The Retinal Circus
| The Retinal Circus | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | September 30, 2013 | |||
| Recorded | October 27, 2012, at Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 128:58 | |||
| Label | HevyDevy | |||
| Producer | Devin Townsend | |||
| Devin Townsend chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |    [1] |
The Retinal Circus is a live album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. It was released on September 30, 2013, in Europe,[2] and on October 29, 2013, in North America.[3] The audio and video material were recorded at Roundhouse, London, on October 27, 2012, when Townsend performed a special one-night-only concert celebrating and covering his 20-year musical career.[4]
Concert
[edit]In November 2011, after performing a series of special Devin Townsend Project shows, Devin Townsend revealed his plan to perform a one-off concert in London, England, that would cover his musical career from mid-1990s up to that point.[4] Townsend stated that he wanted to create a "more than musical" show which included a storyline, multiple performers and special effects.[4] Later he said that the concert would be recorded for future release.[5]
The concert lasted approximately two and a half hours, and it was divided into two parts, with an intermission in between.[6] The band consisted of the same personnel as the recent years' Devin Townsend Project line-up, and the special guests were Anneke van Giersbergen and Jed Simon, with Steve Vai hosting the show via pre-recorded video projected onto screens. The setlist was focused heavily on material from Epicloud and a few other albums from Townsend's catalogue; the setlist included no songs from Terria, Accelerated Evolution, Ki and Ghost. Townsend also performed, against his then-current principles,[7] two Strapping Young Lad songs. He later stated that this was because of the career-spanning nature of the concert, and playing those two songs was a "closure for him and Strapping Young Lad".[8] He also wanted to "respect the legacy of the band" and to reconnect and perform again with Jed Simon.[9]
The concert was one of the most prepared Devin Townsend shows ever, with over a year of pre-production, and it was recorded in high definition with a higher budget and a more professional approach to production than the previous live release, By a Thread.[4] 5000 people saw the sold out performance, and the concert was also streamed live through Livemusicstage.com.[10]
Release
[edit]The Retinal Circus was released as six different versions. The standard editions feature either a double-CD, double-DVD or a Blu-ray. The Blu-ray version includes the whole concert on a single disc. The digipak edition features both the CDs and the DVDs. Two limited edition box sets were also released: a "clown box" featuring all five discs of the standard editions, limited to 5000 copies worldwide, and a "monkey box" featuring all five discs with a 40-page book, signed lithography print and fan merchandise, housed in a vinyl sized box with a pop-up of the Retinal Circus stage. The "monkey box" edition is limited to 2500 hand-numbered copies worldwide.[11][12] The album was a chart success in some countries, with the double-DVD version peaking at No. 1 in Finland.[13]
Track listing
[edit]All track lengths taken from the CD release.
All tracks are written by Devin Townsend
| No. | Title | Album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Effervescent!/True North" | Epicloud | 6:23 |
| 2. | "Lucky Animals" | Epicloud | 3:33 |
| 3. | "Planet of the Apes" | Deconstruction | 11:02 |
| 4. | "Truth" | Infinity | 3:59 |
| 5. | "War" | Infinity | 6:09 |
| 6. | "Soul Driven" | Infinity | 1:08 |
| 7. | "Planet Smasher" | Ziltoid the Omniscient | 6:19 |
| 8. | "Babysong" | Synchestra | 5:30 |
| 9. | "Vampolka" | Synchestra | 1:36 |
| 10. | "Vampira" | Synchestra | 3:42 |
| 11. | "Addicted!" | Addicted | 5:32 |
| 12. | "Color Your World" | Ziltoid the Omniscient | 9:48 |
| 13. | "The Greys" | Ziltoid the Omniscient | 4:55 |
| Total length: | 69:36 | ||
| No. | Title | Album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hyperdrive" | Ziltoid the Omniscient/Addicted | 4:44 |
| 2. | "Ih-Ah!" | Addicted | 3:58 |
| 3. | "Where We Belong" | Epicloud | 4:18 |
| 4. | "Detox" (Strapping Young Lad) | City | 6:03 |
| 5. | "Bend It Like Bender!" | Addicted | 3:36 |
| 6. | "Life" | Ocean Machine: Biomech | 4:52 |
| 7. | "Kingdom" | Physicist/Epicloud | 5:09 |
| 8. | "Juular" | Deconstruction | 3:59 |
| 9. | "Love?" (Strapping Young Lad) | Alien | 5:23 |
| 10. | "Colonial Boy" | Infinity | 2:58 |
| 11. | "Grace" | Epicloud | 6:52 |
| 12. | "Little Pig" | Epiclouder | 7:30 |
| Total length: | 59:22 | ||
Personnel
[edit]- Devin Townsend – vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming
- Dave Young – guitars
- Brian Waddell – bass
- Ryan Van Poederooyen – drums
Guest musicians
[edit]- Anneke van Giersbergen – vocals
- Jed Simon – guitars
- Dom Lawson – vocals ("Planet Smasher")
References
[edit]- ^ Marsicano, Dan (October 2013). "Devin Townsend – The Retinal Circus DVD/CD Review". About.com. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
- ^ The Retinal Circus CD details. Omerch. August 2013.
- ^ The Retinal Circus CD details. CM Distro. September 2013.
- ^ a b c d Harris, Chris (November 17, 2011). Devin Townsend Announces “The Retinal Circus” Show for Fall 2012[usurped]. Gun Shy Assassin.
- ^ Townsend, Devin (October 9, 2012). The Retinal Circus on DVD and Blu-ray, scheduled release Q2/2013. Facebook.
- ^ The Retinal Circus setlist. Setlist.fm. November 1, 2012.
- ^ Hammer, Dan (May 22, 2007). Why No More Strapping Young Lad. Metal Hammer.
- ^ Devin Townsend's Twitter. October 28, 2012.
- ^ Bansal, Aniruddh (August 26, 2013). Devin Townsend has no interest in Strapping Young Lad reunion. Blabbermouth.net.
- ^ Sold out Retinal Circus extravaganza live online at Livemusicstage.com. Inside Out Music. October 9, 2012.
- ^ The Retinal Circus products. CM Distro.
- ^ The Retinal Circus products. Omerch.
- ^ IFPI Musiikkituottajat – The Retinal Circus
