Devo @ 9:30 Club
A critical consensus has been reached: playing an entire album live is a bit of a bore. The once novel concept has quickly become an unimaginative experience that legitimizes bands trotting out reliable hits without looking desperate (perhaps not always such a bad thing). From an artist's perspective, the album-as-set-list can be a self-mythologizing ego boost reinforcing older work as classic. The fans, for their part, get the songs they want in the order they are accustomed. Old codgers of all stripes will tell you that the album used to 'mean' something that kids today just don't understand. These individuals, fans and artists alike, have been weaned on the hallowed AOR template, a place where deep album cuts and well-known singles are valued equally.
Perhaps this is true in one's bedroom or beat up Chevy Nova. But like it or not, most albums are ill-suited to be performed for the screaming masses. As anyone who sat through Sebadoh's rendering of its scrappy classic Bubble and Scrape last year knows, some deep cuts never deserve to see the light of day.
Which brings us to Devo, the new wave science experiment that's inexplicably persisted for 30+ years, give or take a few periods in the wilderness. Devo's off-kilter sensibilities have always felt ahead of its time, making its decision to perform the band's two most beloved albums at the 9:30 Club both fittingly and uncharacteristically retro.
Monday night showcased 1980's Freedom of Choice, its first album recorded in California, not Akron, Ohio, the band's hometown. The constant sunshine and warped sense of reality suited them, garnering Devo its most successful single to date, "Whip It." Freedom of Choice infused the bizarro charms of its debut, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo (performed on Sunday night) with the technological sheen and strong melodies that would became its trademark.
As the lights dimmed promptly at 9 p.m. on Monday, the energy domed crowd was warmed up with videos of the album's three singles. Shortly thereafter, a female Spud took to the stage hoisting a sign reading, "Track 1." Having seen the video just moments earlier, the punch of opener "Girl U Want" was slightly diminished, but sounded remarkably tight thanks to the sprightly banging of drummer Josh Freese. Freese is the lone newbie of among Devo's current line-up, but his impressive résumé, keeping time with everyone from The Replacements (sort of) to Guns N' Roses (sort of) speaks for itself.
Outside of Freese's (comparatively) youthful enthusiasm, Devo's presence, musically or otherwise, is still quite striking. Convincing in its matching jumpsuits, the band's gray hair protruded from its domes, a look that was part mad scientist, part punk rock Shriner. Though accounts surfacing from Sunday night's performance seem more sprightly, energetic renditions of "Snowball" and "Ton O' Luv" kept up the momentum next to oversized crowd pleasers "Whip It" and "Gates of Steel."
The album's final tracks did not fare as well, with mid-tempo songs like "Cold War" and "That's Pep!" sounding like obligatory diversions. Fortunately, Freedom of Choice is nothing if not economical, and its brisk 32 minutes came and went with little interruption, making the evening's highlights and few misfires equally bite-size. That Devo walked off the stage after playing only 12 songs might have been the evening's biggest surprise.
The rapturous crowd brought them back for two short encores, the first of which included "Be Stiff" and "Beautiful World." For the latter, Devo mascot Booji Boy (Mothersbaugh with a deformed baby mask) gave a rambling speech about the late Michael Jackson that could only be interpreted as unintelligible futuristic irony (we'll catch up some day). Fervent applause gave way to the final song, a forceful interpretation of Johnny Rivers' classic "Secret Agent Man;" Devo living up to its self-proclaimed reputation as the new traditionalists.