I’ll try to be coherent, but I must warn you that last night was the night we quit trying to be moderate and totally blew it out. Because it was the big night o’ Devo. Things kicked off on a crazy note, when we got word that GZA and Black Lips were playing a secret show in an east side space called The Compound. We blew off previous plans and went there. GZA was one of the judges for a battle of the bands, and he hopped up after and played a set with the Black Lips. It was equal parts hilarious, bizarre, and awesome. GZA kept reminding the crowd that he had not even practiced with the Black Lips, and it’s entirely possible that they’d only met an hour before. Needless to say, chaos ruled, but GZA pulled it through, despite an alarming incident when it was clear that the Black Lips had no idea what to do with the instruction to play something funky.
After that, we went to the Austin Music Hall to spend the rest of the night, because Devo was headlining. The shows leading up to Devo were a mixed bag. The first band—-The Black And White Years—-was pretty good.
The band afterward pissed me off. I don’t even know their name, nor can I be moved to care. They started off the show with a cover of “Sweet Leaf” by Black Sabbath, so we got excited, and then they started to suck. It seemed deceptive, so we stood outside on the balcony for the rest of that show. We went back in for Datarock.
They managed to cram two hours worth of goofing off while rocking out into a 20 minute set. In retrospect, the fact that two of the band members lost some clothing during the show seems wrong—-normal people barely warm up in 20 minutes, but they had melted the stage.
Then Tricky played. Tricky puts on a very photogenic show.
Unfortunately, his stuff is better on an album than live. The moody, atmospheric stuff was kind of boring, especially since it was wedged in between Datarock and Devo.
Devo put on The Best Show Ever . They started off with a few new songs that were pretty good, but they don’t fuck around, and played All The Hits. It’s hard for me to describe, since seeing such an amazing show from my favorite band is a transcendent, Tantric sex-type experience. It was like an hour and a half of a sustained holy shit moment. Because I was just a tad too short to get good pictures, Marc was awesome enough to take a shitload of pictures for me, and he got some really good ones, as you can see.
That’s them doing “Uncontrollable Urge”.
They finished up with an encore where they played “Jocko Homo”, and then Mothersbaugh came out dressed as Booji Boy and sang “Beautiful World”, and the audience ate it up. Which means, of course, that they’re all true fans who really get it. Shouldn’t have been surprised—-it’s Austin, and it’s South By Southwest, so you’re talking people who really know a lot about music. Still, the audience reaction confirmed that Devo’s attempted comeback will likely be quite successful. Which I have mixed feelings about, because it’s good that more people are getting it, but a little sad to lose what used to feel like a secret.
Tonight, we’re not rolling out until the evening time, because day four is the day you start to feel worn out. But the tentative plan is to see the Octopus Project, the Golden Boys, and the Pepper Pots before it’s all over.
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I thought that every step towards “more people getting it” was, like, a tragedy in the making.
Quick question; I promise this’ll be the last time: what was the name of the song you sang at Beerland on Monday?