House of Blues, Anaheim~DEVO

[€uroMeinke]

Yeah - to be honest, as much as I enjoyed them in the day - I wouldn't pay $65 to see them now (unless of course they were part of Coachella or something). I only picked up the tickets becasue of the 2fer deal.

[MouseWife]

I hope you guys are having a great time!!!!

[Not Afraid]

Well, I'm going to post first then let the true DEVO geek tell you more about it.

DEVO was the only band to play. They came out and did 5 in a row or all of their later hits (stuff from Freedom of Choice) . I was thinking that this was going to be a loooong show. The crowd was a dancing and singing madhouse as I stood there thinking that Mark Mothersbaugh sure looks old. Boy, they all look old. Do I look that old.........They did Whip It and the horror of that entire album came back to me (and the embarassing time I danced with cute Jeff Cordova to this awful song).

But, then they started to DEVOLVE. They went back in time and started playing the "good stuff" starting with Satisfaction. The rest of the concert was pure 1977-1979 bliss. People stopped singing (except for Chris and a few other die-hards) and the magic of thie music was recaptured. They played a F-ing GREAT show!

The encore was a mini devolution starting with Freedom of Choice and working backwards once again. Funny, but I don't think they played anything from the REALLY awful New Traditionalists album.

I got the sense that they like their early stuff better too. YAY!

[O.P.]

I SUCK!....well i did my absolute best to try and make the show tonight. the gods were against me. Im sorry i was not able to hook up with Euro and NotAfraid. for starters, i was denied the 2fer1...then i lost an eBay auction by two seconds...then my dearest friend and life long DEVO fan Tracy slept till 8 pm and I forgot my wallet when i went to pick her up...in a nutshell...it wasnt meant to be. So what am i going to do. Im going to freakin' DEVO on Sunday..sorry Euro and NotAfraid...i will definately hit you guys up soon. it seems the gods were against me tonight. i'll talk to you soon. Love David!

[€uroMeinke]

It's the morning after and my ears are still filled with cicadas - Last night was a blast if a bit bizzar.

I think I last saw DEVO in 1981, and both crowd and band we're much younger. In an odd way, this seemed to work for the band. Granted when they emerged wearing their industrail yellow suits, they no longer appeared as angst-riden teens - rather they looked like theiur dads - in their work clothes, ready to go down to the recombinant DNA plant. They still had their sense of perfromance and style. They kept their stilted choreography which at one timed mocked the boy bands of the past, but now as old men, some with belly's - the image was elevated to a new sort of absurd.

Some images and memories of the show:

• Bob I doing what I can best call - anti-air-guitar, that is he was holding and posing with a real guitar, but not playing - or even pretending to play
• Bob I manically playing the bass, breaking all the string one by one and falling into the crowd
• A tribute to Disneyland, after shedding the yellow suits and flower pot hats, they donned giant foam Mickey Ears, and perfromed some of that stilted choreography - god I wish I had snuck in a camera for a picture of that
• Opening with a montage of the original DEVO films - these guys were always multi-media artisits and it's nice to see they've retained that element for the show
• The audience in mass pogoing to Uncontrollable Urge - I swear I haven't seen this since 1980
• Tour Shorts - with DEVO LIVE 2005 - written across the ass, now that's DEVO.
• Mark Mothersbaugh, pulling an endless supply of swag from his shorts, including towels, shorts, and about 100 dayglow superballs.

Yeah it was fun.

And it keeping with our recent concert going experience, we again ran into someone we didn't expect to see there. This time it was someone I knew from work and her husband - who's paths we must have crossed back in the late 70's early 80's as we relived past concert experiences over a post concert cocktail at Tortila Joe's.

Next up, Gang of Four, the Knitters, and possibly the New York Dolls...

[Not Afraid]

• Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

  Tour Shorts - with DEVO LIVE 2005 - written across the ass, now that's DEVO.

This held a special place in my heart for, I too, "appreciate" the absurdity of having messages written on one's ass. This irreverency for the absurd makes me appreciate DEVO even more.

And, O.P. Go see the show. They were really good.

[MouseWife]

Oh wow. It sounds like you guys had a blast! Yes! Their earlier music, their earlier attitudes, must have been mind blowing!

I am cracking up imagining them in their yellow suits~ a la looking like their dads! That is too funny!

NA, I am glad it turned around for you and gave you a show you could enjoy.

If they reschedule down here, I will have to go.

Pogo my butt off!!

[O.P.]

OK...its official. i am going to the show on Sunday. My friend just picked up tix for the show on the strip. Nice! I am now a happy camper .

[€uroMeinke]

For you DEVO fans, Mark Mouthersbaugh did an interview on NPR.

[Not Afraid]

No. This is BEYOND for DEVO fans. This is a GREAT interview......for so many reasons.