For my 16th birthday, my sister Mary gave me Devo's Freedom of Choice. All that Winter and Spring, I did my Algebra 2 homework to that record, and my grade improved. Thirty years on, I can't do a problem involving trigonometric functions to save my life, but I have finally seen Devo live, and they did not disappoint.

Devo front-loaded their set with new material from Something For Everybody, their first album in twenty years. "Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)" and "What We Do" were complimented with videos on the big screen behind the band, and the single "Fresh" segued nicely into classic tune "That's Good".

The set seemed to move backwards through Devo's catalog, and it wasn't long before the band donned blue energy domes and served up tunes from Freedom of Choice. It was nice to hear "Planet Earth" from that record, along with the expected "Girl U Want", "Gates of Steel" and "Whip It". Front-man Mark Mothersbaugh was the focus through many of the numbers, but it was bassist Gerald Casale who kibbitzed with the crowd and introduced songs.

The first video-break of the set allowed the band to run back stage to change into their trademark yellow jumpsuits. They returned to the stage to work through classic tracks from Duty Now For the Future and Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!. The jumpsuits didn't last for long, as Mothersbaugh tore handfuls of the plastic fabric from himself and his bandmates during "Uncontrollable Urge". He finally removed his suit and tossed it into the crowd.

Energy domes got tossed as well, along with what appeared to be an endless supply of towels. During "Freedom of Choice", Mothersbaugh kept pulling towels from the back of his athletic shorts. He'd wipe his face, pits and crotch with the towel and then toss it into the audience, and people were actually diving for them. Are they missing the point of the song?

Twice Mothersbaugh entered the audience, once brandishing pom pons to lead us through cheers during "Mongoloid" and again during "Jocko Homo" to ask spectators if they indeed were not men. At the end of the set, he went backstage to don the Booji Boy mask. In the middle of the closer, "Beautiful World", Booji Boy told us a heart-warming tale about meeting Michael Jackson during Devo's first trip to Hollywood. He said they went back to Neverland Ranch, petted llamas and slept in sleeping bags. Then Booji Boy unzipped his fanny pack and rained super balls on the crowd.

The members of Devo are more than grey around the edges, sport paunches in those sleek yellow suits, but they haven't lost much of their energy. The choreography and sound was tight throughout, and since they've finally put out a new record, I didn't feel as if I was watching a nostalgia act. Judging from the number of energy domes and yellow jumpsuits I saw in the crowd and on the midway before the show, I think my sentiments were shared by many.

And now...the usual set of blurry pictures.







Ra Ra Riot, an indie-pop band from Syracuse, opened the show with a 30-minute set of melodic pop tunes. Soaring vocals and instrumental accents provided by the violinist and cellist set Ra Ra Riot apart from so many bands working in the same sonic space. They were well-received by the folks who had come early and were patient (or tired) enough to sit through their set, but it was an odd choice for an opener, given the high-energy of Devo.

The cellist was particularly, uh, talented. One of the guys manning the video cameras for the Celeste center thought so as well, and she got plenty of time on the big-screen.

I thought I’d finally get around to writing about the Pitchfork Festival, seeing as it was more than a week ago. It was my first time ever attending the festival, and by and large it was an enjoyable experience, even with the oppressive heat. One major plus is the crowd, who generally favor listening to music over getting tanked on the draft Heineken the festival was serving. I’m used to outdoor concerts in Columbus, which are often excuses for folks to get piss-drunk on bucket-sized cups of Bud Light. The way things are set up at Pitchfork, you basically have to choose between getting soused or listening to music, because things aren’t laid-out for you to achieve both objectives, unless you can sneak your own booze past security.

One major minus: The size of Union Park. It was much smaller than I had anticipated, which made for claustrophobic conditions the closer one moved to a stage. However, if you aren’t intent on being up-close, you can stake a claim between the “A” and “C” stages and have good sound and sight lines for both. There’s a bit of sound-bleed between the A-C stage area and the B stage, but it wasn’t too bad once the music started on B.

Most importantly, if you left your fedora at home, you could pick from several models, right on the festival grounds.

Best Headliner – LCD Soundsystem. James Murphy and company have a large-enough catalog now to do a solid 90 minute set that is mostly upbeat. Sure, it all starts to sound the same after a bit, but I’m a fan. One thing I wish Murphy would quit doing is closing the show with “New York, I love you…”. I’m sure he enjoys the crooning, but he’s playing in Chicago, for crying out loud.

The other headliners? Modest Mouse did arena-rock versions of their songs, and I discovered I’m pretty much a casual fan. Malkmus’ voice was shot, and my buddy Brian thought Pavement blew it on the slower tunes, like “Range Life”. I was just happy to finally see them live, even if it was on the 401-k tour.

Surprises:

Robyn – I’d listened to her latest record once before the festival. I was moving into position for Broken Social Scene during her set and watched most of it on the video screen. Although she was dressed like an aerobics instructor from the Starship Enterprise, Robyn brought a lot of energy to the stage, and I thought her set was a lot of fun.

The B stage on Sunday – We got there a couple tunes into Cave’s set. Awesome psyched-out two-keyboard attack. I need to track down their records. I thought Best Coast sounded better live than they do on record. Bethany Cosentino has a sweet voice. Surfer Blood had a solid set, even if their lead singer was preppier-looking than I expected. I gave their record another spin when I got home and admit that I like it, even though I feel like I shouldn’t. Here We Go Magic was another unexpected treat, and I feel like I need to spend more time with their music.

Regrets:

One major regret was not navigating the CTA in time on Friday to catch the Tallest Man on Earth. The other regret was not paying more attention to Major Lazer or getting closer to the stage during that set, as it was pretty crazy.

So….that’s what sticks with me after one week of digesting it all…There’s lots of “it” bands that I didn’t even mention. Basically, if the band didn’t do anything for us after two songs, we would retreat to a shaded area and take a break. No act, with the exception of El-P, was so bad that we couldn’t handle letting their music wash over us while we escaped the unforgiving sun. The 3-day pass was a bargain, compared to other festivals, and I feel like I got my money’s worth.

Here are some lame pictures I took.

Liars - Singer Angus Andrew was dressed like he fell out of my 1982 high school yearbook. Great mix of psychedelic, trancey sludgey punk rock.


Broken Social Scene - reinforcing the hegemony of the fedora. Shortly after they took the stage, a kid next to me turned to his friend and asked, "Do you approve of those hats?"


Titus Andronicus - Fist-pumping anthems about paranoia and failure are right in my wheelhouse. Second guitarist / violinist Amy Klein had a shit-eating grin on her face through the whole set. Klein also had a very cool stratocaster-shaped fiddle.


Major Lazer - I wasn't quick enough with the camera to get the Chinese dragons. Crazy stage show.


Cave - going with the bed-head look early Sunday afternoon.


Best Coast - A simple, sunny sound.


Here We Go Magic - I'm running out of nice things to say...Check 'em out.