From the quill of Bifurgacheffe Stoutdrunkson of the mines of IPA, scratches into this digital format for your delectation and criticism…
Let me first apologise for taking so damn long to get this post ready, it’s been a long hard grind through real life recently and time to sit and write has been sparse…. Nevertheless I present to you.. Devin. Fucking. Downsend.
As I have already mentioned Dwalin and myself attended this little soiree at the Royal Albert Hall. The night began with a brief tour of the circumference of the venue, ending in the discovery of a Spitfire Ale bar to stock up on beverages and point out the fact it was great to be able to drink proper beer at a gig and not be stuck with generic, mass produced and tasteless lager.
After stocking up on beers (and in the cases of Mrs Dwalin and Mrs Bifur, ciders) it was off to our seats, via a quick stop at the merchandise stand to purchase items to remind me what I had spent the evening doing, for the musical entertainment portion of the evening.
The first half of the concert (somehow it feels wrong to call it a gig when you are seated in the RAH) was dedicated to The Return of Ziltoid, one of the few concept albums of recent memory. As ever Mr Townsend supplied the unusually quiet and calm crowd with an epic performance style we have come to love, big lights, video based story and insane industrial metal. Devin produced a triumphant metal opera and, frankly, I loved it. My only slight criticism of the first half was the screens, as you will see in the below picture they were split around the stage, which meant at times the video looked disjointed, unless you happened to be located directly in front of the stage. However we were there to listen to the music so I won’t bitches to much…
After a brief intermission we were treated to a second half of fan picked songs from Devin extensive back catalogue of greatness. These included offerings from pretty much all of Devin’s many projects, not least of which a the hugely powerful last three tracks from Ocean machine; Biomech (pedentry rules!!!) in order. Yes, thats right he played The Death Of Music for the first time EVER!!! Devin performed admirably with his trademark mix of self deprecating humour and musical talent. Those screens that had slightly aggravated me in the first half turned out to be strokes of genius (Note from Dwalin – Should this be genii? Was more than one creative genius involved? Who the fuck knows) in the second, giving the whole audience artistic views of the entire band or replicating Devin multiple times together delight of the puppet waving crowd.
Mr Townsend, we salute you!
Post gig conversation :
Dwalin – I thought the drum volume could have been turned down slightly.
Bifur – Never! Blasphemy!
Dwalin – maybe they should have just turned everything else up?
Bifur – Yes! Make it louder. All of it!
We then stumble off into the night towards our dwellings , happy and with the sounds of metal still ringing in our ears (tinnitus is a bitch…)
This gig gets a Four and a half caffeine enriched Ziltoidian overlords out of five.
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