DEVO – at The Fonda Theater – Hollywood, CA

Devo's second consecutive night playing at the Fonda was dedicated to playing their epic "Freedom Of Choice" album from start to finish. Though there were children and adults of all ages present, most of the audience was made up of people over the age of thirty five. This was one show where nobody seemed to be concerned about being "That Guy" as Devo shirts were everywhere to be seen, along with thick glasses and retro clothing. A group of men in their forties had an in depth conversation about the best way to secure an "Energy Dome" (the upside down flower pots that Devo and their fans wear) to your head. It seemed that Devo fans could be as rabid as Star Wars Fanboys.

At 9:30 Reggie Watts appeared on stage in his fully absurd glory, with hair flying everywhere. Watts is a performance artist whose performances combine beatboxing, singing, rapping, story telling, and various voices, sound effects, and accents. Showing through were aspects of performances by Andy Kaufman, Robin Williams, Bill Cosby, Rahzel, and Bobby McFaren. At first all of it seemed to be a little too much and most people in the audience seemed more confused than amused, but by the end of Watts' set almost everyone was cracking up.

It was about a half hour before Devo was up, but before they started playing a screen behind the stage showed music videos for "Whip It," "Freedom of Choice," and "Girl U Want." By the time that the band started playing "Girl U Want" live the crowd had been waiting with bursting anticipation and everyone was beaming to finally see the band come out on stage in full Devo uniform.

When Devo plays they still deliver maximum weird entertainment and at times they sound like they could be playing along to a recording of the album. Between songs a member of the band's crew held up signs that said "Track 1," "Track 2," etc. and before they went into "Whip It" Gerald Casale asked "Who knows what song is track 3?" and giant cabinets with huge light bulbs turned on behind the band. A full on light show started and people all over the venue were dancing.

The best part of the set was when Devo played "Freedom of Choice" and "Gates of Steel" back to back. These songs both have a driving guitar sound and the band sounded tremendous. The dynamic of the keyboards and keyboards on "Gates Of Steel" was a perfect sonic boom. Just before the end of the set Casale said "This is a song about the place that we are and it's getting more and more like this all the time" and the band concluded with "Planet Earth," which is a song about people wanting to be in a controlled environment all of the time.

Once all of "Freedom Of Choice" had been played a screen lowered on the stage with an animated star landscape and a narration over the P.A. about how small the Earth was in comparison to the rest of the universe. The screen lifted and the band came out for an encore, playing a killer rendition of "Be Stiif." This was followed by and extended version of "Beautiful World." Part way through the song Mark Mothersbaugh came out on stage wearing a creepy baby mask and speaking in a high pitch voice, playing the character of "Booji Boy" telling a story about visiting the Neverland Ranch with Michael Jackson. As the song ended he reached into a fanny pack and threw hundreds of bouncy balls into the audience before the band left the stage having put on an amazing show.
 

-Ditch-
Big Wheel Asst. Editor

 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
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Complete coverage of the first night - with a VIDEO:
DEVO – at The Fonda Theater – Hollywood, CA – November 3, 2009

In a time when you see things that are very generic, pre-packaged, done before / updated, it’s very refreshing that an original band like DEVO exist. Tonight kicks off 2 nights of sold out shows with this band that started in the late 70’s and in 2009 they remain just as iconic today. This round of shows that dots the US and Canada to mark Read the story »