Are We Not Fans?? - Devo - August 1st, 2008

We got to Fox Studios at about 7:30pm, briefly catching up with Nerdi, DomesticMouse and Bad Pauly before heading into The Hordern to catch the support band, Reguritator.

Barbs hadn't seen them live before (I had, at Big Day Out) and so I knew what to expect. Even with a replacement drummer on the night, who was more than fitting into the bands sound, they were good, although the audience seemed a little quiet. To be honest, I liked the 4 songs I caught, but for some reason they didn't really catch me. After almost every song, the band kept gushing about how they were there to support "the best [hottest] fucking band in the world!" and whilst that was the prime rerason I was there, it got old after the 3rd time they said it. Still, I got to the front, and managed to catch some shots of the band with the non-professional camera before the person behind me (also with a non-professional camera) got pinged by Security for having a 'professional camera'.

I think we need to have a real guideline as to what a 'professional' camera is. I tend to think that any camerra with a lens over 52mm should be deemed professional, but many non-professional cameras can take much better shots than an SLR these days. (Have a look at PC User this month for examples). They really need to have a look at what 'professional' is deemed to be (although on the flip-side I do understand that they need something to work from and 'a removalble lens' is probably as good a place to start as any).

Anyway, The Gurge were good - but I think they were better at BDO. So, after 4 songs we wandered out to look at the Merch. The Energy Domes [flowerpot hats] (only a hundred apparently) went instantly, and there were no programmes (Tour Books), no CDs or DVDs for Devo (though Regurgitator had a DVD). I was surprised (pleasantly) to see Devo Australian Tour posters available and I had a chat with the Playbill Manager there who initially scoffed at the idea of having DVDs and CDs, but after a few minutes (and comparing it to other shows they managed merchandise for, like 'War Of The Worlds' and 'Wicked!', and noting that - especially on consignment - even with a very small margin, they would make a more-than-passable profit) he jotted down some details and said he'd look at that for future gigs - which (IMO) is a positive step (although if anything does come of it I will be [pleasantly] surprised).

We wandered to the Bar and ran into DJ Voodoo, Mark Humphries, and ran into David Callan (and his wife) whom I hadn't seen (well hadn't spoken to) in about 6 years. The nice thing was that not only did he stop to say "Hi!" but both he and his wife spent a good 20 minutes just hanging and chatting with us. It was very very cool to catch up with him and I hope I get to make that a more regular thing, as both David (and his brother Peter) have always been great people and always took time to just chat. (Oh yes - I should note - David plays the carrot in those V8 adverts, and is also in a number of other ads, as well as being a brilliant improv actor, his brother Peter has also been in so many ads it's not funny, and was one of my first friends at Theatresports all those years ago).

Going back into the hall, it was time for the lights to go down, people streamed in and the old 'Public Service Education Film' started. The crowd screamed and then went quiet, in a kind of reverent hush. After the film has finished, with a faint D-E-V-O getting brighter on the screen, shadowy forms came onto the stage. Again the crowd roared and the lights came up on a group of men, Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, Gerald and Bob Casale, and Neil Taylor standing in yellow overalls, with red energy-domes on their heads. For the first time in over 20 years, DEVO had returned to Sydney. As I recall, the setlist, included: "Going Under", "Peek-a-Boo!", "Girl U Want", "Whip It", "Secret Agent Man", "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", "Uncontrollable Urge", "Mongoloid", "Blockhead", "Jocko Homo", "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA", "Gates of Steel", "We Are Devo", "Freedom of Choice", "Gut Feeling", and after a short break, their encore of "Beautiful World" (with a surprise appearance of, and sung by, Booji Boy).

This was more than a stroll down memory lane, it was a fully-fleged pogo (the dance, not the stick). From the first notes, the boys - yes they will always be 'the boys', hit all the right marks for the night. They interracted with the audience, they performed, and they knew their audience. The really nice thing about the show was that this was Devo, 25 years on, older (and a little bigger in some cases) but unapologetically so. This was a show which should not have been missed by any Devo fan. It was tight, and fed us all the right ingredients. They took me back to the alternative (non-corporate harder and edgier) 80's, they bounced around the stage, they led cheers, they walked into the front of the audience as we all answered the De-Volution Mass Mantra 'Are We Not Men?' "We Are Devo!", they tore each others overalls off to change costumes halfway through, they frisbee'd Energy Domes over the crowd, and threw happy-face bouncy balls to the audience (I got one of the bouncy balls at least), and gave us what we wanted - a glorious night of De-Volution.