Concert Review - Now It Can Be Told... DEVO Live @ Club Nokia 3-19-11

Peek-a-boo!

Despite having been a fan of DEVO for over three decades, visiting Mutato Muzika to interview Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, and later, interviewing Mark again with Dr. Robert Moog at a convention for enthusiasts of the synths that bear his name, I had never seen DEVO play live. Preposterous but plausible. That changed on March 19th, when I finally caught the Spudboys live at Club Nokia. And as the saying goes, you never forget your first.

The Octopus Project

Before getting into DEVO though, I must mention their opening act, Octopus Project. The irony of a band from Austin, TX playing in LA whilst SXSW was going on this night was quite funny indeed. Octopus Project played nothing but instrumentals, save for their final song. The band members made numerous changes of instruments throughout the performance (the guitarist taking the drum throne, for example). But what really stood out in their sound was the use of a theremin as a lead instrument, played with beautiful expertise by Yvonne Lambert. I've never heard anything quite like it before. Suffice it to say, before they had even left the stage, Octopus Project had won me over as a new fan and I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

When DEVO took the stage, as the name their new album Something for Everybody implies, they played something for everybody, blending in new material with a veritable history lesson of each phase of their musical catalog over the course of the nearly two hour set. The great thing about a DEVO live performance, as I had heard and was now experiencing, was the multimedia and stage show. Mutated images from their music video catalog displayed on a high intensity LED wall, while the band went through five costume changes, beginning the concert in their new track suit and grey Everybody masks and continuing through the trademark yellow radiation suits from the 70's.

DEVO, live at Club Nokia 3-19-11

Finally seeing DEVO live reminded me of just what an extensive library of signature songs they have in their repertoire. Case in point, this performance of "Girl U Want" I was able to capture. Please pardon the rather blurry nature of the video. While my Blackberry made a big mess, I mean a really big mess of the auto focus, it actually sounds not half bad!

By the time the concert had finished DEVO had played nearly every one of their key songs. And in a sign of an excellent live performance, I wasn't ready for it to end. I would have been thrilled to have heard even more material from their new album and perhaps one or two deep cuts from previous releases.

Please check out this slideshow of lo-fi concert photography from the DEVO concert, including a bit of levity involving a couple who felt they just had to stand up and grope each other right in front of me. I also highly encourage you to let your ears experience what turned out to be my favorite Octopus Project song, "Truck". And thank you Yvonne for answering my tweet, letting me know what it was called! And in case you were wondering, yes, I got a DEVO energy dome, and no, I won't be posting a pic of me wearing it here. We must repeat.

This was the third concert I've attended so far, in The Year That Goes to 11.