Dead End Drive-In: Now Showing – Devin Townsend Project
Written by Rob Watkins
Sunday, 15 November 2015 03:00
Devin Townsend Project-‘Devin Townsend Presents: Ziltoid Live At The Royal Albert Hall’ (InsideOut Music)
A real worldly concert spectacular to really excite your musical taste has arrived at my humble abode in the shape of ‘Ziltoid Live’. This 3 CD and 2 DVD set (it’s also available across multiple formats including Blu-ray) from Devin Townsend including extensive bonus material and a full documentary of the performance of a lifetime featuring the extravaganza that is Ziltoid live in the glorious surroundings on London’s Royal Albert Hall.
The Ziltoid space-adelic introduction video is a work of art in itself, and we get all of that before we actually hit the music side of the Devin Townsend equation, then again nothing is impossible for Devin Townsend with his musical track record of going from one perfectly executed extreme to the next.So, not only do we have the Devin Townsend Project performing in the unique setting of The Royal Albert Hall, a place only reserved for special shows, but we also get to relive the ‘Devin Townsend Project Presents Ziltoid’ full stage production.With this crystal clear visionary aspect and Ziltoid monologue what we actually have here is musical genius, musical theatre if you will, captured for posterity in the surroundings of a beautiful sold out auditorium.
That aforementioned visionary aspect is quite breathtaking and unmissable, keep your eyes peeled cause you really don’t wanna miss a second of this spectacular, a show that could put even the likes of KISS and Alice Cooper to shame and I suppose you could add a prog influential nod to the live equation if you so please.However, whatever is going on, be it the video elements, or the stage invading alien guests, this is all about Devin Townsend and the talent the man possesses.
The set list is pretty obvious for anybody aware of the work of Townsend and his most recent masterpieces…the ‘Dark Matters’ album which is part of the Zed squared concept albums featuring Ziltoid, and here performed so magnificently in sequence and sounding oh so wondrously brilliant in the process.The Project featuring some outstanding musicians assisting Devin on his musical path, and each and every one of them should also be praised to the high heavens for their intensive progressive instrumentation and beyond.
So we get compositions such as ‘Ziltoidian Empire’, ‘War Princess’ and of course ‘March Of The Poozers’ (which you can watch below) featuring the super duper talented Dominique Lenore Persi on vocals.
The concept is insanely visually beautiful and infectiously voyeuristic, gloriously shot in all its exceptional quality covering the production, the music and of course the 5,000 gathered Devin aficionados, and retailing at around the £20 mark it is an exceptional value for money product.
After the first set and theatrical space-age pomp and visionary overload, we get the second “By Request” set, and this (as you would expect from its title) is all about the tunes as requested by you lot.
‘Namaste’, ‘Night’, ‘Deadhead’ and ‘Bastard’ are but a few of the requested tracks performed herein with once again not only awesome footage of the stage performance, but also some grand footage of the audience participation and adulation afforded the genius known as Devin Townsend.
The reaches a jaw dropping conclusion via final tune ‘Universal Flame’, a song not only requested by Devin`s son Reynor, but also featuring young Reynor, who gets to join his dad on stage rounding this unique concert off oh so flawlessly.
Surely this has to be one of the most classic music video releases you will ever have the pleasure to witness and for that matter own. Buy it and support the future musical life of the artist people of planet earth.
Ziltoid Rocks The Planet…..
