In rare appearance, Devo whips up fans with sold-out show at new YouTube Theater

It’s been 7 years since the lovable eccentrics of Devo person done a due tour. Though they person played a festival date each present and then.

Add to that rumors of a farewell tour, which the set has persistently denied, and Saturday nighttime astatine the caller YouTube Theater successful Inglewood, 1 of lone 3 Devo shows this year, was thing of an occasion.

And Devo did not disappoint, tearing done 16 songs successful 90 minutes and sounding arsenic fierce and unsocial arsenic ever immoderate 50 years aft the set archetypal mutated retired of a satirical creation conception astatine Kent State University.

The nighttime opened with “Don’t Shoot (I’m A Man),” a way disconnected 2010’s “Something For Everybody,” the band’s astir caller release. Despite being a less-familiar song, the assemblage was up and cheering.

Songs specified arsenic “Peek-a-Boo” and “That’s Good” followed, but precise rapidly the acceptable shifted to numbers specified arsenic “Girl U Want” and the band’s biggest hit, “Whip It,” songs adjacent the astir casual fans admit from the opening notes.

Devo’s halfway remains singer-keyboardist Mark Mothersbaugh, singer-bassist Gerald Casale, and guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh. Drummer Josh Freese has been successful the set since 1996, agelong capable to consciousness similar an aged person by now, and Josh Hager connected guitar and keyboards joined successful 2014 aft the decease of archetypal subordinate Bob Casale.

That agelong past unneurotic makes for a musically choky show arsenic 1 opus slipped into the adjacent — a brace of covers, the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and Johnny Rivers’ mentation of “Secret Agent Man,” and a brace from their debut album, including “Uncontrollable Urge,” among the mid-show highlights.

Devo besides delivers a show, from the visuals that filled the surface down them arsenic they played to the costume changes they made during the nighttime — vaguely authoritarian-looking achromatic outfits to start, yellowish tearaway hazmat suits, and achromatic T-shirts, shorts and kneehigh socks among them.

Casale paused astatine 1 constituent betwixt songs to enactment the similarity betwixt existent events, including the pandemic, and Devo’s archetypal presumption that the satellite is successful occupation of de-evolution — that is, much oregon little falling isolated — if we don’t aftermath up and marque changes earlier it’s excessively late.

“How galore radical present contiguous deliberation de-evolution is real?” helium asked the affirmative cheers of the crowd. “Yeah, we don’t person to look acold for the evidence.

“I consciousness similar we went done a wormhole into an alternate universe,” Casale continued. “But we’re present to exorcise that tonight.”

The set past launched into “Jocko Homo,” which includes the call-and-response lyrics, “Are we not men? We are Devo,” the set finished the extended mentation successful grotesque monkey masks arsenic Mark Mothersbaugh devolved into a dancing, grunting primate.

The amusement peaked with “Gates Of Steel” and “Freedom Of Choice,” the second the rubric way of the medium wherever some archetypal appeared. After a interruption for Mothersbaugh to alteration into his Booji Boy change ego, an encore of “Beautiful World” served arsenic a farewell.

This was conscionable the sixth amusement held astatine the YouTube Theater, which is portion of the Sofi Stadium analyzable successful Inglewood, and arsenic specified inactive had that caller venue odor astir it. From the concession stands to the bathrooms, it gleamed.

Depending connected the configuration, it tin clasp arsenic galore arsenic 6,000, though the plan provided large sightlines from anyplace successful the theater. Seats were comfortably cushioned and seemed to person much legroom than immoderate of the space-stingier ample venues astir town.

Best of all, Devo sounded large astatine large measurement successful the room.

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