By David O’Neill
Tonight, I lost my Devin Townsend virginity! It was eight o’clock in Cardiff Students Union, (I bet I’m not the first to say that about the SU!). I had heard his name in various circles over many years but have never had the personal experience, either of his music or his live performance. I knew absolutely nothing about him so this was an unconditionally unique experience.
I’m afraid the only song I was aware of was ‘Bring Him Home’ from ‘Les Miserables’, but that was the second track he sang and I have to say it was a superb rendition, added to by my position in the pit which gave me the photograph with the white light appearing like a star over his head.
Prior to this he pontificated about his recent bereavement (his cat called Pretty) at which point a crowd member shouted out “now she’s pretty dead” which actually made DT chuckle. His humour throughout the 40-minute acoustic set was evident and there were regular “chops” from the audience for him to engage with.
After the 40 minutes I was left smiling and promising to check out the wide variety of Mr Townsend’s back catalogue to educate myself.
Coming on at 9.05, Myles Kennedy was supported by Zia Uddin on drums and Tim Tournier on bass. Opening up with ‘The Art Of Letting Go’, the title track from the new album, the crowd knew they were in for an outstanding evening from the very first notes.
‘Nothing More To Gain’, also from ‘TAOLG’ has a very Alter Bridge like sound (nothing wrong with that as far as the crowd and I was concerned). I love ‘Devil On The Wall’ from ‘Year Of The Tiger’, but the live version is another level. Going back further to ‘Ides Of March’ with ‘A Thousand Words’ really added to the variety from the songs across the three solo albums, provided a breadth of the sound and talent on offer from all the protagonists on the stage and demonstrated how accomplished a song writer and guitarist Myles is. ‘Behind The Veil’ opens with some outstanding intricate solo guitar work before rising and falling through the rest of the track prior to the superb guitar outro.
It was clearly apparent that Myles and the band have enjoyed this tour from the commentary, and as it is close to Christmas a brief rendition of ‘Jingle Bells’ preceded the change from the pre-written set list to a spontaneous acoustic guitar version of the Ray Charles track ‘Worried Mind’ from ‘Ides Of March’, which was a superb demonstration of the talent that Myles has, and it was very appreciated by the capacity crowd.
This was followed by ‘Love Can Only Heal’, which is superb live and demonstrates his vocal and instrumental virtuosity before the bass and drum section raised the track to its crescendo. ‘Wake Me When Its Over’ came as a complete counterpoint to the last track. ‘Miss You When Your Gone’ was next up and for a trio the sound of bass, guitar and drums was HUGE even from the small backline; it just shows you don’t need a 40 foot stack of cabs to make a huge sound.
Myles introduced the band and told the story of how long Zia Uddin and he have known each other, having played cover songs in bars before they were old enough to be in bars. This was rapidly followed by ‘Year Of The Tiger’, the track that gave birth to the whole solo project: it is also another of my favourite tracks (and believe me there are many!) ‘Get Along’ is another huge song that had the crowd clapping and nodding along in unison – and the guitar solo… well!
‘In Stride’ was the last song on the formal set with the bottle neck slide guitar adding to the virtuosity of the exceptional talent that Myles Kennedy undoubtedly is. Again the crowd were clapping in unison with the beat before joining in on an “a ohh” singalong which culminated in Myles laughing as he went through A to O saying he was practising his consonants.
Finishing the set with the encore of ‘Say What You Will’ left the capacity crowd wanting more, but unfortunately that was it for this fantastically entertaining evening.
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