Live Review: Devin Townsend Project, Toehider

Although unknown to many, Melburnians Toehider signalled themselves as a progressive band in perhaps the truest sense of the term: showing reverence for the past while remaining proudly forward-thinking. Ambitiously meshing aggressive musicianship with striking pop sensibilities and classic prog tendencies, in addition to whimsical patter and Zappa-esque quirkiness to which the headliner would have nodded his approval, they quickly ingratiated themselves to an already largely full room. Whatever Makes You Feel Superior was equal parts off-the-wall and infectious. Run-throughs of themes from Count Duckula, Darkwing Duck and DuckTales added another amusing touch. These folks are ones to watch. 

On the topic of wacky humour, prior to Devin Townsend Project hitting the stage, the audience was treated to a series of bizarrely sequenced images, ranging from dancing cattle to hilariously horrible martial arts demonstrations. Which would appear unusual in most gig-going contexts, but for a Canadian whose musical terrain has spanned ambient/new age, off-the-rails extreme metal, a concept piece detailing an extra-terrestrial's search for the perfect cup of coffee and singing for Steve Vai, well, it's pretty much par for the course. The idiosyncratic, rubber-faced frontman's early tongue-in-cheek promise of a night filled with “heavy metal rhetoric” only reinforced this sentiment. 

An efficient, seasoned band; flashy, hypnotic light show; further laughs (“Are you sufficiently stoned yet? Your mother would be so upset”) and more unorthodox hijinks, including a “guitar duel” between Townsend and projected alien creation Ziltoid, put the exclamation point on a wide-reaching, fanboy-pleasing 100-minute set. Attempting to satiate such a rabid following would surely be a tad daunting, but the selections covered considerable ground from across his prolific solo catalogue. Although leaning heavily on latest effort, Epicloud (backing tracks and crowd often substituting for Anneke van Giersbergen's angelic vocal lines), there were plenty of other stand-outs. Majestic Regulator, bouncy pop a la Addicted!, the large-scale prog-hard rock of Storm, Juular's demented brutality, quality selections from the oft-overlooked Infinity LP (most notably Christeen) and introspective closer, Deep Peace, were scattered throughout a display that left precious few bases untouched. 

Just shy of exactly a decade since this reviewer caught the mercurial songwriter live at the same venue (then fronting madcap metallers Strapping Young Lad), despite “HevyDevy” existing in a vastly different headspace both in life and music nowadays, judging by the sheer fervour greeting this performance the hero-worship amongst Sydney audiences shows zero signs of abating.