Live Review: Devin Townsend - Royal Albert Hall
16th & 17th April 2022
Support: Vola, Leprous
Words: Richard Oliver
If you have ever gotten to know me then you will know that I am a HUGE fan of Devin Townsend. His music resonates with me like no other artist than I can think of and considering how varied his musical output is I find that he has something to cover whatever mood or emotion I’m feeling at the time. His grand return to the stage at Bloodstock Open Air in the summer was a glorious and emotional show so when it was announced that he was returning to play the Royal Albert Hall in 2022 I knew I had to attend.
Originally only one show was scheduled but due to unprecedented demand a second show was added to the weekend meaning two nights of Hevy Devy. Originally I only had a ticket for the Sunday show but thanks to the generosity of a good friend (cheers Phil!) I managed to get to attend both shows and had a weekend of Double Devin. Billed as ‘The Greatest Sets Of My Life, it was said to be Devin’s favourites, fan favourites and a bunch of hardly played songs. They were two very different shows with different support acts so here is what went down:
Saturday 16th April 2022
The Saturday show was the extra show that was put on due to how fast the Sunday show had sold out. Considering this was an extra show the Royal Albert Hall was packed out though not at capacity. Playing the Royal Albert Hall must be a big deal for Devin and his band so it must be an even bigger deal for any support acts who are lucky enough to be picked. Opening on the Saturday were Danish/Swedish progressive metallers VOLA. I had recently reviewed their newly released Live From The Pool album and stated in my review that I had not seen the band live and it was something that needed to be remedied as fast as humanly possible.
Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long and they seriously did not disappoint playing a blinding set that easily won them a large number of new fans that evening. The set was a nice mixture playing to the bands strengths and showing their versatility. They opened in subdued fashion with the gentle 24 Light Years before bringing the heavy with songs such as Head Mounted Sideways, Smartfriend and Straight Lines. An acoustic rendition of Enter brought things down a notch before they dazzled with the magnificent Alien Shivers (one of my personal favourites). The band finished with the traditional set closer Stray The Skies and left the stage leaving the audience wanting more even though Devin was a short wait away. The bands performances were absolutely outstanding and the mix was absolutely spot on and tweaked to take full advantage of the amazing acoustics in the Royal Albert Hall. A band I will certainly be catching when they return to the UK later this year.
After a short wait it was on to the first of the weekends shows from Devin Townsend. Devin utilised the same band he had used at Bloodstock Open Air with James Leach on bass, Stephen Platt on guitars and Darby Todd on drums. It was clear from the Bloodstock show that this line up of musicians had incredible chemistry on stage especially considering they had only had never played on stage before and had only two days of rehearsals prior. This time round they had more time to prepare including a handful of warm up shows and the results spoke for themselves as it felt like these guts had been playing with Devin for years. The last time Devin played in the Royal Albert Hall he brought a huge production with screens, props, guests and people dressed a giant farting testicles (or poozers if you are a fan). This time round things were very much scaled down with nothing beyond an impressive lighting rig and the band themselves.
This was a show with the music very much doing the talking and what a set to get the weekend off to a start with. This was very much the greatest hits set with a ridiculous amount of fan favourites squeezed in to the 19 song set. Failure got things off to a great start before the big guns were brought out and just kept coming with songs such as Kingdom, By Your Command, Life, Deadhead, March Of The Poozers and Supercrush getting a rabid response from the crowd. Things were varied up with a stunning acoustic rendition of Ih-Ah whilst the stunning rendition of personal favourite Deep Peace had me bawling like a baby. For fans of his heavier material you got Juular, More and even some Strapping Young Lad songs dug out of the vault such as Aftermath, Love and Detox. It was pretty much the perfect Devin set with all the songs you would hope to hear him play. With Devin announcing that there would be different songs played both nights you just had to wonder what on earth would be played the following night.
Sunday 17th April
Round two at the Royal Albert Hall and this night was the original sold out show. I was especially excited for this show as landing the support slot were a band I have a ridiculous amount of love for - Norwegian progressive band Leprous. The last time I was in London prior to this weekend was to see Leprous perform at the Electric Ballroom and it was an incredible show so the prospect of seeing them perform in the Royal Albert Hall had my heart racing in anticipation.
I have never seen Leprous perform at anything below exceptional and yet again they did not disappoint. They only had a short set but played a fantastic mix of songs from new ones such as Out Of Here and Running Low to fan favourites such as The Price, From The Flame and Slave. The clear highlights for me were the stunning Below which demonstrates the amazing vocal power of Einar Solberg and Nighttime Disguise which is one of the most complex songs in the Leprous catalogue but is one which is absolutely electrifying. The power of this band and their incredible performances plus the unrivalled acoustics of the Royal Albert Hall meant I could have watched them for several hours. As an added bonus cellist Raph Weinroth-Browne had been able to join the band for these shows after having to miss any performances last year due to the pandemic and his wonderful playing certainly adds a dimension to the music.
Another short wait and it was on to the main event of Devin Townsend show two. It was in the same mould as the previous evening with a scaled down performance with solely Devin and his band letting the music carry the show. With all the hits the night before most were uncertain what would be played but with the sheer amount of music Devin has released there was still plenty to choose from. Devin was true to his word and not a single song from the previous nights performance was repeated with this set being a set of deeper cuts and lesser played songs.
Kicking things off was the magnificent Seventh Wave from Ocean Machine and whilst they were regularly played songs in the set such as Stormbending, Coast, Truth and Bad Devil there were also obscurites such as OM from the Christeen E.P., War and the never before played Life Is All Dynamics.. Strapping Young Lad fans got a fantastic rendition of Almost Again but the icing on the cake was the run of Funeral, Bastard, The Death Of Music and Thing Beyond Things from Ocean Machine. Seeing these songs performed in the flesh was a special moment for me as a long term Devin fan as I had missed the previous rare occasions when this run of songs had been played. The set concluded with one of Devin’s own personal favourites which was the magnificent Grace from Epicloud. Another magnificent set and a real treat for the hardcore Devin fans in the audience though I know a few people in the audience who only came for the Sunday night felt a little cheated with all the hits having been played the previous night.
Seeing Devin perform in a prestigious venue such as the Royal Albert Hall was an absolute treat plus with the added bonus of VOLA and Leprous this is certainly a live music experience that I won’t be forgetting in a hurry. The sound in the Royal Albert Hall is just incredible and the venue itself is such a stunning building with so much history. It’s been fantastic to see the Royal Albert Hall becoming far more accepting of hard rock and heavy metal artists performing on its hallowed stage and I hope this is something that long continues.
Photo credits: Tim Finch Photography
Thanks for this. We have similar music tastes