ICC Convention Centre, Sydney
Sunday November 26, 2023
Reviewer/Photographer: Kevin Bull
Touring Australia as part of their 50 Years of De-Evolution farewell tour, Devo filled the ICC Convention Centre with spud boys (and girls) for what felt like a Devo Convention rather than a festival sideshow. For those of us who have been through the Devo conversion therapy, you already know that these guys transcend the goofiness that the occasional listener may have only saw, the listener who would flippantly say, “oh yeah, they’re the ‘Whip It’ guys“. Far from it and you have missed the point completely. Devo are groundbreakers, many years ahead of the game, and having formed in 1973 they were at the pointy end of new wave and proto-punk. They may have produced the best cover of The Rolling Stones ‘Satisfaction’ for their debut album, but it is the artists who have covered their songs that truly shows the band’s influence on the music that would follow. Here are just a few: Nirvana – ‘Turnaround’ (B-Side to ‘Whip It’); Rage Against The Machine – ‘Beautiful World’; Soundgarden – ‘Girl U Want’.
The setlist tonight was a Devo fan’s wet dream. Focusing on their late ’70s / early ’80s album, the night begins with the ‘Rod Rooter Then and Now’ video, a very funny parody of music executives, and moves into the only cut from their post reformation period, the 2010 ‘Don’t Shoot (I’m A Man)’. From there, we get five from their stunning debut, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo, five from their commercial breakthrough Freedom of Choice, and a couple each from Duty Now for the Future, New Traditionalists and Oh No, It’s Devo. One notable omission that I’ll mention was ‘Working in a Coal Mine’. Though not released as part of a studio album, it was included as a limited edition 7″ with New Traditionalists prior to their debut 1982 tour of Australia. It was all over Countdown, a hit in the US, UK and here in Australia, and was actually the closing number of that tour. Though it is not a favourite song of mine, I’m sure many here tonight would have enjoyed its inclusion. That said, it is a track that has fallen off their setlist since the late ’80s.
So let’s go through what was included. Early in the set, three cuts in succession from Freedom Of Choice hit the crowd hard. ‘Girl U Want’, ‘Whip It’ and ‘Planet Earth’ brought the red energy domes to the stage and a roar from the crowd. We have fond memories of those hats, and to be honest, when you think of Devo it’s those domes we remember. They are a definite touchstone to our youth. We rose to our feet and stayed there for the remainder of the show.
Following a brief video break and costume change, the boys return wearing their stylish yellow boiler suits and we are ushered back to the beginning, ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’. We have the jerky, robotic movements, and for myself this was the entry point to Devo. Hearing this Stones standard pulled apart and rebuilt by what felt like machines was confusing for me as a 16 year old…. and I loved it. ‘Secret Agent Man’ followed, and we dove back into my happy place, ‘Uncontrollable Urge’. The crowd was in full voice along with myself, punching the air, as the band have their boiler suits ripped off by vocalist Mark Mothersbaugh. All the choreographed moves were there just as I remember as a teenager, I had “An uncontrollable urge, it makes me scream and shout it.”
This was the first of three songs from Are We Not Men? played back to back, ‘Uncontrollable Urge’, ‘Mongoloid’ and ‘Jocko Homo’, and it felt so good. “Are We Not Men?” we were asked. “We Are Devo” we yelled back without hesitation as we instinctively knew the answer, and ‘Jocko Homo’ began. The remains of the boiler suits were ripped off and Mark joined the crowd. “Are We Not Men?” he asked each punter. “We Are Devo” they replied. ‘Smart Patrol / Mr. DNA’ drives along at a frantic pace causing guitar strings to break. Totally manic.
Now we get a couple of choice tracks from Freedom Of Choice, ‘Gates of Steel’ and the awesome title track. I always preferred ‘Freedom Of Choice’ over ‘Whip It’, it was darker and has this ‘fist in the air’ military call-to-arms which was enhanced by the Devo Corperate Anthem being played prior. We were right there with the video, saluting back (click the video link, you’ll see what I mean). “Freedom of choice” we demanded, punching the air, “Is what you got, Freedom from choice, Is what you want.” Lyrics that hit just as hard as they did 40 years ago. “Then if you got it you don’t want it, Seems to be the rule of thumb, Don’t be tricked by what you see, You got two ways to go, I’ll say it again in the land of the free, Use your freedom of choice, Freedom of choice.” And you think these guys are just goofy and a bit of fun…. sorry, you’ve missed the point again.
Nearing the end of the set, the band slide into another real early track, ‘Gut Feeling / (Slap Your Mammy)’ with its hypnotic extended intro before launching into crazed screaming. This always connected with me even as a teenager, and is one of the main reason I am here, to hear these Are We Not Men? songs live and at volume. If you ever thought that Devo were not punk and you simply heard synths, I’ll just leave this 1977 version of the song HERE for you to enjoy. This is 45 years ago, and what was happening around that time…. oh yeah, punk began.
Closing the night is the appearance of Booji Boy. For the uninitiated, Booji Boy first appear during the mid seventies in the short film, The Truth About De-Evolution, and played a prominent role in the ‘Beautiful World’ video. “He doesn’t like ugly stuff, he likes beautiful stuff. Do You Want Booji Boy?” we were asked. Of cause we do. ‘Beautiful World”s opening drum and synth lines begin, and for the second verse here comes Booji to sing in his out-of-tune falsetto. Not so beautiful, but that is the point, this is DEVO. It’s not such a beautiful world we live in – “It’s a beautiful world, for you, for you, for you, but not for me.”
Booji Boy invites us to the 100 year Devo anniversary in 2073, opens his bum bag and bounces super balls (remember them) off the stage into the crowd. It was just perfect, so good, so DEVO.
[images to come]