As a kid I was always fascinated by my brother-in-law’s record collection. He had diverse taste, ranging from The Meanies to White Zombie and everything weird and wonderful in between. One of those weird and wonderful enigmas was the energy dome and yellow overall sporting, Kraftwerk look-alikes, Devo. At the time a 10 year old kid could be forgiven for bundling these “new-wave” pioneers in the novelty basket, with songs such as Whip It and the then personal favourite Peek-a-Boo the tracks that most stood out. But to pigeon hole Devo is to do so at your own peril and their influence on today’s music industry is not to be underestimated. Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine and A Perfect Circle are just three bands that have chosen to cover Devo in recent times. Formed in 1975, Devo set about compiling an impressive list of fans, including Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Neil Young to name a few, and an even more impressive list of songs that undoubtedly shaped music today.
Fast forward over three decades and Devo are back, reformed and spreading their “theory of devolution” to the masses. Their Festival Hall show marked twenty-five years since Gerald Casale, Mark Mothersbaugh, and the other Devo regulars graced Australian shores, and whilst their waistlines may have expanded, and their hairs greyed, they were still as tight and professional as ever. The sideshow to The Splendour in the Grass festival kicked off with Eddy Current Suppression Ring, and second support Regurgitator who both provided enjoyable curtain-raisers. As a side note, Regurgitator yet again displayed all the energy and vibrancy that propelled them to being a staple of the Oz music scene, with a set-list compiled of both new and old material. While the song I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff may be ironically apt for The ‘Gurge, they still undoubtedly put on a belter of a show.
One of the biggest surprises when entering Festival Hall was the amount of fans, young and old, which had turned out to experience these avant-garde icons. The manufacturer’s of Devo’s trademark energy domes (but let’s hope they have the band’s permission, as fast-food chain McDonalds recently found out the hard way when the band sued over the likeness of a happy meal toy) are sitting on a proverbial goldmine, with an unbelievably fair proportion of the “Devotees” in the audience wearing the “domes”.
The set started with a short film featuring snippets of video footage from Devo’s illustrious career, and from then rapidly gathered momentum. Somewhat surprisingly the band chose to belt out the crowd favourite and undeniably their most mainstream song Whip It about four songs into the set, but it was when, approximately half-way through the set, Devo disrobed of their yellow overalls to reveal black t-shirts and shorts and knee-pads underneath, that they really hit their stride.
The cover of The Rolling Stones’ classic (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction was a highlight, as was the track “Going Under”, and the sing-a-long of Joco Home – “We are not men, we are Devo”. However, Devo definitely saved the best until last. For the last song of their encore, Casale announced the band had a treat for the audience, introducing the character who “is as old as the mountains, yet still unborn”, Booji Boy. Booji sang the hit Beautiful World in falsetto, much to the delight of the crowd, and left nobody in doubt that we as humans definitely “devolved” while Devo were on hiatus.
hola
said on the 1st Aug, 2008