The Retinal Circus

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The Retinal Circus
The Retinal Circus cover.jpg
Live album by
Devin Townsend
ReleasedSeptember 30, 2013 (2013-09-30)
RecordedOctober 27, 2012, at Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London
Genre Progressive metal, industrial metal, alternative metal, progressive rock, new-age
Length128:58
Label HevyDevy
Producer Devin Townsend
Devin Townsend chronology
Epicloud
(2012)		The Retinal Circus
(2013)		 Casualties of Cool
(2014)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [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]

Contents

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 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

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 tracks are written by Devin Townsend.

Disc one
No.TitleAlbumLength
1."Effervescent!/True North" Epicloud 6:23
2."Lucky Animals"Epicloud3:33
3."Planet of the Apes" Deconstruction 11:02
4."Truth" Infinity 3:59
5."War"Infinity6:09
6."Soul Driven"Infinity1:08
7."Planet Smasher" Ziltoid the Omniscient 6:19
8."Babysong" Synchestra 5:30
9."Vampolka"Synchestra1:36
10."Vampira"Synchestra3:42
11."Addicted!" Addicted 5:32
12."Color Your World"Ziltoid the Omniscient9:48
13."The Greys"Ziltoid the Omniscient4:55
Total length:69:36
Disc two
No.TitleAlbumLength
1."Hyperdrive"Ziltoid the Omniscient/Addicted4:44
2."Ih-Ah!"Addicted3:58
3."Where We Belong"Epicloud4:18
4."Detox" (Strapping Young Lad) City 6:03
5."Bend It Like Bender!"Addicted3:36
6."Life" Ocean Machine: Biomech 4:52
7."Kingdom" Physicist /Epicloud5:09
8."Juular"Deconstruction3:59
9."Love?" (Strapping Young Lad) Alien 5:23
10."Colonial Boy"Infinity2:58
11."Grace"Epicloud6:52
12."Little Pig" Epiclouder 7:30
Total length:59:22

Personnel

Guest musicians

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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. 1 2 3 4 Harris, Chris (November 17, 2011). Devin Townsend Announces “The Retinal Circus” Show for Fall 2012 [usurped!]. 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
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