Devin Townsend Project Play the Whole of `Ocean Machine` in Plovdiv’s Roman Amphitheater (2017)

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 2 October 2026

Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Video: Sebastijan Videc

Location: Plovdiv / Stari rimski amfiteater / Bulgaria
Concert date: 22.09.2017
Attendance: 6,000

That’s what happens when Crazy Davy heads off to a Roman amphitheater. And we’re right behind him! Third time this year. Seriously. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re talking about Devin Townsend, a musician who constantly walks the thin, imaginary line between total genius and »slightly bonkers«, a musical artist who left the normal world behind long ago and created several parallel ones, in which he found a pile of new homes and destinations. So we follow Devin too. This year, all the way from Zagreb to Graz, and on to Plovdiv in Bulgaria, where the man and his crew announced a special concert in the local amphitheater, built in 200 AD

The concert was split into two parts. In the first, Devin Townsend played a set picked by his fans, joined by the Plovdiv State Opera orchestra, and that was followed in the second part by a performance of the whole album »Ocean Machine«, which came out twenty years ago. That beautiful progressive album, in other words! What’s more, Devin Townsend announced a DVD and Blu-ray release of this special show.

It’s a little past eight. In the evening, of course. The venue is sold out. The official site says the amphitheater holds between 5000 and 7000 people. This time, though, there was no access to the floor, and the stands were packed to the rafters. Tons of tourists, plenty of Canadians and Americans in the crowd, as well as visitors from Ireland, the United Kingdom, France and Spain; the sheer number of Greeks was no surprise at all. A world in miniature! Tickets with pretty salty prices, but still. A once-in-a-lifetime experience you don’t miss. It’s boiling in here, like a beehive.

It kicked off at half past eight. Straight away with Truth from the third solo album »Infinity«,. Ahem, if we’re being exact, in a newly recorded version and arrangement, as on the current studio album by The Devin Townsend Project, titled »Transcedence«. That album supplied the most material in the first part, which shakes the claim that the first-part setlist was put together by fan request a bit. Still. If there were around 6,000 people there, that made 12,000 ears, and all those ears were »glued« to the surprises. Into this basket of delights we can put the excellent »Canada« (»Terria«, 2001), the song Om from the EP »Christeen« and Bad Devil from the album »Infinity«, which he introduced with the comment that it’s a great song for the soundtrack of a »swingers’ dance party«. Among the specials we should also mention the inclusion of two »Synchestra« (2006) songs, namely Gaia and Simple Lullaby. Devin closed the first part with Deep Peace from the album »Terria« »(2001)! Nor was there any avoiding a meeting with Devin’s alter ego, going by the name Ziltoid, as the musicians sailed into a fired-up By Your Command and once again got the multi-thousand-headed crowd on its feet. No need to stress that the venue itself, the wild, fully immersed crowd, meaning an amphitheater sold out down to the last detail, and of course the orchestra (with a whole choir), added a special dimension to the spectacle. But the sound was a bit naughty. I watched the show from the third row on the far right side, and the orchestra and choir were terribly hard to hear from there. For most of the first part they were drowned out by all of Devin and company’s distorted heavy artillery. Devin spoke less than usual this time, and in one of the breaks he announced the DVD and Blu-ray release, saying something along these lines: »I won’t talk much this time, so we don’t have too much work with the cuts when we put the Blu-ray together later!« Unheard of. A totally new experience for Devin, who took the whole thing in very emotionally and kept thanking people, now one, now another, and of course the wild crowd that held him high on its wings. At the same time he never stopped bowing to the orchestra behind him and conductor Levon Manukyan. The grand finale of the first part was seasoned with a big fireworks display, and the magic moments were topped off at the end by rich pyrotechnics with spectacular jets of flame that whipped between the walls of the amphitheater and the silhouettes of ancient Roman gods. Insane. Devin accompanied the whole thing in his witty style, saying the entire budget for recording the next new album had gone on all these pyro bits.

The 20th anniversary celebration of the album »Ocean Machine: Biomech« was less kitschy. Only Devin’s backing band stayed on stage, minus Beav, who for this special occasion was replaced by original bassist John Randahl Harder. He played bass for Devin on this famous album, so hugely cherished among fans. Devin cheekily greeted Beav in the audience, since the regular DTP bassist had been forced into temporary concert inactivity. Drummer Ryan van Poederooyen moved with his kit to the center for the second part; in the first part he had the drums set up on the far right (as seen from the stage). »Ocean Machine« from head to toe, then. From start to finish. In one piece.

If for some the first part didn’t reach the expected peak, since, as said, there was room for improvement in the sound (the orchestra was only partly used) and in the repertoire too, with too many songs from the current album »Transcendence«, which, let’s be honest, is the less interesting one among the DTP albums, then the rest of the show certainly beat expectations. It was admirable to see how some songs from this album have »progressively« evolved over time and now reach a new atmospheric experience in the live setting. Flawlessly played, flawlessly executed. Brilliant execution. Devin with an acoustic guitar in Sister. The sound was totally okay this time, too. The Death of Music and Life, in their beauty, felt especially moving given all the atmosphere that was built and the relived performance. The obligatory live favorites Night, Regulator and Seventh Wave likewise set off waves of emotion and passion in the crowd. An exceptionally avalanche-like moment of the concert, the performance of Bastard, »broke all the shackles« of emotional, and spiritual, barriers too. Esoteric, cerebral, trippy! In short, a perfect concert cannonade. Devin Townsend and company in superb form and great spirits, Devin once again monstrous on vocals. A performance on a top-notch atmospheric groove! Ravenousness that didn’t let up for a second.

It all passed so quickly that you simply couldn’t wake up from the trance. A unique, unrepeatable experience. A unique atmosphere. A unique repertoire, a unique venue. Whoever came to Plovdiv for this concert that day won’t forget it until the end of their days. I believe the sound on the DVD and Blu-ray will be considerably better than what the live encounter served up in the first part of this truly unforgettable get-together with the one-of-a-kind genius of this galaxy and his family, Devin Townsend!

Setlist

fan-request setlist (played with the orchestra):
1. Truth
2. Stormbending
3. Om
4. Failure
5. By Your Command
6. Gaia
7. Deadhead
8. Canada
9. Bad Devil
10. Higher
11. A Simple Lullaby
12. Deep Peace
—20 min break—
album “Ocean Machine”:
13. Seventh Wave
14. Life
15. Night
16. Hide Nowhere
17. Sister
18. 3 a.m.
19. Voices in the Fan
20. Greetings
21. Regulator
22. Funeral
23. Bastard
24. The Death of Music
25. Things Beyond Things