DEVO returned to the East Coast of the USA in June 2008 to spread the truth about Devolution, playing some cities that they haven't performed for in 20+ years.
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6.26.08: Brooklyn, NY - McCarren Park Pool
McCarren Park Pool is a very unique venue with an interesting history. Opened in Brooklyn in 1936, the venue was originally a 6,800 person capacity public swimming pool which was open until 1983, when it closed for reservations. Some residents claimed that the pool was a magnet for raucous kids & illegal activities, so it was never renovated & re-opened. The actual pool was filled with cement because of safety concerns, and the venue didn't re-open as a prime concert venue until 2006.
I've heard that 2008 is the last year for concerts at McCarren Park, and that the venue will be re-converted into a public swimming pool again.
The venue will get a $50 million overhaul starting at the end of the year, and the new pool will cover almost 70 percent of the space of the old one.
DEVO was supported by two special guests at McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn, NY - Dan Deacon and Tom Tom Club.
Dan Deacon offered up a very playful, energetic, loud, and distorted set of fun electronic compositions while he commanded the crowd to perform a number of antics (like asking the crowd to form a huge circle while they each ran around the circle getting high-fives from the participants...or having the crowd form a human tunnel for each to run through). It's a little hard to explain, but it was delightful to witness.
Nice to see Tom Tom Club live again so many years after I'd seen them open for The Talking Heads back in the 1980's. The line up still features Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz of TH fame, and the entire band seemed to be having a great time performing again.
DEVO's set was cut a bit short...with the omission of "Beautiful World" due to the very strict curfew of 10pm. The microphone was literally taken from Booji Boy's hand, but that didn't stop DEVO's infantile hero from throwing a few treats to the audience. (Click Here for more info on that situation.)
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6.27.08: Boston, MA - Bank Of America
DEVO returned to Boston for the first time since the 1980's, and the factions of DEVOted spuds from Boston rejoiced.
Tom Tom Club opened the show again, and it was a delight to visit with Chris Frantz and singer Victoria Palagy before and after the show.
The Boston gig definitely stands out amongst the other two shows as a very special event. I saw more DEVO fans dressed up in custom gear and vintage T-shirts at this show than in Brooklyn or Philly, and the response from the audience for each song was phenomenal. It was plain to see that Boston thought it was time for De-vo!
I remember that DEVO was especially pleased with their performance and the crowd in Boston. I heard someone from the band say something like , "Now THAT was a real DEVO concert!" as they came back to the dressing room after the encore.
Pete-Vo, and longtime DEVOtee who lives just outside of Boston in Dorchester, had waited two decades to see DEVO in Boston. He celebrated by hosting a DEVO-themed all day pre-show/after show party at his house...which included food, drinks, a DEVO video room, a DEVO cake, and a few Spud Guns to boot!
After the show, I finished my duties for DEVO, then hung around with Marc Friedman and Jane Stucky for a while backstage. This was the 2nd and last show that Tom Tom Club would perform with DEVO on this leg of the tour, so we said our goodbyes to our Tom Tom friends for now.
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6.28.08: Philadelphia, PA - Penn's Landing
Philadelphia is another city that DEVO hasn't performed in for many years...and they were welcomed with open arms.
I heard about the Paul Green School Of Rock much like most people did - by seeing Jack Black's "School Of Rock" movie, which I found out was based on a real school based in Philadelphia.
The next time I'd heard about the Paul Green SOR was at the DEVOtional 2005, where a group of SOR kids performed as TEAM DEVO. They did an absolutely fantastic job!! I especially remember one guitarist named Allie shredding Bob 1's guitar riffs with a beautiful metal edge.
As I walk into the School of Rock Festival in 2008, the first person I notice onstage is Allie...performing now with an all-female Metallica tribute band called Metallicunt. What luck! Good to see that Allie is still dealing metal to the masses.
Then I ran into my friend Steve-o from Philly, who was wearing this custom-made DEVO necklace for the event.
DEVO's set sounded great, in spite of the fact that they were not able to properly sound check or test the equipment before their show (since bands were performing all day & night, there was no time to sound check).
Amongst all the very young DEVO fans I saw at the SOR Fest, one stands out in my mind - A boy who must've been 10 or younger...screaming, "A Man Is Real, Not Made of Steel!!" at the top of his lungs during a break in one of Jerry's song introductions.
The skies in Philly threatened rain all day & night, but none came until 10 seconds after DEVO finished their last song. Then the skies opened up with a downpour that must've only lasted 10 minutes...enough time to clear the venue of any DEVOtees. It certainly reminded me of what happened with the rain in NYC for DEVO's show at Central Park in 2004 - It rained like cats & dogs for the opening act, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs...then stopped just before DEVO took the stage. Then, literally after the last note DEVO played, the skies opened up again with a torrential downpour. It was amazing.
After the show, I was joined by a few hardcore spuds for a few drinks for a night on the town. I rarely have time to relax and mingle with DEVOtees, and we made the most of it by staying out until around 4:30am.
I ended up staying awake all night, as I had to catch my return flight to Raleigh, NC at 7:30am the next morning. I met Bob2 in the lobby of our hotel to catch a cab to the airport at 5:30am. Ouch! I don't think I've stayed awake for 48 hours since I was in college.
Thanks to Jeff Winner of the Raymond Scott Archives for hanging out with me until the very end!
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To see full size photos, scroll back up to the top left of this page, and click the thumbnail images. Follow through the photo pages for more details regarding DEVO's June 2008 concerts in the USA.
Great seeing all you spuds over those 3 days. Hope we get to do it again real soon.
DUTY NOW,
-Michael Pilmer / for Devo, Inc.
Thanks to everyone who supplied photos for this report!
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Links to some online press for DEVO's June 2008 shows:
