By Dave Miller

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Dirty Projectors

August 5, 2010 @ Congress Theater

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By Dave Miller

Zo

Devo surprised me in a good way Thursday night at the Congress Theater.

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Once the show finally started.

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Concertgoers who came to the theater to see Devo and opening band Dirty Projectors had to suffer through nearly two-and-a-half hours of DJs playing dance mixes onstage before the live music finally started after 10 p.m. The event was billed as an official pre-Lollapalooza party, whatever that’s supposed to mean, and word surfaced a day earlier that Perry Farrell would be in attendance. Well, Lollapalooza’s founder made an appearance, but that was about it. By the time he appeared onstage during the second DJ set, the crowd was turning ugly. It had enough of dance music and was vocal and demonstrative about it. Maybe that’s why Farrell merely issued a couple updates of when the live music would start. The second DJ took the brunt of the crowd’s restlessness and lost patience after the first set by two girls lasted two hours. To his credit, he eventually stopped the dance beats and offered songs by the likes of The Smiths, Pink Floyd and the Pixies to stem the rising tide of discontent. The second time Farrell appeared onstage, someone in the crowd flipped him off and he returned the favor before leaving, never to be seen again.

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It was a gross miscalculation. Perhaps the bill was designed to resemble the varied offerings of Lollapalooza, but to think a Devo crowd would go for listening to DJ sets for more than two hours in a crowded and hot theater was a mistake.

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It was good to see the Dirty Projectors finally take the stage at 10:10 p.m. The six-member, Brooklyn-based group is evenly divided between the sexes, which projected an immediate sense of community onstage. They created a dreamy soundscape with minimalist instrumentation and beautiful voices, which weaved in and out of each another. I particularly enjoyed when frontman Dave Longstreth was backed by the lovely harmonies of Angel Deradoorian, Amber Coffman and Haley Deckle.

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Just when the set started sounding the same, the Dirty Projectors let loose and kicked it up a notch. They rocked led by Longstreth’s guitar and Coffman’s lead vocals. Their set was impressive with their sound more than their songs leading the way. The Dirty Projectors should make a favorable impression at Lollapalooza.

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Devo’s appearance today at Grant Park should be triumph if their performance is anything like the one they gave at the Congress Theater. It was the first time I’ve seen them live, and they brought it. It was nice to see them put so much sweat and thought into their show. Mark Mothersbaugh served as the frontman most of the time, but all five members put forth a lot of energy. The performance saw a nice mix of genuine rock star moves with the costume changes, choreography and video images. Mothersbaugh even climbed offstage and sang among the fans on the floor against the security barrier and Bob Mothersbaugh hopped on a pair of speakers and shredded his guitar strings.

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I guess you can deem Devo a one-hit wonder thanks to “Whip It,” but the band is much more than that single. Ever since they were formed by a couple of college art students, they’ve been a thinking man’s band with their sharp humor and social commentary. Their name is based on the word “de-evolution” and their songs reflect a belief that mankind is regressing. It’s no wonder they’ve made a comeback in these dark times for our country. They released their first album in 20 years in June titled Something for Everybody. It’s their ninth album. They played three songs from it, the opening “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man),” “What We Do” and “Fresh.” The new material held its own side-by-side their older songs.

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The video images were symbolic, especially in the early part of the show. It reminded me more than a little of U2’s Popmart Tour. A difference is Devo also included a great deal of humor in its show. The band’s sheer fun helped attract many teenagers and fans in their 20s along with its longtime followers to the show.

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Who would have thought a mosh pit would break out at a Devo show? But that’s what happened. Seeing young fans and some older ones, too, mix it up in front of the stage to the artsy songs played by a band of pasty, old New Wavers in their late 50s and early 60s (whose frontman looks like dead ringer for business mogul Steve Forbes) was quite the juxtaposition. But the excitement and enthusiasm were earned.

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They are not men, but Devo, and the crowd was not fans of DJ sets, but live music. Ultimately, it turned out to be a great night for it.      

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Devo's setlist:

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Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)
Peek-A-Boo!
What We Do
Going Under
Fresh
That's Good
Girl U Want
Whip It
Planet Earth
Transition Film
Uncontrollable Urge
Mongoloid
Jocko Homo
Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA
Gates of Steel
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Freedom of Choice
Beautiful World

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Start: 11:27 p.m./Finish: 12:40 a.m.
Totals: 17 songs, one hour and 13 minutes

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By Andrew Smith

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This was my first time seeing Devo as well. I always thought "Whip It" was a perfect pop song, and I love the two moments in the promo clip for the song where Mark Mothersbaugh glides in from the right of the screen and cracks his whip two times in front of the band while chewing gum. It's brilliant every time I see it.

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The opener, Dirty Projectors, was a fantastic surprise. There was a lot of space in their sound, and I appreciated that aesthetic. They had a bit of a jazz approach to their music in that many moments of their songs had an improvisational feel. I also liked the male/female balance of the band. They reminded me of one of my favorite bands from the late-'80s, The Reivers, who also had a 50/50 male/female band.

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I loved Devo's new songs "Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)" and "What We Do," and the video clips that accompanied them were fantatstic--especially in the case of "Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)." At the beginning of the show, the band used a one-guitar arrangement for the songs. After a few songs into the show, they left the stage for a costume change. They came back with a second guitar and a bass. I enjoyed the music much more from that point forward. I loved "Uncontrollable Urge." It's a fantastic punk song. "Jocko Homo" was a highlight, too, as was "Freedom of Choice."

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The only weird part of the show was during the encore when the band's Boogie Boy character appeared onstage (Mothersbaugh in a mask and talking and singing in falsetto) during "Beautiful World." Mothersbaugh had Boogie Boy go on a stream-of-consciousness narrative about Michael Jackson driving up to him in a limo when he was little and taking him to Neverland for a sleepover. I guess it fit in with the band's "satirize everything" approach, but I just thought it was in bad taste.

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All in all, it was a great double bill.

 

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