Devin Townsend @ Petit Campus

There aren’t enough people who know the name Devin Townsend, but most of those that do would probably make the connection to Strapping Young Lad while the rest would think of his solo project. Tuesday, November 2nd of this year, I went to see Devin Townsend live on stage in Montreal at Petit Campus. There were three other bands that night, but I don’t want to say anything about them. To be fair, I only wanted to see Devin and while I was early enough to catch the opening acts I spent the time mingling with friends in the crowd and taking names of people I thought I’d like to keep in touch with. I was lucky enough to get to meet Devin in the backstage area - it wasn’t very much, just more of a “hi how are you” kind of deal, but when he came on to the stage it was worth it….

Devin has a habit of making his presence known and felt when he’s on the stage. He’s more animated than any physical comedian I’ve seen, his facial expressions reflect the mood of every one of his songs and he converses with the crowd not just during the set, but during his songs (he made it a point to give a hug to a guy in the crowd because he looked “bored”). Halfway through the concert he stopped to remind the crowd about the “stereotypical metal show traditions” he wanted everybody to participate in. He wanted us to clap our hands, to ignite our lighters and to “start a fucking mosh pit right here”. Finally, at the end of the show, he let us know that he was going to walk off the stage in an attempt to fool the audience that the show was over with the intention to have the audience entice him back on the stage for an encore, which he was very happy to deliver.

As for his music, I’m not a hardcore fan of Devin Townsend so I’m not able to identify or list off every track he played, but I know when he played songs I really enjoyed which made me very happy. The first song he played that I recognised was "Christeen" early in the set, and I went nuts. As the night went on, he played other great tracks such as "Bad Devil", "Earth Day" and several tracks from the classic Ziltoid the Omniscient album. The reception in such a small venue (Petit Campus) was better than the reception for other bands in larger venues, which showed the dedication of the audience to this man! Throughout the set you could feel the energy of his music as it progressed through his styles and the evolution he brought with him from his days with Strapping Young Lad to his later solo work. I believe him to be a musical genius in the world of metal and, being of Canadian heritage, a pride of the country as well.

In the end, this was one of the best concert experiences I’ve had to this date and I was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to meet him backstage for a little impromptu meet and greet. Yes, I know I could have gone to the VIP showing but I missed out, only to meet him one-on-one in the back. Happy? Very. But at the same time, who’s dumb-assed fucking idea was it to play Vengaboys, Aqua and Outkast over the PA right before Devin’s set?

- Burnt Offering’s Cecil