Devo
November 6th and 7th at the Regency Ballroom, San Francisco

The recent trend of artists revisiting and performing their older, esteemed records in their entirety, chiefly inspired by All Tomorrow’s Parties’ “Don’t Look Back” concert series, can be a dicey proposition—there’s the potential that the nostalgia of the event might eclipse an artist’s other qualities and achievements, as well as, in many cases, the artist’s or band’s present, continuing vitality.

For some reason, Devo revisiting and touring behind their first and third albums, 1978’s Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! and 1980’s Freedom of Choice, makes sense, and not just because they’re reissuing them. (It should be noted that Devo performed Are We Not Men? back in May as part of ATP’s “Don’t Look Back” series.) Perhaps it’s because, to most people, they’re a one-hit wonder: “Whip It”, which got played the second night (it appears on Freedom of Choice), is a great song, but it didn’t even feel like the most brilliant, exciting song they played over these two nights. The fact is that Devo wrote a ton of great songs and are widely underrated and pegged unfairly as a novelty group. Allowing these albums to resurface so vibrantly feels appropriate because, simply, these records deserve another look, and, especially in the case of Are We Not Men?, the records feel as if they’re constructed so as to translate into a killer live setlist. (As an aside: Maybe it wouldn’t have sold so many tickets, but I think 1979’s Duty Now for the Future would’ve been cool to revisit too!)

The first night featured their first record, the aforementioned Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! As a prelude to the performance, however, they screened the band’s infamous short film, The Truth About De-Evolution, filmed in their hometown of Akron, Ohio in 1974. It’s basically an unsettling, super-twisted composite of clips for “Jocko Homo” and their cover of “Secret Agent Man”, different versions than appear on the albums. The Truth introduces Booji Boy, the Mark Mothersbaugh-portrayed masked being whose appearance would bookend the two nights (more on that later). Following this film, the band came out on stage in 3-D glasses and yellow jumpsuits emblazoned on the breast with “DEVO,” standing robot-like in front of their stark lighting rig. Most of the band’s “classic” line-up was there, including Mark, brother Bob Mothersbaugh, and brothers Gerard and Bob Casale, with Josh Freese (Weezer, A Perfect Circle) manning the drums.

You really couldn’t ask for a much better opener than “Uncontrollable Urge”, a rave-up allowing everyone present to shake off whatever inhibitions they might’ve brought in with them—this was gonna be a gosh-durn party. The ecstatic atmosphere held up throughout, as with “Mongoloid”, for which Mark pulled out some pom-poms, leading the audience in a excited sing-along of the chorus. “Jocko Homo” only saw them upping the catharsis level: The band tore off their yellow jumpsuits, revealing black uniforms of a t-shirt, shorts, kneepads, and knee-high socks (perhaps appropriate for a particularly rough indoor soccer match), jumping up and down in unison, and Mark Mothersbaugh descending to the barricade to repeatedly implore the audience, “ARE WE NOT MEN?” For a band in which the core members are around 60 years old, their energy and the quality of the performance was pretty astounding. The encore that night included “Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA”, one of their best-ever tunes—how many songs can get people to yell along something so strange as “Suburban robots that monitor reality?”—and a closing rendition of “Gates of Steel”, the empowering anthem that would prove the only point of setlist overlap between the two nights.

The following night featured Freedom of Choice, which, while filled with many of the band’s best-known tunes, was a bit more of a restrained performance, owing in large part to the album’s tone and character—it’s a more synth-driven album than Are We Not Men?, and a bit more cynical in certain ways. That said, it was still an altogether thrilling thing to watch, especially as someone who hadn’t seen Devo perform prior to these shows (I hadn’t). Before the set began, the projector behind the group showed three music videos rather than the film from the night before: “Girl U Want”, “Freedom of Choice”, and “Whip It”—one couldn’t help but get riled up watching these clips, knowing that we were about to see these songs get performed.

They emerged in a different costume than the previous night, wearing their famous red “energy dome” hats and the white and red jumpsuits they wore following Freedom of Choice’s original release. A costumed stagehand would run to the stage between tracks to hold up a sign saying “Track 1” or “Track 5”, depending on the song, adding a frenzied air to the proceedings. The show reached its emotional peak around the performance of “Freedom of Choice” followed by “Gates of Steel”, two of the band’s catchiest and most politically charged songs, both of which continue to resonate in a considerable way. For the encore, they performed early single “Be Stiff”, which started small “pit” of sorts, followed by a rendition of “Beautiful World”, a song from their fourth record, 1981’s New Traditionalists, led by Mark Mothersbaugh in the Booji Boy costume. Providing a creepy (and, hopefully, untrue) anecdote about visiting Neverland Ranch with Michael Jackson in the ’80s, the high-pitched voice of Booji provided a bizarre counterpoint to that of Gerard Casale. Lucky for us, Booji Boy would toss a ton of small, rubber superballs out into the crowd—a suitably goofy keepsake for experiencing Devo.

Listen: Various Tracks [at myspace.com]

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