Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2011 > March > 28 > Entry
Review: Devo at ACL Live
(David Weaver FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
- Photos: Devo at ACL Live
Let’s do this reverse time stamp style (all times give or take a minute):
10:30 p.m. - Mark Mothersbaugh, dressed in striped pajama shorts and top, pink Crocs and a bald infant mask, reaches into a fanny pack and throws/bounces what have to be more than 100 plastic superballs into the crowd at ACL Live. When obligated, he repeats the chorus to set closer “Beautiful World.”
10:28 p.m. - Lest the above song’s title get everyone too cheery, Mothersbaugh - wearing the previously noted get-up and singing in a voice that can only be described as Barney the dinosaur on helium - lists myriad disasters facing civilization; earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, nuclear meltdowns (too soon?) before swearing that Godzilla (too early?) will save us all and would sing along with the audience if he were to rip open the roof of the just-opened venue. It’s such an out there proposition that the crowd has no choice but to applaud.
10:20 p.m. - The show’s encore brings with it the band’s fifth (kinda) costume change of the night; soccer shorts and jerseys featuring patterned giant hot dogs. Over the course of a crushing “Freedom Of Choice” Mothersbaugh pulls close to a dozen bananas from his shorts and tosses them into the crowd. Repeat: Hot dogs and bananas. Any joke I make here will probably get me fired, so just write your own.
10:03 p.m. - Winding down “Jocko Homo,” Mothersbaugh marches counter-clockwise around the circumference of the stage, again and again asking the first half of his band’s eternal quandary, “Are we not men?!” His bandmates and the nearly sold-out audience do their part with the second half, affirming “We are Devo!”
9:49 p.m. - The entire band hops and turns in unison during “Uncontrollable Urge,” which needs to be acknowledged without debate as Devo’s best song ever. Mothersbaugh begins ripping away pieces of his yellow jumpsuit, as well as the rest of the band’s. They’re wearing shreds of plastic by song’s end.
9:40 p.m. - A brief break and short video precedes the classic yellow jumpsuits/red energy domes for “Satisfaction,” which is so deconstructed and deliberate it sounds like an assembly line more than the Rolling Stones. Drummer Josh Freese and bassist Gerald Casale are moving the rhythm around so much, they’re basically stretching the standard 4/4 rock time signature to its breaking point.
9:33 p.m. - “Whip It.” Not perfunctory or half hearted, but executed in a manner that felt like they were paying a road toll. Done to make the hit lovers happy. Moving on.
9:29 p.m. - The masks go away and blue energy dome hats make an appearance for “Girl U Want,” which at times has three keyboards playing variations of the song’s central melody. The classic material is really getting the band heated up, which brings a feeling of relief.
9:18 p.m. - As late-career records go the new “Something For Everybody” is at the very least respectable, but dipping into it for two out of your first three songs (“What We Do” right now) is an easy way to lose an audience’s faith from the outset.
9:10 p.m. - Out they come in new gray work/hazmat suits with half masks, making it kinda hard to tell who’s who. “Don’t Shoot” from the new “Something For Everybody” kicks things off, with a video featuring most of the lyrics to help along the majority of the audience that haven’t heard the new record.
7:55 p.m. - @theechad: “Disturbing amount of REALLY gray hairs wearing energy domes. Just let it go, man. #Devo” (one minute later) @bobsixtysix: “@theechad: AARP we not men?”
Set list (actual order)
- Don’t Shoot
- Peek A Boo
- What We Do
- Going Under
- Fresh
- That’s Good
- Girl U Want
- Whip It
- Planet Earth
- Satisfaction
- Secret Agent Man
- Uncontrollable Urge
- Mongoloid
- Jocko Homo
- Smart Patrol
- Gates Of Steel
- Freedom Of Choice
- Beautiful World
Follow Austin Music Source on Facebook and Twitter.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Music
Comments
When commenting, we ask that you keep things civil and abide by our Visitor Agreement. To report comment abuse, click here.
By Booji
March 28, 2011 10:53 PM | Link to this
In your setlist you forgot Smart Patrol / Mr. DNA