Roskilde had an unusually diverse metal line-up in 2013, and one of the most unusual and diverse artists of the genre that was visiting the festival was undoubtedly the crazy Canadian Devin ‘Hevy Devy’ Townsend.

“We were apparently announced here as the “metal jokers playing corny pop”, so let’s do this!”
- Devin Townsend (vocals/guitar)

As several other metal bands, Devin Townsend Project was playing the Odeon tent stage, and they did so early evening on the Friday. The Odeon was a large tent, and it was hardly filled when we came rushing in during the ZTO / By Your Command combo and found a nice spot close to the stage.
Up on the stage, Ziltoid was adorning the video-screen backdrop the band was using, and I saw Brian Waddell (bass) and Ryan van Poederooyen (drums) clad in official Devin Townsend Project garments, whereas Townsend himself was more low-key in his unbuttoned flannel shirt. Guitarist Dave Young had been replaced by a papier maché pigs-head; reason given and forgotten.
As you well know, looks isn’t everything though, and luckily for Devin Townsend Project, neither is sound. It is sad that one of the most accomplished musical masterminds to visit the festival should be handed such a lousy sound where all of the interesting details of the music were lost in a blur of noisy, muddy bass and drums, but that’ what happened. Even I who don’t know the music very well to begin with could easily hear that the Roskilde audience was missing out from a musical sense at this show.

On the other hand, the crowd got their money’s worth with the performance instead! Townsend was in a great mood, and showed no distress about the early time or the unfilled tent; instead he was cracking jokes, making faces, and at one time kissed one of the guards on the head! The other two were also well in the game, and even though they took a back seat to Townsend they were still working hard to deliver the goods!
It surely paid off as well; the crowd was clearly into the show, and when Townsend asked for lighters for the ballad Where We Belong, those who had such a device on them weren’t late in giving in to his request. Otherwise it was mostly arms in the air and a rhythmic and easy-going rocking of bodies that set the standard of the day; War also saw a nice waving of arms from side to side, again clear evidence of the participation and presence of the crowd even though moshes and circle pits weren’t what stood on the menu.

It’s hard to say much about the setlist, as I am still a novice to Townsend’s music, but he was kind enough to name a few titles throughout, and others still I vaguely recognised from the Copenhagen show the year before. I was of course very happy to hear Juular, a song I grew attached to quickly after last time, but all of the songs were delivered with equal conviction and love from the band.
That the show as a whole was thought through and created to entertain was also clear to behold, one point that made me laugh was when the video screen displayed a puppet wearing an acoustical guitar and a Meshuggah t-shirt as Planet Of The Apes began playing. The same song later showed a different puppet playing keyboards whilst wearing a Between The Buried And Me t-shirt...

When the show was over, there was a short handing out of drum sticks and guitar picks before the band had to leave to make room for the next artist, but I’m sure several in the crowd shared my sentiment that Devin Townsend Project could easily have continued for a longer time than they did.

Setlist (incomplete):

ZTO (Devin Townsend cover)
By Your Command (Devin Townsend cover)
Where We Belong
War (Devin Townsend cover)
Planet Of The Apes
Kingdom (Devin Townsend cover)
Juular
More!
Grace