses were brilliant.

Post Vids

Colour your world!!!!

Hoping he plays Universe in a ball for me in Melb tomorrow. Will be quite unhappy if he doesn't

[The Dev]

Slowly learning the backcatalog folks, sooo much music...will have all the stuff learned soon, please be patient...


Second headlining show ever, working the bugs out. Great sound, lights, visuals etc are works in progress with who can handle it...


Maybe consider this first tour a starting point? I agree about not enough mellow stuff, didn't realize it till I was out here... lots of work to do for the next tour.

2 or 3 more tours and we'll be well versed in ALL the songs, needing to practice this bunch now...

Thanks for your patience with this work in progress all, your comments and observations are very much needed and taken to heart... this stage of it, the 'Devin Townsend Project' is called project as a way of expressing the work in progress nature of it, I need to try things out right now to now what works. The space between the BTBAM tour and Australia was in total about 3 weeks of rehearsal, so I went with the songs we knew and will do the Deep Peace, Universe, Terria, Synchestra, more Infinity for the next tours. (no excuses, just observations!) maybe "Devin Townsend Experience' when it all gets learnt, coreographed, and perfected. I need a constant sound man, crew, lighting designer etc...the nature of this music is 'go big or go home' and it can be screwed up by lots of variables... unfortuantely, we're working with what we can get at this point, so again... EVERYTHING is taken into consideration in terms of what the effect of this show is currently, please bring it, I want this to eventually be what we all want.

Thanks for the support in this early stage guys, give me one or two more years, and it should be where it wants to be!