Beautiful Mutants Were Heard In The Distance: Devo at Penn’s Landing

by Jeff Boule in Concert Reviews, Editorials, Opinion Posts, Reviews, Uncategorized

When you think of Devo, certain things just don’t come to mind. Power chords, heavy, loud styles of music and guitars. Well at Penn’s landing on June 28th, Devo was all that and more! Performing their “stadium/festival” set; these are tracks that they can perform without the assistance of midi, sequencers or anything of that ilk. As if stripped down to their possible beginnings, Devo provided tones to enrage and engorge the attendees.

The first thing that struck this reviewer was the pivotal role of Robert Casale. Brother to bassist, vocalist and co-front person Jerry Casale. Robert plays both guitars and keyboards in the festival set. Seemingly all the songs had a foundation built by Robert Casale, when the part called for a finger picked guitar to remain constant, it was up to Bob 2 (or is he Bob 1? Too confusing…) to provide it. He does so always ably, always precise. Perhaps that would be a better keyword for the evening, precision.

The Paul Green School Of Rock provided the festival aspect of the day. Penn’s Landing Festival Pier was set up to house four bands at one time. Two bands back behind the main stage, a secondary stage under a large picnic tent to the right of the main stage. These stages were filled from noon to about 9:30 pm with various acts featuring the students of Paul Green’s School Of Rock. Fortunately for them, this review isn’t about them as, well, Eric and Julie Slick of Adrian Belew’s Power Trio aside, these pupils were not the best representation of what the school has to offer. If it is, then the school is in big trouble. One band was a Led Zeppelin cover band, fronted by a female singer. I remarked to my concert partner “I don’t remember Robert Plant rocking the black and white striped dress.” My concert partner replied “But he could…” The other band must have been an original band as the screechy lead singer was singing things about talking to her friends on the phone, going to the mall and her boyfriend.

Topics the general population has no good use for, or any interest in.

Paul Green School Of Rock, I say to you get a better curriculum regarding vocals. Hire some voice coaches, do something for these kids who want to sing. They don’t all want to be guitar heroes. Sure, all the guitar players on stage could play, even the drummer with the Led Zeppelin cover band was highly competent, handling John Bonham parts with ease. But the vocalizations I heard were abominations. If you are a parent in the Philadelphia area considering sending your child for vocal lesson at the Paul Green School Of Rock, get your money’s worth and hire a private tutor or vocal coach. The economy is too dicey to throw your tuition money away on a program that is obviously not geared toward vocalists.

Time to go to work, spuds!

After a brief introductory video, the soundtrack for the video served as a guide tempo click track for the opening song. The band used the tail end of the soundtrack to segue right into their first song.

Devo took the stage shortly before 10, and considering that the stage was previously filled with School Of Rock neophytes, the sound attained by Devo was amazing. Each and every bass note and low drum note thumped away at my chest like defibrillation! It was heart warming to feel that sensation as many of the top acts use newer digital sound systems that tend to roll-off low end. Plus being outdoors and aiming their bombast out to the Schuylkill River, the assault was only difficult for the neighboring party boats and bars who attempted to blast their own feeble-minded commercial music over that of Devo’s megawatt PA.

Futile! Devo were supreme, in performance and volume. Devo attained Neighborhood Sonic Superiority!!

Kicking off the evening was a later Devo cut called “That’s Good” from the Oh No, It’s Devo album. This was cued from the video soundtrack and the performers melded right into the track with ease. This band was rehearsed!!! I still anticipated sonic issues having switched over from the junior bands, but sound engineers earned their keep by presenting an (albeit louder than necessary high end) extraordinary mix. If I may pre-comment, later in the night, Mark Mothersbaugh (Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals, Wardrobe) would play a synth part that panned from left to right and from our vantage point (halfway between stage and mix tent) this was totally audible for a change. Usually panning and other special audio effects get lost in the soup when attempted live. Sound techs had this band’s sonic demands covered!

Mark then proceeded to do one of Devo’s staple gimmicks, pretending to shoot invisible objects in the air during the chorus of “That’s Good” to the tempo of a gunshot-like drum hit for every third beat whole note.

I guess we need to address the 300-pound gorilla in the room. I usually address the musicians by their last names to avoid any confusion, multiple Johns, Bobs, etc. In this case, I am stymied! What to do with two Mothersbaughs, two Casales, and two Bobs? The personnel shapes up like this:

Mark Mothersbaugh: Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals
Bob Mothersbaugh: Guitar, Vocals
Gerald V. Casale: Bass, Keyboards, Vocals
Bob Casale: Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Josh Freese: Drums

Yeah, that’s right, the same Josh Freese from Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle, Josh Homme’s Desert Sessions 9&10, and more I have forgotten or don’t know about, is THE HONORARY drummer for Devo. That means he is not a member, but when they record or tour, he gets first dibs. He has given Devo a menacing power they have lacked since the departure of original drummer Alan Meyers. David Kendrick, who replaced Meyers, was high-quality, great talent especially when it came to working with midi, synth drums, triggering, sampling, etc. My main gripe with Kendrick was his inability to get the drum line for their version of “(Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” which he always replaced with a lame high hat open fill instead of alternating on the toms, ride then close the high hat. I guess my point is if a hack like me can play it, someone who not only got the attention of Devo, but then ended up joining them for a period, should have learned it! It is a signature part of a staple of their catalog and set list. Perhaps the other members felt the same way as their new drummer can not only play the part but inject savage energy to it until the song just stinks of testosterone frustration, just like the Stones version had, but distinctly Devo in style! Let’s face it; their adaptation cannot be confused with the original in any way, shape or form.

Freese adds that to every song on this set list, let me assure you. But in order to proceed, you need to remember this, I am straying from usual format and differentiating the Bobs by determining that Bob Mothersbaugh will hereafter be referred to as Bob, Bob Casale will be referred to as Robert, Mark Mothersbaugh as Mark and Gerald V. Casale as Jerry.

But after “That’s Good” foreshadows the sound of the evening, “Going Under” from New Traditionalists brings us back to reality with a somber but updated, faithful version from my favorite Devo album. At this point I wonder if they will do my favorite song from New Traditionalists? We will have to see. “Going Under” is where I first notice the bass response is thundering through my chest. Damn, this is loud. The lead keyboard is EQed so high, the solos pierce my eardrums, this frequency could kill!! THIS IS ROCK AND ROLL, PAUL GREEN!!!

Powering onward (who would have thought, the descriptive “powering” used to describe Devo?) the band thrusts into “Peekaboo“. This song was most noted for it’s demented video. Always played on video retrospective shows for Halloween, it featured a demented clown miming the nefarious “Haw haw haw haaaaww” chorus. The live version is equally demented as all available voices chime in for those eerie laugh choruses. Multiply the evil by three. At this point I comprehend that these guys are tight as a drum and they aren’t going to loosen up anytime soon. I mean on the ball tight, I almost can’t believe these old, fat, grey, bald men are rocking this synth-pop so hard!!!

Bob kicks off “Girl U Want“, a Devo favorite from the Freedom Of Choice album. Many considered this Devo’s pinnacle. Commercially, it was. Artistically, in my opinion, the Total Devo album was the culmination of years of digital pioneering in terms of synthesis and effects processing. Total Devo specifically highlights their ground-breaking work with vocal samples. But tonight’s version of “Girl…” seems pale, lackluster, uninspired. Perhaps they are now as tired of this song as I was when I first heard it. The band is tight, the parts are correct, the mix is good, but it just sounds like going through the motions. Have they run out of gas already?

No, they have not, an anomaly. Jerry is still bouncing continuously. Pretty good for the bald guy. This is not the slowest version of “Girl…” I have heard (I direct you to the pathetic version from Now It Can Be Told and the even closer to death tempo of the version from the DVD Live In The Land Of The Rising Sun”. Just not 100% on this one.

Because the version of “Whip It” was one of the fastest, tightest-at-that-speed versions I have ever heard, and I have heard and played this song far too many times to still like it. But I enjoyed this version tremendously.

The fronting duties are mostly up to Jerry, but Mark does chime in, usually on the cynical tip. Jerry had some patented patter before he segues that patter into “Whip It”! Now everybody is wild because everybody knows THIS song. Yeah, but do they know the classic from Hardcore Devo (Volume 2 I think) “37”? Talk to me when you have, then you can tell me “Whip It” is their best song. But this version was tight and all the fatigue from “Girl U Want” had dissipated. They are still enthused to play this song after all these years. That enthusiasm had the crowd hopping, the Smart Patrol is on the job!!!

Bob kicks this one off and even does the lead vocal for the cover of “Secret Agent Man”. I will reiterate that I find Bob Mothersbaugh to be highly underrated as a guitarist and having seen him perform live, having followed his career since Devo’s inception, I am certain I find him underrated in most aspects he undertakes, vocalist, songwriter, guitarist. I must remember to put him on this year’s Top Ten Performer’s list…

But as is life, this was the end of trouble free devolution. That signature staple song, “Satisfaction” came up and sure enough it was problematic. Toward the end of the song, Freese’s snare drum broke its strainer (the device that holds the wires that vibrate when struck, giving it the unique snap) and what should have been a snare was a tom. If you are familiar with the drum line, the snare is prominent in the part and is greatly lost. Fortunately it was toward the end and a new drum could be tendered, but not without comment from Jerry. Claiming he wasn’t sure about how long a delay they could endure for the new snare drum as they were developing an

“Uncontrollable Urge“!!! This is where the fun begins to offset some minor technical glitches such as uncooperative snare drums. This is yet another guitar-oriented rocker, and Mark’s participation is limited to mostly vocals as the snyth is just an accent instrument for changes. As the song progresses, during the first chorus, as the other members sing “He’s got an uncontrollable urge” Mark proceeds to rip off their yellow radiation suits. An arm here, a leg here, until the song rides into a quarter note break where all the band members form a circle around Mark who hands the mic over to Jerry for the call and response break at the end. All the while two-stepping to the beat. Two choruses later and we are out, tight to the end.

Pounding bass line, that familiar melody it implies, the guitar subtly joining in, drums building, it can only be “Mongoloid” from Duty Now For The Future. Mark’s participation in this song is even more limited as Bob and Jerry do a co-lead vocal. So what does Mark do to kill time between synth lines and the solo at the end? Cheerleading the chorus (He wore a hat, he had a job, he brought home the bacon so that no one knew, he was a Mongoloid), during the hold note on “knew” he would lead one side of the crowd in an upward ascending pom-pom shake. As the verse wears on, he makes his way to the other side to lead that side in a cheer. Mark’s lead is consummate, a little piercing, but still quality none-the-less.

A fan favorite from Duty Now For The Future is “Block Head“. Thanks to Bob’s hard edged guitar and Freese’s heavy hitting, this version is power personified. From what was a meek little ditty about a blockhead became a powerful tome. The guitar solo was still as silly as the album version. But there were some biker types in the crowd head-banging. Head banging to “Mongoloid“? Devo is for everyone, we’re all Devo!

To further prove this point, Devo presents “Jocko Homo” in it’s original format. They did an acoustic version that I like, it was featured on Now It Can Be Told. But I was happier that they did this version. During the middle break the bass drum and synth keep a quarter note going so all the other band members may shed their yellow Devo suit remnants and fling them into the crowd. Then once Jerry sheds his and gets his right handed Stienberger bass (played left handed, upside down so that the largest gauge string is on the bottom and the highest gauge string is on top, opposite what it should be) strapped back on, he takes over the bass and Mark sheds his suit and engages the crowd by continually covering the stage back and forth as the rest of the band resumes. Mark grabs a stack of red Energy Dome hats (the red flower pots they wore on their heads) and throws them Frisbee style into the audience. When the part towards the end of the middle break comes in with the vocal “Are we not men, we are Devo…” towards the end Mark replaces lyrics with monkey noises. We monkey right back at him in the call and return style.

God made man, but a monkey supplied the glue.

As Jerry stated, it’s time to get to work. Devo does so with “Smart Patrol” from Duty. This starts a duo of vocal round songs. Mark, Jerry and Bob do lead vocal duties on top of a bare bones guitar song punctuated by synth exclamations. Those synth exclamations explode into “Mr. DNA” also from Duty. The tempo picks up from the mid tempo “Smart Patrol” to a full speed “…DNA”. During the triplet intro part, Bob switches guitars. I have not mentioned this before as he switches guitars all the time. But this time he has switched to a guitar that looks like it was buzz-sawed on either side of the pickups, all that remains is a stick-like instrument. No, not the Chapman Stick, something you would get at a lumberyard!!! But throughout most of the song his attention is being directed to those shared vocals. Jerry and Bob switch off on the lines “Mr. Kamikaze, Mr. DNA”. There is no need for the guitar, that is until Mark sings the phrase “This monkey wants a word with you” and points to Bob. Bob takes his cue and launches into a tremolo arm bending, string stretching noise solo. For the best rendition of this solo, I invite the interested Devo fan to pick up the DVD Devo Live from 2003. It was filmed at Lollapalooza from Irvine Meadows, California. During the solo, Bob tears the lumber guitar up as usual, but this solo is most memorable because once the last strain is finished, Bob lurches the guitar behind his head, he just tosses it over his head and goes back to the vocals to finish the song. I stood and waited for him to throw it, he just handed it off to a roadie. But there was not an intact string on the guitar. Maybe the solo I saw WAS better…

But all things good must come to an end. The last two songs were strung together and ran straight into “Gates Of Steel” from Freedom Of Choice. With the synth part being highly sequenced on the record, Robert played it with ease, which was no small task. Freese pounds on this track, making the music simply explode out of the PA speakers. This is what music should be, special bonus if it is live.

To signify the end of the show, Devo played their “Corporate Anthem” video, which is nothing more than the “Devo Corporate Anthem” with a continuous video of the members of Devo dressed from their New Traditionalist period with the wind blowing in their hair. Enduring that bit of self-indulgence, we are treated to a Devo encore.

No better way for Devo to kick off an encore than with “Freedom Of Choice” pounded out by Freese. A popular stage gimmick by the band for this tune is for Bob and Jerry to switch microphones during the chorus backing vocals. Bob would run to Jerry’s while Jerry would run to Bob’s. The version at the pier was impeccable. Everything was as close to the recorded version as could be recreated. A note on this, the synths on the later songs such as “Peekaboo” and “That’s Good” were apparently more difficult to recreate than the older sounds. That’s another argument in the ever-evolving digital vs. analog argument, and that’s an argument for another time.

Then two older Devo songs that have been run together for a long time, “Gut Feeling” into “Slap Your Mammy Down” make the scene. “Gut Feeling”, like a lot of Devo live songs starts with a lone rhythmic guitar that is joined and built upon. This version of “Gut…” seems to want to emphasize the dynamics. The beginning was quieter than the Eno produced version that appears on their seminal Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo debut album, but by the time the quivering Rhodes piano sound fully engulfs the track the rest of the band fully explodes into the repeated chorus of “Gut Feeling.” Seamlessly the band breaks into the disjointed “Slap…” An early punk ode, this harder version lost none of its acid-tinged ire some thirty years later. The band still plays it with garage band enthusiasm. But just when you get accustomed to the scratch of the guitars, it’s over!

Is that all? Devo have left the stage, a weakened chant of Devo attempts to bring the Spuds out for possibly one more song. Wonders beheld, it worked!!! Gratefully, Devo oblige the crowd with one more song, and they especially make this reviewer’s night by doing “Beautiful World” from New Traditionalists. Remember that favorite song I mentioned earlier? Here it is, and this version features Mark as the Booji Boy character. To fully explain the characters such as Booji and General boy (son and father), the Chinaman, so on and so forth is above and beyond the scope of this review. Get some Devo videos and learn all about Devo’s fascinating history, their video exploits, revolutions, and innovations, et al.

“Beautiful World” sung by Booji Boy made a once in a lifetime event even more memorable. Imagine this memory ranking alongside such memories as seeing the Residents live, meeting Laurie Anderson after a performance, my continuing relationship with Todd Rundgren, being in the Blue Man Group show at the Astor Place theater. This was big. Devo treated me to a ten minute version of this song. Booji (Mark) did several spoken word verses, attired in a Temple University graduation gown. Regrettably, the sound was a bit muddled from an evening of fader chasing, but the performance was flawless and inspired.

The whole show seemed to be Devo’s personal apology for not being in Philadelphia for so long. Several points in the night, Jerry, Mark and Booji all comment about how long it was since they were last in Phila. Booji even made the joke about their first gig’s pay being three steak and cheese sandwiches and a lap dancer.

Entertaining, educating, enlightening, these are words we CAN associate with the new, non-midi Devo. I wish I could say go see them when they come around, but I would hate to lead you on as their concert trips to the East Coast are so rare, and Mark’s work in television is so vast, they may never comeback to the East Coast again. Let’s just hope this is not the case as I recommend anywhere up to a five-hour drive to see these guys put on their Super Show.

If you can’t get to a Devo show, there are a number of Concert DVDs, some in 5.1 audio, and there are a couple of video compilations available on older media. Get on down to the PREX and see if they can find you either some live stuff or some video stuff, either way it’s a fascinating trip into the minds of a band that had an important message from their beginning. No, not the whole devolution thing, although we as a species are doing little to disprove this theory, the important message Devo had from their inception is: “We are Devo, we can rock!”

Seeing as how there are no shows I am slated to attend in July, we will be continuing with the Utopia Box set with next week’s installment, “The Oblivion Tour”.