THESE.
Suffice to say we were aiming to get noticed that evening, which was exactly what happened. Even on the way to the venue we were getting strange and sustained glances from passers-by and vehicular occupants alike. We soon began making tallies of how many people did a double-take at our fluorescent tops with absurd designs emblazoned onto them. Once we joined the queue at Rock City, the stares became more obvious and elongated. We even made a few people laugh, but overall I feel that most were likely thinking "what a pair of absolute twats". I consider this a win.
Whilst in the queue, Ross and I discussed the strange concept of sticking out like a pair of tits on a badger, which in some awkward meta-manner served to quell our anxiety toward the situation somewhat. Mercifully, the line began to shift after around 20 minutes; so our journey into the mouth of madness would begin.
It was less the mouth of madness and more an extended wait through two bands no one had even heard of before the man we'd turned up to see was to emerge. The bands in question, !Empire! and Thine (a band we didn't even know the name of when they wandered on unannounced), both local-ish talent of varying experience, were by no means inferior acts, but sadly their relative anonymity painted them in a noticeably less vibrant shade than the headliner.
During these acts, a towering lass approached us and issued a positive comment regarding our flamboyantly absurd attire. This sparked off an extended conversation with both her and her male companion; it appeared we had made some gig buddies completely by accident. This social act served to distract us from the clearly talented but sadly forgettable support bands, drawing Devin's imminent appearance ever closer.
Similar to when I saw the band in 2013, the audience was treated to a bizarre opening reel entitled 'ZTV' which comprised of various YouTube meme videos and zany Photoshop entries involving Devin's face, not dissimilar to the t-shirts they inspired. A few pockets of laughter emerged from the crowd but overall I believe everyone was just anxious to witness the awesomeness of the music unfold.
After around 10 minutes of ZTV, The Man Himself finally sauntered onto the stage, to the sound of uproarious ovation. He seemed overwhelmed and floundered into an opening speech about it being his first gig after 2 months of hiding in the studio, which was as endearing as it was awkward. He went on to explain his process of transition, which apparently involved staring at the mirror trying to get past the version of himself that was terrified of performing. He was well-humoured about it though, plus the pleasant cadence of his Canadian accent meant that no one seemed to mind. I also feel it added more of a personal touch to the concert, as he revealed himself to be human after all, in spite of his exceptional talent.
Around three minutes later, following a slight technical glitch regarding his guitar, the gig started proper. To my pleasant surprise they opened with a very old track 'Seventh Wave' from Devin's Ocean Machine era (circa 1997), indicated by the Tennyson poem excerpt that served as an intro to the song.
Needless to say my excitement levels went from above-average to astronomical, where they'd stay for the entirety of his career-spanning, if a little short, set. Each song was incredibly tightly played, a testament to Townsend's perfectionism, made more remarkable by the fact that this was the band's first live show in a while. One of the highlights included an amazing performance of 'Deadhead' which just so happens to be a personal favourite of mine, cue me singing along like a pale imitation of someone that possessed actual talent, all with a huge grin plastered on my stupid face.
The band also blazed through some more recent DTP material, which was uplifting, unsettling and unbelievably epic all at once. For a short amount of time, Devin jumped down into the photo pit, high fiving the front row and getting in their faces as he churned out his riffs. Ross and I were trying to make our way to the very front, but there were a number of even taller crowd members standing fast. I am 6ft tall and Ross is 6'2", so where these relative behemoths originated from was anyone's guess.
Toward the end of the concert, just before the encore, we did actually manage to bully our way to the front, filling the gap of a really enthusiastic fan who had prematurely exerted too much energy before the end of the set. It was at this point that the T-shirts of ours proved to be a good idea, as Devin turned to face us and said "Those are some awesome shirts by the way, is that my name on there?" to which I replied "ALSO YOUR FACE TOO YEAHH" in a manner that suggested I had forgotten how to conduct myself when addressing another human being and opting for rabid fangirl-esque squealing instead. In my somewhat feeble defence, Devin addressed us mere mortals and complimented our bizarre choice of gig fashion, so we were both a tad overwhelmed to say the least.
Two words can sum up the encore succinctly: Bad Devil. To put it a less vague way, it is a swing-metal classic and a staple on his live sets, usually as the encore due to how much excitement it generates. I was singing at the top of my lungs whilst jumping up and down to the music; the picture of pure joy. Around halfway through the song, just before the 2nd chorus, Devin paused for just a split second, looked at us again and uttered a quick "Love the shirt!" before carrying on. This second acknowledgement gave us enough excited energy to push through the final part of the concert with every atom of our beings.
When it was all over, I felt drained but in a positive manner, then decided to go out for some fresh air. We did decide to leave shortly after that, but later found out that Devin came out about an hour later to mingle and sign people's merchandise. I kicked myself for my hasty departure, as we could have turned what was already an amazing night into one for the personal history books. Still, we already got acknowledged by a rockstar, which is not to be sniffed at; all in all a great show.
I don't rate things numerically, I rate them sentimentally; this one ranks high on the charts, but it was a shame the support acts were so obscure.
As a reward for your reading/tl;dr scrolling efforts, here's the awkward intro in full:
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