Q: Are We Not Men?

[music | The Bruisers - Greed]

DEVO came to Boston for the first time in 20 years and rocked the Pavilion. They brought with them Tom Tom Club. The Dork was strong with this show.

Pics!

There aren't that many bands that have been constant through every phase of music I've gone through since I was 12, DEVO and Talking Heads are two. We jumped at the DEVO tickets before I even considered who was opening for them, much like the Win-Win we scored with Squirrel Nut Zippers & HUMANWINE next month.

Tom Tom Club played for about 45 minutes, did Hits, and also Take Me To The River, which was great. They had the place moving, well, the middle of the crowd anyway, the edges (like where we were) just sat there like morons. I don't care, we got to see a great show from heroic musicians.

DEVO had a great set, if shorter than a lot of the shows we've been to lately. But really what could they do, sit there and play everything anyone's ever heard? I was glad that they got Whip It out of the way early, and I was even happier that Jocko Homo and Secret Agent Man got as much or more reaction from the crowd. I was fearing a "DANCE, Monkey Boy, play your one song so we can all go home" kind of deal. Of course, bands refusing to do that can backfire, as with MLWTKK.

Of course, I listened to Devo all the way home, which muddled my simpleton brain and now I can't remember the set...

We were sort of on the wrong side for pictures, though I got some good Josh Freese ones, which I was happy about (never can get drummer pictures). It looked they left any true oddball synths back home, as I'm sure it's more important to have gear that's gonna work, all the time, than to have that one synth that's perfect for that one song.

In our tradition of bumping into / blowing off artists on the street that we're seeing that night (Ohgr, Tanya Donelly), it's 95% certain that Mark was walking down from the financial district/South Station area in a (not tyvek, but similarly styled) jumper. "Take pictures" I said, "Nah" she said.

I really wish I could remember more songs, here's what I've got, in no kind of order:
Satisfaction
Freedom of Choice
Girl U Want
Gates of Steel
Uncontrollable Urge
Whip It
Jocko Homo
Blockhead
Mongoloid
Smart Patrol/Mr DNA
I want to say "That's Good" / "Peek-a-Boo"
Beautiful World (Booji Boy)

Enjoy pictures. Lots more on Flickr