The soul-bearing Devin Townsend

WILL STONE is absorbed by a painful life story told through heart-on-sleeve candour, and a huge back catalogue

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A PALPABLE intensity radiates from Devin Townsend as he takes to the stage of Hove’s Old Market, the Victorian marketplace-turned-arts-hub, as part of his stripped-back solo acoustic Metamorphosis tour.

The Canadian polymath guitarist, musical visionary and prolific songwriter (he has more than 40 albums to his name) has set himself the Herculean task of giving a rundown of his entire career through storytelling and playing select tracks from his back catalogue.

“Tonight’s going to be a weird one… I’m warning you,” says Devin, who is flanked by a rack of guitars, a laptop and a flip chart, which he scribbled on earlier with a felt-tip pen.

He explains that he needs the first few songs of the evening to exorcise some demons, dutifully doing so as he belts out venue-shaking screams on Deadhead. The song, he tells us, is about suffering, lust v love, and breaking through fear.

The soul-baring Devin treats the sit-down gig as equal parts presentation and performance. Much of the presentation is about his turbulent mental health journey, which involved early sexual trauma, a psychedelic-drug-induced breakdown that saw him diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and relationship struggles.

And while this is very much a one-for-the-fans evening, each life story is punctuated by a track from the period, which nicely sets his recording career in context for the die-hard followers and the uninitiated alike.

It’s also a rare chance for Devin to spotlight the emotive side of his best-known songs, which are somewhat buried on his albums beneath his trademark wall-of-sound production.

His vocal versatility, which can reach operatic head notes, soars beautifully in so much of his repertoire: Funeral, Let It Roll, Ih-Ah! and Kingdom, to name but a few.

The only time he whips out the electric guitar is to perform the searing solos on Away and Deep Peace.

Yet even two hours is nowhere near long enough to entirely achieve Devin’s ambition. He is forced to medley many of his tracks, including fan favourites Storm and Christeen, which get snippets only. A shame, but the intimacy and vulnerability of the night make up for it. Part therapy session (think primal scream!), part career retrospective, it’s a raw and absorbing self-portrait.

Devin Townsend’s Metamorphosis tour runs until October 10. For more info visit hevydevy.com

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