MACHINE HEAD has announced the North American leg of its 25th-anniversary tour for the band's classic debut, "Burn My Eyes". The dates kick off in Phoenix on January 16, and continue across Texas, Florida, New York, Toronto, Chicago and Denver, wrapping up at the legendary Fox Theater in Oakland, California on February 21 and House Of Blues in Anaheim, California on February 22. Building on the band's previous "An Evening With…" format, the "Burn My Eyes" anniversary show is described in a press release as "a three-hour musical extravaganza," comprised of two parts: part one consists of a battery of MACHINE HEAD's modern classics, such as "Imperium", "Halo" and "Locust", featuring guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn and bassist Jared MacEachern performing alongside new recruits, Polish guitarist Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka (DECAPITATED) and British drummer Matt Alston (DEVILMENT, EASTERN FRONT); part two features "Burn My Eyes" played in its entirety for the first time ever, with original drummer Chris Kontos and guitarist Logan Mader joining in. Flynn comments: "North American Head Cases, you have been patiently waiting for what seems like for-goddamned-EVER. Thank you for your patience, but we are now ready to CRUSH YOUR FUCKING SKULLS!! So ready to get back on the road in the U.S. Biggest production we have ever had, most insane lineup we have ever had, we have leveled the fuck up for this run! Ready to bring you three hours of blood, sweat, tears, pain, rage, and life-affirming metal. Let's fucking do this!!" MacEachern is equally looking forward to the run, saying: "North America! I promised you tour dates… well, your time has come!! Don't you dare miss this special moment in musical history, as we pay 25 years of tribute to 'Burn My Eyes'! The band is sounding tight as ever, and the spirits are high. Come relive your adolescent angst and rage with MACHINE HEAD!!" Mader adds: "North America! We're just now finishing rehearsals with full production in Germany for the first leg and holy sh*t... the sound, the lights, the feel and fire are epic beyond anything I've ever been a part of!!! Can't wait to bring it to the USA and Canada aye! My brain is overloaded with excitement, emotion and adrenaline!!!" Kontos echoes the sentiment, stating: "After 24 years have passed since I have done any touring in the U.S. with MACHINE HEAD, I'm so looking forward to bringing this incredible tour to the masses. I can honestly say I think the U.S. 'Head Cases' will be absolutely blown away by the 'Burn My Eyes' 25th-anniversary tour. I can't wait to destroy the states next year!!!!" Kiełtyka shares his new bandmates' enthusiasm, saying: "It’s a huge privilege to be a part of this amazing tour. #BurnMyEyes25 tour reaches more and more places. After rehearsals and pre-production in Germany, I can confirm there's no way you can miss out on this tour!!" And Alston says: "I'm so stoked to be part of the 'Burn My Eyes' 25th-anniversary tour. Being on stage with Robb, Jared and Vogg; performing songs I grew up listening to and in front of thousands of HeadCases is just amazing! AND then being able to have my face melted by the 'Burn My Eyes' show...it just doesn't get much better than that!! We really can't wait to be able to bring this tour to the MACHINE HEAD fans of North America! You'd be crazy to miss it, that's for sure!" A special BLABBERMOUTH.NET presale will begin on Tuesday, October 8 at 10:00 a.m. local time and end on Wednesday, October 9 at 10:00 p.m. local time. When prompted, type in the presale code "BURN" to access tickets before the general public. Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, October 11 at 10 a.m. local time. Tour dates: Jan. 16 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren Jan. 18 - Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey Jan. 20 - Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues Jan. 21 - San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theatre Jan. 22 - Houston, TX @ House Of Blues Jan. 26 - Orlando, FL @ House Of Blues Jan. 27 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution Jan. 28 - Tampa, FL @ Ritz Ybor Jan. 30 - Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage Jan. 31 - Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore Feb. 01 - New York City, NY @ Webster Hall Feb. 04 - Toronto, ONT @ Danforth Music Hall Feb. 05 - Montreal, QUE @ Corona Theatre Feb. 07 - Boston, MA @ House Of Blues Feb. 08 - Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom Feb. 09 - Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theater Feb. 11 - Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue Feb. 12 - Louisville, KY @ Mercury Ballroom Feb. 14 - Detroit, MI @ Crofoot Feb. 15 - Chicago, IL @ Metro Feb. 16 - Minneapolis, MN @ Skyway Theatre Feb. 18 - Denver, CO @ The Gothic Theatre Feb. 19 - Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot Feb. 21 - Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater Feb. 22 - Anaheim, CA @ House Of Blues MACHINE HEAD kicked off the European leg of the "Burn My Eyes" 25th-anniversary tour Saturday night (October 5) in Freiburg, Germany. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below. Flynn spoke to U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine about the decision to effectively split the set with new musicians playing the non-"Burn My Eyes" songs. He said: "As I was figuring it out with Logan, Chris and Jared, I explained that I can't even imagine playing a MACHINE HEAD show and not playing 'Halo'; 'Imperium'; 'Aesthetics Of Hate'; 'From This Day'; 'The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears…', 'Now We Die' — or even 'Catharsis'. 'Darkness Within' is a show-stopping moment, every time. We had to think about how we were going to pull this off. I wanted to honor Chris and Logan and not have them needing to learn 40 other fucking songs to be able to pull it off. "It's kind of weird. We're gonna have a lot of motherfuckers on tour," he said. "But it's gonna be fucking awesome. I think it's gonna be a bit of a goddamn circus. I really want to pay tribute to the guys that were there and built it with me. I think it's gonna break the fucking Internet!" Kontos left MACHINE HEAD before the release of the band's second album, 1997's "The More Things Change", and was replaced by Dave McClain. Mader contributed to two MACHINE HEAD albums, the aforementioned "Burn My Eyes" and "The More Things Change", before exiting the group and being replaced by Ahrue Luster and, later on, Phil Demmel. Demmel and McClain exited MACHINE HEAD last fall.
Continue reading...
Continue reading...
