Following on from the release of their seventh full-length album
"Trust No One" earlier this year,
DEVILDRIVER has launched on a tour of Europe, featuring nine shows in Germany.
Metal Temple had the chance to catch their show in Jena, Germany.
Now, Jena is a small town in Germany, and one where bands hardly ever tour. Especially not bands of DEVILDRIVER's stature. So this gig was certainly a rare treat, ensuring that fans flocked to the F-Haus, even from surrounding towns. Unsurprisingly, despite it being a Tuesday night at the beginning of the month, the venue was already pretty packed, with a steady stream of fans coming in with every passing minute.
Opening up the night was MAGNACULT, a band from Amsterdam, Netherlands. After some unfortunate mic issues right at the start of the show, MAGNACULT soon got into the swing of things, even managing to get a pit going on some of their songs. Whilst this was typically instigated by only a few people, it was nevertheless great to see an opener being so thoroughly enjoyed. The infectious energy soon spread, and although most of the crowd had never seen MAGNACULT before, I'm sure the band managed to garner a few new fans that evening. Although it has been four years since we last heard from MAGNACULT with their 2012 "Insua EnVenom" album, their performance proved that they're still very much alive and kicking, with the barrage of irresistible music sweeping the crowd off their feet. By the end of their set, MAGNACULT had managed to get the crowd fired up and ready for the headliners of the night, DEVILDRIVER.
Setlist:1. Fake Words
2. Disorder
3. Past Defeat
4. Torment
5. Inside Will Guide
6. Line of Attack
7. Kill Ignorant Humanity
8. Thrash
Finally, after a lengthy wait, with anticipation almost at breaking point, it was time for the Californians to storm the stage. Kicking right off with "End of the Line", DEVILDRIVER launched their set with a crowd-pleaser that immediately set the audience aflame. Following up with "These Fighting Words", "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" and "Pure Sincerity", the atmosphere in the packed venue went from ecstatic to frenzied. Only after this infectious mood had been perfectly set by favourites from older albums did DEVILDRIVER bring in a song from their newly released "Trust No One" album. Indeed, "Daybreak" and two songs later "My Night Sky" were the only two songs from the new album that were played that night. This provided the double-whamy of not only playing the songs that the audience wanted to hear, but also managing to introduce the new material as well, a balance that many bands fail to get right.
With the recent spate of headlines in Metal magazines about musicians' reactions to audience members constantly filming or texting during the show, it's still remarkable how common this problem is. One guy in the first row had already caught singer Dez Fafara's attention, holding up his cellphone as he filmed the entire first song. As the song ended, Dez grabbed the phone, languidly twirling the phone in the air a few times before tossing it in the general direction of the fan, making him scramble to catch his phone. Perhaps not as extreme a reaction as SLIPKNOT's Corey Taylor slapping a phone out of a fan's hands, but effective nonetheless. With no hard feelings being harboured, the phone stayed firmly packed away for the rest of the performance, allowing everyone to get on with enjoying the show.
Despite mic issues similar to those experienced by MAGNACULT, the sheer joy with which the audience sung along was enough to completely overlook such technical problem. Looking around the fully packed venue, the normally laconic Dez even remarked at one point that it felt like a Friday. And indeed it did: the atmosphere was purely electric from beginning right up until the last not of "Meet the Wretched".
DEVILDRIVER are one of the only bands around (barring all the Black Metal bands of course) who have the attitude of "get on stage, play all the songs on the setlist, and then get off the stage". No encores, no matter how vociferously the audience calls for one. Nevertheless, with the rain of plecs being handed out at the end of the show, the disappointment was very short lived, and the evening will undoubtedly remain as a fond memory for some time yet.
Setlist:
1. End of the Line
2. These Fighting Words
3. Not All Who Wander Are Lost
4. Pure Sincerity
5. Daybreak
6. I Could Care Less
7. Nothing's Wrong?
8. My Night Sky
9. Sail
10. Before the Hangman's Noose
11. Clouds Over California
12. Ruthless
13. Meet the Wretched
