Billboard Live
Melbourne, Australia
March 14, 2010

Devin Townsend once wrote a song called ‘The Death Of Music.’ We now know that Mr Townsend is something of a proggy prophet, a metal seer, a shredding shaman, because it came to pass on March 14, 2010 that he destroyed music for an entire sold-out audience at Melbourne’s Billboard Live. Seriously. He’s ruined music for every single one of them, because after witnessing the live experience that is the Devin Townsend Project for a whopping 2+ hours, there’s no way a mere gig by a lesser band can hold any interest or merit. The performance was so intense, so astounding and just so downright f***ing fun that nothing will ever top it and we might as well not even try. I mean, you can go on making music if you like. If you’re reading this site then you’re probably a musician and you’re going to keep playing no matter what, but I’m just letting you know that maybe you should at least lower your expectations a bit so you don’t feel the crushing weight of last night’s awesomeness on your once proud ego.

These days of course, Hevy Devy has left Strapping Young Lad behind him to further explore the more melodic territory hinted at in his various solo projects. The loss of Strapping is, of course, devastating to the metal world at large and to my few remaining memories of 1997 in particular, but dude, look at it this way: there are plenty of other places to find extreme metal – it’s all over the place – but there’s nowhere else to find Devin’s particular auteur approach to rock and metal than coming straight out of Devin Townsend’s own fingers and head. So forgive my selfishness in being quite happy that the focus has shifted off SYL.

‘Jeez Peter, shut up already and tell me what they played!’ Alright bossypants. I’ve even included the albums the songs were from. Man, the things I do for you.

Addicted! [Addicted]
Supercrush! [Addicted]
Kingdom [Physicist]
Truth [Infinity]
Om [Infinity + 4 Demos EP]
Deadhead [Accelerated Evolution]
ZTO [Ziltoid The Omniscient]
By Your Command [Ziltoid The Omniscient]
Ziltoidia Attaxx [Ziltoid The Omniscient]
Seventh Wave [Ocean Machine – Biomech]
Life [Ocean Machine – Biomech]
Earth Day [Terria]
Numbered! [Addicted]
Distruptr [Ki]
Namaste [Physicist]

Encore
Colour Your World [Ziltoid The Omniscient]
The Greys [Ziltoid The Omniscient]
Ki [Ki]
Bend it like Bender! [Addicted]

Between opening band Contrive (who contributed a solid set of crunchy metal) and Devin, the crowed were ‘treated’ to Ziltoid Radio, DJ’d by everyone’s favourite interdimensional overlord, Ziltoid The Omniscient. Ziltoid’s playlist consisted of bangin’ club tracks by Vengaboys, Aqua, Beyonce and Gwen Stefani. Just the thing to get the crowed pumped for an evening of heavy rock, hehehe. Ziltoid, you diabolical… Anyway, Devy and crew (Brian ‘Beav’ Waddell on bass, Dave Young on guitar and Ryan Van Poederooyen on drums – 4/5 of the former Devin Townsend Band but with Beav switching from guitar to bass and Dave moving from keys to guitar) drifted out onto the stage to huge applause and launched into ‘Addicted.’ It may have been a ballsy move to open the set with a track from the latest album but the crowd lapped it up, demonstrating pretty clearly that the fanbase is keeping up with the new material every bit as fervently as the old stuff. I know that seems like a funny thing to point out, but have you noticed when one of your favourite bands stops actively supporting their new releases and becomes a ‘legacy’ act playing maybe one new track per gig? That kinda stuff is really depressing, and while I doubt Devin would let himself slip into that kind of funk, it’s also great to see that the fans aren’t demanding him to do so.

Perhaps the most obvious contrast to a Strapping Young Lad gig was that Devin seemed so… happy! Especially during the Ocean Machine track ‘Life.’ My god, if the whole gig consisted of music as uplifting as that, the venue itself would have risen off the ground and shot off into orbit. This is not the same pissed off guy I saw screaming his guts out and bashing his ESP Telecaster into the mic stand in anger with SYL at the Globe in Newtown, Sydney in 1998. This is a dude much more at peace with himself and the world around him, and it makes him an even more engaging performer.

Guitar geeks like myself will note that Devin used three Peavey guitars during the night: a vaguely Strat-ish axe with two humbuckers and a single coil, as well as a pair of Peavey PXD Vicious Devin Townsend signature model baritone 7-string Vs. One had a single humbucker in the bridge while the other was the version seen at NAMM with the neck single coil as well.

Devin has confirmed on his official forum that he will be back in Australia next year with a much larger-scale show.

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