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If they remember Devo at all, most people’s recollections of Devo probably revolve around MTV videos, mainly the song “Whip It” which was their big breakout hit, with the band wearing their “energy dome” hats and yellow jumpsuits. The imagery and their running themes about things such as de-evolution may have earned Devo status as a “joke band” but Devo, along with other so-called novelty bands such as Primus, They Might Be Giants, Oingo Boingo and others, have proven to have a lasting impact beyond their new wave roots and all these bands are now in the “elder statesmen” category.
It’s hard to believe that Devo’s current tour is being billed as their 50th anniversary tour, but time has a way of passing and this is where we’re at.
On that note Sam and I saw Devo at a sold out Paramount Theater show this past week.
Devo was one of the first bands Sam ever really listened to and it’s been a desire to see them live for years but the band traditionally hasn’t done extended tours, being content to play one-off shows for music festivals and whatnot. I guess they decided to cash in on the “50 year anniversary tour” concept though so we finally got to see them. During the show it was announced that Devo had every intention of coming back in another 50 years for another anniversary show so we’re looking forward to that!
I don’t think Devo has any slow songs in their catalog and most of the songs are fairly short. For this concert they played one song after another without much dialog and with only a couple of short breaks. This achieved two things. First, the fast pace had the entire audience on their feet the whole time from the first song to the last. Second, with no opening act and the short songs, this was one of the shortest concerts I can recall going to, with the entire show clocking in right around 90 minutes.
Regardless, it was a high energy show that Sam and I both enjoyed. Despite the jokes about playing for another 50 years the reality is that the band has talked about retiring after this tour so this was probably our last opportunity to see them and it was worth the trip to downtown Seattle. I would have liked a longer show but if nothing else it was nice to be home at a reasonable time.
