Machine Head may have been headlining the The Eighth Plague tour, but they were not the only ones we were looking forward to seeing on it. Second after them came DevilDriver, who’s acquaintance we a couple of years ago in London.
As they were clearly the second main focus for us, and a lot of people we spoke to at the event, it surprised us to see that they were not playing as the primary support band, but were placed in the middle of the three; Darkest Hour, which we sadly only caught a glimpse of as we got in late, were the first ones on the stage, and after DevilDriver there was Bring Me The Horizon before the main act took the stage.

”We’re here to warm you up so make some fucking noise!”
- ’Dez’ Fafara (vocals)

Right now it was DevilDriver’s time on stage however, and they came out with blasting speakers and a wish for everyone to raise their middle fingers towards them. Who knows, maybe this would help build that aggressive energy the band so generously hands out to us during their performance.
I also mentioned the blasting speakers, and even though a loud volume is preferable at times like these, it does not compensate for a bad mix, which was exactly what these Californian gentlemen had been dealt I’m afraid. Even when standing in the middle of the room with the mixing table just slightly behind me, where sound ought to be at its best, bass and bass-drum drowned out nearly everything else, and they were so loud I could actually feel the floor vibrating!
But what the sound may have lacked, the band made up for in plenty with their performance. As a sort of contradiction to the fast aggression of the music, the actual performance of the band-members was more held back and cozy in its attitude, with Fafara generously dealing out little comments between songs.

Looking at the other side of the fence for a minute, I could clearly see that the reaction the band got from the crowd was far from held back and cozy though, in fact already during End Of The Line which was the first song of the night, a loud sing-along could be heard filling the room. When the second song, Head On To Heartache (Let Them Rot), came on we got to see a furious wall of death take place right in front of my eyes, and for the third as many as the sands of the Sahara were jumping up and down to the beat of John Boecklin and his audible bass-drum. Guess people weren’t kidding when they said they had looked so much forward to the DevilDriver gig.
The wildness carried on over into a large mosh which was further developed by Fafara himself to end in an even larger circle-pit, before moving back to the mosh and finally ending the show in a glorious way with Clouds Over California and one more ball-breaking wall of death! Now this is exactly the type of response I would guess was the most popular for band as you can what a great effect ones music has on other people. I guess the only thing missing from the show was some crowd-surfing action, but let’s not get greedy here.

I could probably keep writing pages full of descriptions of what transpired here, but suffice to say is that DevilDriver did exactly what was needed for a support-band; they kicked some serious ass and got both bodies and voices of the fans good and warm for the oncoming slaughter of Machine Head. Well done boys, well done.

Setlist:

End Of The Line
Head On To Heartache (Let Them Rot)
Dead To Rights
You Make Me Sick
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
Impending Disaster
I Could Care Less
Clouds Over California