The Retinal Circus

The Retinal Circus
Live album by Devin Townsend
Released September 30, 2013
Recorded October 27, 2012, at Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London
Genre Progressive metal, industrial metal, alternative metal, progressive rock, new-age
Length 128:58
Label HevyDevy
Producer Devin Townsend
Devin Townsend chronology

Epicloud
(2012)		 The Retinal Circus
(2013)		 Casualties of Cool
(2014)
Professional ratings
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

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 three 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 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

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

All track lengths taken from the CD release.

All songs written and composed by Devin Townsend. 

Disc one
No. TitleAlbum 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
Disc two
No. TitleAlbum 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

Guest musicians

References

  1. ↑ Marsicano, Dan (October 2013). "Devin Townsend - The Retinal Circus DVD/CD Review". About.com. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  2. ↑ The Retinal Circus CD details. Omerch. August 2013.
  3. ↑ The Retinal Circus CD details. CM Distro. September, 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Harris, Chris (November 17, 2011). Devin Townsend Announces “The Retinal Circus” Show for Fall 2012. Gun Shy Assassin.
  5. ↑ Townsend, Devin (October 9, 2012). The Retinal Circus on DVD and Blu-ray, scheduled release Q2/2013. Facebook.
  6. ↑ The Retinal Circus setlist. Setlist.fm. November 1, 2012.
  7. ↑ Hammer, Dan (May 22, 2007). Why No More Strapping Young Lad. Metal Hammer.
  8. ↑ Devin Townsend's Twitter. October 28, 2012.
  9. ↑ Bansal, Aniruddh (August 26, 2013). Devin Townsend has no interest in Strapping Young Lad reunion. Blabbermouth.net.
  10. ↑ Sold out Retinal Circus extravaganza live online at Livemusicstage.com. Inside Out Music. October 9, 2012.
  11. ↑ The Retinal Circus products. CM Distro.
  12. ↑ The Retinal Circus products. Omerch.
  13. ↑ IFPI Musiikkituottajat – The Retinal Circus