Devo’s music endures. Political, funny and catchy, even on its "50 Years of De-Evolution" farewell tour — and also on the "50 Years of De-Evolution... Continued!" extension to the farewell tour, which arrived at TempleLive at the Cleveland Masonic on Sunday night for a sold-out stop.
The show marked a grand hometown return to Northeast Ohio after 16 years away, according to setlist.fm records. It’s a significant gap for a band that started on the campus of Kent State University in the early ‘70s.
The band evolved (some would say “devolved”) with nine studio albums, hits and tours around the world. But Devo very much stayed Devo. Rewind to the band’s first show in 1973, and you'll see Mark Mothersbaugh wearing a chimpanzee mask and a lab coat, playing a “headache solo” of annoyingly long bleeps and bloops for an ever-diminishing audience.
Fortunately, there were no headache solos on Sunday night at the Masonic, where hundreds of Devo fans gathered in anticipation of what might be the band’s final show in the region. But Mothersbaugh still dressed up and got into it. There were spirited performances of much-loved Devo songs like “Uncontrollable Urge,” “Whip It” and “Jocko Homo,” along with its iconic covers of “I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction)” and “Secret Agent Man.” There were bouncy balls, and a Booji Boy appearance, and a handful of outfit changes, and a Devo-remixed Carl Sagan interlude, along with a Rod Rooter record label skit video. Plus, a few nods to the holiday (Mother’s Day) that coincided with the show.
If you get enough Devo fans together, you’ll invariably see more than a few plastic red Lego-like caps glinting in the crowd. The symbol from the band’s 1980 album Freedom of Choice has become a certifiable accessory for Devo fans, and they dotted both the pit and the balcony of Temple Live, resting atop the heads of seasoned spuds and younger fans alike during the tight 90-minute performance.
Maybe there tend to be a few more of those hats at Northeast Ohio shows, where locals might see it as a symbol of pride for the Akron band that made it big.
“This is ground zero for Devo,” acknowledged Booji Boy, aka Mothersbaugh, in a high-pitched, cartoonish voice.
Donning his sorta-creepy mask and character, he sang on the final song of the night, “It’s A Beautiful World,” wrapping up the concert by throwing fistfuls of smiley-face bouncy balls into the crowd as the synthy refrain repeated: “It’s a beautiful, beautiful world.”
Beautiful, in Cleveland.
Beautiful, in this community.
Beautiful, in a red plastic hat.
Beautiful. And strange.
See more photos from Devo's Cleveland concert below:
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