I haven’t missed a show since they came out on “The Blackening” tour, a tour which lasted close to 3 years.

And my Best Man was in tow again who also hasn’t missed a show with me, along with my eldest son this time, who likes only three Machine Head songs in “Darkness Within”, “Bastards” and “Circle The Drain”.

“Do you reckon they’ll play em Dad”, he kept asking me.

“I am sure they will as those songs are up there in streams, so why not”, I lied back.

I had already checked the last 10 shows they had done via Setlist.fm and I couldn’t see those songs in the set. But I wasn’t going to tell him the truth. And selfishly, I wanted him to come and experience a “Machine Fucking Head” concert.

But before Machine Head took the stage, Fear Factory did.

It’s not the classic Fear Factory line up but then again which band these days is touring with the original members.

Guitarist Dino Cazares is the only original member, joined by new vocalist Milo Silvestro who replaced the much loved Burton C. Bell. Pete Webber on drums is also a new addition, then again Fear Factory have had more drummers than Spinal Tap. Rounding out the line up is bassist Tony Campos, who has been with the band since 2015.

I’m not a massive fan but I do like to go nuts on “Archetype”, “Shock” and “Resurrection”. And man, they did play em.

They opened with “Shock”, they closed with “Resurrection” and in the middle they dropped “Archetype”.

“Archetype” was written in the version of Fear Factory without Dino and it wasn’t played live when Dino returned, however once it was added to the setlist in 2013, it never really left.

But I was here to watch Machine Head.

Machine Head is a different beast these days from the first time I saw them. Robb Flynn is basically Machine Head, in the same way Dave Mustaine is Megadeth.

In 2010, joining Rob was Phil Demmel on guitars, Adam Duce on bass and Dave McClain on drums.

Fast forward 14 years, joining Rob this time is Jared MacEachern on bass, Matt Alston on drums and HAVOK guitarist Reece Scruggs, who stepped in for Waclaw “Vogg” Kletyka, who was the recording guitarist but couldn’t make the touring commitments as he was touring with his long time band DECAPITATED.

If you’ve been to a Machine Head concert, you know when “Diary Of A Madman” starts, the concert is about to begin (much like when “Doctor Doctor” plays at a Maiden concert).

And as soon as the outro of “Diary” kicks in, the lights go down and once it plays out, Rob Flynn starts “Imperium”.

It’s a great opener, it sets the tempo, the mood and the aggression.

And the aggression continued with “Ten Ton Hammer”, “Choke On The Ashes Of Your Hate”, “Now We Die”, “Aesthetics Of Hate” and “Old”.

“Locusts” was up next and it didn’t disappoint. It was also probably the most melodic song of the night.

The frantic energy and aggression continued with “Take My Scars”, “No Gods, No Masters”, “Slaughter The Martyr”, “Bulldozer”, “From This Day” and “Davidian”.

And the closer was the usual “Halo”.

Till next time.