Devo - Carling Academy 24-06-2007

Well - what can i say. I was looking forward to this but nothing quite prepared me for what i saw - I can honestly say this is one of the best shows i have ever seen.

My only previous experience with Devo as a live band is a dvd i have of them playing a rock festival. They are robbed of any lights, a decent sound and all the props and flare they are renound for in their seminal music videos. add to this the crowd are mostly there to see Metallica (the band on after) and it hardly shows the band at their best. Their best however is what i was treated to last night.

A huge projection screen behind the band played a short film, filled with all the camp humour you would expect from Devo, over a sharp synth drum beat - sirens go off and the stage becomes a flurry of flashing red light as the band appear, looking older but still bouncing around like kids on a sugar rush. They then go on to zip through their set with a tightness and enthusiasm that younger bands could only dream of (no doubt helped by super-drummer Josh Freese of Vandals and Perfect Circle fame).

Devo have always been a band that are as much about the visual aspect of a show as they are the music. Throughout the gig flower pot hats (sorry "Energy Domes") are thrown into the crowd like frisbees, the bands name flashes in neon lights from the back of the stage and that creepy fucker "Booji Boy" even puts in an appearance at the end to sing "Beautiful World" and hurl bouncy balls into the crowd.

Maybe it's because ive been to so many punk shows in recent years where bands try so hard to look earnest they are scared of putting on a show but Devo were a blast to watch tonight.

This isn't to say Devo are all style over substance - the tunes are classics too and a venue like the Academy really suits this bands sound. The drums and synths vibrating through the room like a loud electronic pulse while the guitars blare like the most raucous of punk shows - perfect.

Anything bad ? - well a few of my favourites were missing from the setlist (Come Back Jonee, Be Stiff, Love Without Anger) and the merch was over priced and a pretty crap. But Hey - i couldn't give two hoots really.

Now - this wee review might sound like the blabbing hyperbole of an obbsessed fan (and it is) but i leave you with words of an older gent i overheard as i was leaving.

"Fuck the Who man - it's bands like that who should be headlining your Glastonburys. Folk dinnae know what theyre missing"

Classic.