By DJ Monk
Hell has officially frozen over!
Original Machine Head drummer Chris Kontos and guitarist Logan Mader are to join founder Robb Flynn back on the road to mark the 25th anniversary of the band’s debut album, ‘Burn My Eyes’.
The first leg of the tour will kick off in Germany on 5 October, hitting the UK and Ireland in early November, with dates as follows:
Saturday 2 – London, O2 Academy Brixton
Monday 4th – Manchester, O2 Victoria Warehouse
Tuesday 5 – Glasgow, O2 Academy
Thursday 7 – Belfast, Telegraph Building
Friday 8 – Dublin, Olympia Theatre
Tickets go on general sale at 10am on Friday (29 March), with Live Nation’s pre-sale going live 24 hours earlier at www.livenation.co.uk for London, Manchester and Glasgow and www.ticketmaster.ie for Belfast and Dublin.
The shows will continue Machine Head’s ‘An Evening With…’ format, with the three-hour shows being divided into two parts. The first section will feature Machine Head classics such as ‘Imperium’, ‘Halo’ and ‘The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears’, with Flynn and bassist Jared MacEachearn performing alongside two yet-to-be-announced musicians on guitar and drums. The latter part of the set will feature ‘Burn My Eyes’ played in its entirety for the first time ever. For this part of the set Flynn and MacEachearn will be joined by Kontos and Mader.
Flynn told us: “Having started rehearsals with Chris and Logan several weeks ago, I’m literally giddy with excitement at the prospect of how much fun this is going to be. Both Logan and Chris are in phenomenal playing shape, the vibe between all four of us has been incredibly positive and having run through deep cuts like ‘Death Church’ and ‘I’m Your God Now’ for the first time in over a decade, has reminded me of how fucking heavy our older songs are! This tour is going to be MASSIVE!! Do not sleep on this, tell your friends, spread the word, because tickets are going to disappear!”
Logan Mader added: “It’s a huge honour for me to take part in celebrating ‘Burn My Eyes’ 25th birthday! It’s hard to believe this is actually happening. I feel like I won the guitar player lottery…. again. The fact that BME is still relevant today has a lot to do with the fact that Robb has kept the band alive and strong for two and a half decades. I’m very grateful for this!”
Chris Kontos echoes the sentiment, stating: “This is an absolute mind blower! Playing these songs again after 23 years feels just amazing. The fact that it’s 25 years later and the BME record is still relevant and revered is humbling to say the least. Doing a huge world tour in celebration of the record is a great way to acknowledge the legacy of Machine Head’s past and future. I’m so looking forward to sharing these songs with the Machine Head fans around the world. Can’t wait to meet all you ‘Head Cases’ out there! You can be sure it is going to be a crushing night! See ya soon!”
Bassist MacEachearn concluded: “It’s not everyday that you get to pay tribute to a classic like ‘Burn My Eyes’ and with Logan and Chris in the mix, I’m really excited to bring something special to old and new fans alike.”