The Retinal Circus

### Genre

Progressive rock, experimental rock, progressive metal, alternative rock, hard rock, new-age

### Producer

Devin Townsend

***The Retinal Circus*** is a live release by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. It was released on September 30, 2013, in Europe, and on October 29, 2013, in North America. The audio and video material were recorded at the Roundhouse, London, on October 27, 2012, when Townsend performed a special one-night-only concert celebrating and covering his 20-year musical career.

## Concert

In November 2011, after performing a series of special Devin Townsend Project shows, Townsend revealed his plan to perform a one-off concert in London that would cover his musical career from mid-1990s up to that point. Townsend stated that he wanted to create a "more than musical" show which included a storyline, multiple performers and special effects. Later he said that the concert would be recorded for future release.

The concert lasted approximately three hours, and it was divided into two parts with an intermission in between. 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, but included no songs from *Terria*, *Accelerated Evolution*, *Ki* or *Ghost*. Townsend also performed, against his current principles, 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". He also wanted to "respect the legacy of the band" and to reconnect and perform again with Jed Simon.

The concert was one of the most prepared 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*. 5000 people saw the sold out performance, and the concert was also streamed live through Livemusicstage.com.

## Release

*The Retinal Circus* was released in 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 lithograph 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.

The album was a chart success in some countries, with the double-DVD version peaking at No. 1 in Finland.

## Track listing

All songs written by Devin Townsend.

1. "Effervescent!"
2. "True North"
3. "Lucky Animals"
4. "Planet of the Apes"
5. "Truth"
6. "War"
7. "Soul Driven"
8. "Planet Smasher"
9. "Babysong"
10. "Vampolka"
11. "Vampira"
12. "Addicted!"
13. "Color Your World"
14. "The Greys"
**Intermission**
15. "Hyperdrive"
16. "Ih-Ah!"
17. "Where We Belong"
18. "Detox"
19. "Bend It Like Bender!"
20. "Life"
21. "Kingdom"
22. "Juular"
23. "Love?"
24. "Colonial Boy"
25. "Grace"
26. "Little Pig"

## Personnel

* Devin Townsend – vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming
* Dave Young – guitars
* Brian Waddell – bass
* Ryan Van Poederooyen – drums

### Guest musicians

* Anneke van Giersbergen – vocals
* Jed Simon – guitars
* Dom Lawson – vocals ("Planet Smasher")

## References

1. ↑ The Retinal Circus CD details. *Omerch*. August 2013.
2. ↑ The Retinal Circus CD details. *CM Distro*. September, 2013.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Harris, Chris (November 17, 2011). Devin Townsend Announces “The Retinal Circus” Show for Fall 2012. *Gun Shy Assassin*.
4. ↑ Townsend, Devin (October 9, 2012). The Retinal Circus on DVD and Blu-ray, scheduled release Q2/2013. *Facebook*.
5. ↑ The Retinal Circus setlist. *Setlist.fm*. November 1, 2012.
6. ↑ Hammer, Dan (May 22, 2007). Why No More Strapping Young Lad. *Metal Hammer*.
7. ↑ Devin Townsend's Twitter. October 28, 2012.
8. ↑ Bansal, Aniruddh (August 26, 2013). Devin Townsend has no interest in Strapping Young Lad reunion. *Blabbermouth.net*.
9. ↑ Sold out Retinal Circus extravaganza live online at Livemusicstage.com. *Inside Out Music*. October 9, 2012.
10. ↑ The Retinal Circus products. *CM Distro*.
11. ↑ The Retinal Circus products. *Omerch*.
12. ↑ IFPI Musiikkituottajat – *The Retinal Circus*