Live Review : Devin Townsend + Klone + Fixation @ Academy, Manchester on March 31st 2023

Tonight proves that if you got charisma, personality, and just the right pinch of self-deprecation you don't need any other trappings to put on a show. You see last time the self-denounced Hevy Devy was in this very venue he brought a stunning undercard in the shape of Tesseract and Leprous, an imposing video wall, and thousands of pulsating lights. This evening is a much more modest affair with supports that their mothers would struggle to pick out of an identity parade and a scaled-back production.

Devin himself admits that the tour has been affected by post-pandemic budgetary restraints and that the only gimmick he now has is a theremin in the shape of an octopus that only cost a hundred bucks to hire. However, stripped back from all the glitz and glamour, he still manages to provide a massively entertaining evening that makes you ponder why we need all the trimmings in the first place.

Opening act Fixation hail from Norway and seem intent on challenging any perception that all Nordic acts are adorned in corpse paint and overly obsessed with old Nick. Theirs is a rather clean and outwardly melodic take on metalcore. It's all big choruses and soaring refrains. Obviously aware that they will mean little or nothing to the rapidly filling hall, they work hard to make an impact. Jonas Wesetrud Hansen prowls the front of the stage like some caged tiger. His vocals are impressive and switch from clean to gruff at the drop of a hat. The reception they receive is respectful rather rapturous, but you can definitely see that feet are tapping all over the shop. Solid as opposed to stupendous, they manage to show that there are still interesting things to be done with metalcore’s rather limited musical vocabulary.

A bit of Internet research reveals that France’s Klone have been around for rather a long time, 1995 to be exact. They have a deep, dark, and introspective sound that from my vantage point on the balcony manages to split the audience in two. Half of those present seem to revel in a slowly unfolding brooding complexity of their insular take on prog. However, there is also a sizable contingent that decides that it's not for them and retreat back to the bar and foyer to catch up on the minuscule details of their everyday lives. They seem an interesting choice to support Devin as there is nothing euphoric about what they are doing.  It's slow, penetrating, and all rather ominous.

There is definitely something interesting going on here, but I get the distinct impression that this is not a band that reveals its treasures on first viewing. They do however get extra marks for undertaking that most elegant of tricks, which is to play a cover that you only realise is a cover halfway through. It takes over two minutes of hurried googling by our Francophile paymaster to reveal that they are actually playing ‘Army of Me’ by Bjork. Klone are not an immediate band and that probably is one of their many attributes. It takes me the entire set to warm to them, but the biggest compliment to give is the fact that they leave me with an unquenching desire to find out more about them.

Devin Townsend is highly prolific. In the time that it takes most of us to get up in the morning, he is gone and produced yet another album. The Internet seems to more or less agree on the fact that “Lightwork” is album number twenty-one, but that doesn't take into account Strapping Young Lad or any of his many collaborations. Essentially, he now has the unenviable task of choosing from thousands of tracks to build a setlist.

All of this means we get a very interesting and different take on Devin this evening and one that is light years away from the variant of him that last strode these boards in 2017. The transcendental prog years are completely ignored and instead he concentrates in the main on the material that bears his name in a singular fashion. Anything that sported the Monika of band or project is benched (with the sole exception of ‘Deadhead’).  

On show tonight is a much more contemplative and introspective Devin Townsend. It isn't just the staging that is scaled back, musically he seems to have taken a sideways step from the gargantuan and epic and instead majored on a much more solipsistic and wistful style. You get the distinct impression that this is a stoically premeditated and conscious decision and his many interactions with the crowd draw on the fact that the now 50-year-old Devin is partaking in an awful lot of soul-searching. 

Whilst this is a much more reflective Devin, he still is the consummate entertainer and the hour and a half just flies by. Each track seems to get its own meandering anecdote of an intro and the meditative persona seems to suit him as he comes across as less hyper and much more comfortable in his own skin. The “nudge nudge wink wink” self-deprecation still rears its head as he describes Heartbreaker as an equally hard song to play and to listen to and the moment in the show when he loses the audience.

Devin has always had fun playing with the convention of an encore and tonight is no exception. “I'm going to pretend to go off and then you're going pretend to want me to come back” he deadpans and he doesn't get further than the side of the stage before he about heels and returns to bathe in the adoration of the crowd. Highlight of the "encore" is Strapping Young Lad number ‘Love?’ which sees him joined on stage by Stephen Platt.

Not a conventional guest star as such, Mancunian Stephen was part of the last-minute band that Devin pulled together in order to headline Bloodstock in 2021. The joy of being reunited with his substitute lifesaver is evident, as is his uncomfortableness at performing the track just as a vocalist. “I've never done this without a guitar” he honestly admits to the room. In fact in his desperation to have something in his hands, he grabs hold of a couple of octopuses (as you do) and grasps onto them like some form of security blanket.

No matter what he's doing and no matter how melancholic the material he chooses to showcase, there will always be something joyously fun about a Devin Townsend show. He has an infectious personality that will always rise to the surface, no matter his current mood or temperament. For 90 minutes he held us all in rapturous adoration. He could have chosen to do a set made entirely of nursery rhymes played on a child's keyboard and it still would have been an immensely enjoyable evening. The truth is Devin has transcended beyond being just a mere performer and has become an institutional treasure. He is joy personified and as one we skip out into the night collectively sporting massive grins of happiness.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Devin Townsend, Klone, Fixation