We’re a few minutes behind with this news, purely as I needed to stop bouncing around the room long enough to type this up. Way back in what must have been 1994 I saw Machine Head open for Slayer at Leeds T&C. A few months later (May ’95), they headlined Manchester Labatt’s Apollo (as it was then), touring on Burn My Eyes on their Crush The World tour.
25 years later (almost to the day! They played Dublin on November 6th 1994, and Belfast the day after) and they’re back. Most of them. After the recent upset and departure of Phil Demmel and Dave MacLean, nobody quite knew what to expect. I suspect Robb Flynn was amongst them. News reports were kicking about recently that the band were auditioning for replacements, but I’d hardly have expected former Logan Mader and Chris Kontos to be queuing up with the hopefuls!
Adam Duce hasn’t ed the lineup – perhaps as current bassist Jared MacEachern hadn’t left, but more likely as launching a lawsuit against your band-mates isn’t something they forget in a hurry. Either way, we have three quarters of the original lineup touring on their first, massive, breakthrough album.
This isn’t all! The band’s world tour (dates in the poster, UK dates listed below) will follow the recent format of being around three hours of full on Machine Head heaviness, but split in two. The opening section will be “modern classics” – material not from Burn My Eyes and will not feature Mader and Kontos. Those filling the two empty musician-shaped spaces are still to be announced. Part two will be Burn My Eyes. In full.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
Band founder and visionary, Robb Flynn tells us:
Having started rehearsals with Chris and Logan several weeks ago, I’m literally giddy with excitement at the prospect of how much fun this is going to be. Both Logan and Chris are in phenomenal playing shape, the vibe between all four of us has been incredibly positive, and having run through deep cuts like “Death Church” and “I’m Your God Now” for the first time in over a decade, has reminded me of how fucking heavy our older songs are! This tour is going to be massive! Do not sleep on this, tell your friends, spread the word, because tickets are going to disappear!
Logan Mader adds:
It’s a huge honor for me to take part in celebrating ‘Burn My Eyes’ 25th birthday! It’s hard to believe this is actually happening. I feel like I won the guitar player lottery… again. The fact that BME is still relevant today has a lot to do with the fact that Robb has kept the band alive and strong for two and a half decades. I’m very grateful for this!
Chris Kontos echoes the sentiment, stating:
This is an absolute mind blower! Playing these songs again after 23 years feels just amazing. The fact that it’s 25 years later and the BME record is still relevant and revered is humbling to say the least. Doing a huge world tour in celebration of the record is a great way to acknowledge the legacy of Machine Head’s past and future. I’m so looking forward to sharing these songs with the Machine Head fans around the world. Can’t wait to meet all you Head Cases out there! You can be sure it is going to be a crushing night! See ya soon!
Machine Head’s Lord of the low end, bassist Jared MacEachearn is equally looking forward to the run, saying:
It’s not everyday that you get to pay tribute to a classic like Burn My Eyes and with Logan and Chris in the mix, I’m really excited to bring something special to old and new fans alike.
Tickets go on general sale 10am local time, Friday 29th March, with Live Nation’s pre-sale going live at 10am, Thursday 28th over at https://www.livenation.co.uk/artist/machine-head-tickets and www.ticketmaster.ie for Belfast & Dublin. Once tickets are on sale, 40 VIP bundles per show will be available as follows. Click to machinehead1.com for purchase details:
Bronze tier: Exclusive Meet & Greet w/ commemorative Burn My Eyes t-shirt (unavailable at merch), commemorative Burn My Eyes flag, VIP laminate and lanyard, mini poster, and more (limited to 20).
Gold Tier: Exclusive Soundcheck, Meet & Greet w/ commemorative Burn My Eyes t-shirt (unavailable at merch), commemorative Burn My Eyes flag, VIP laminate and lanyard, mini poster, and more (limited to 19)
Platinum Tier: Stage-played Burn My Eyes Dean Guitars guitar, autographed by the whole band, exclusive Soundcheck, Meet & Greet w/ commemorative Burn My Eyes t-shirt (unavailable at merch), commemorative Burn My Eyes flag, VIP laminate and lanyard, mini poster, and more (limited to 1).
All Dates November 2019:
- Sat 2nd – UK, LONDON O2 Academy Brixton
- Mon 4th – UK, MANCHESTER O2 Victoria Warehouse
- Tue 5th – UK, GLASGOW O2 Academy
- Thu 7th – UK, BELFAST Telegraph Building
- Fri 8th – Ireland, DUBLIN Olympia Theatre
Header image: Travis Shinn
