A victim of collision on the open sea
Nobody ever said that life was free
Sink, swim, go down with the ship
But use your freedom of choice
The sky hung low over downtown Brooklyn, slate grey and heavy, but the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre pulsed with anticipation. Outside at the corner of Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues, queues snaked like party serpents, alive with the chatter and glee of the Spud Army. The pre-show music – sounding suspiciously like Mark Mothersbaugh’s jaunty scores – had the theatre crew and photo pit dancing long before the show even started. Fans in yellow radiation suits, cherry-red Energy Domes, and even a giant papier-mâché Mark Mothersbaugh head gathered in joyful formation.
Devo had landed.
Nearly a century old, the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre was originally commissioned by Paramount Pictures as a shrine to the silver screen, among the first theatres built for “talkies.” Its lush Baroque interiors still glint with marble, gold leaf, and grandeur. Over the decades, it played host to jazz royalty: Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis…and early rock ’n’ roll riots thanks to Alan Freed. After years dormant as a performance space, it reopened in 2024, gloriously restored and ready.
Devo, now on their farewell tour 50 Years of De-Evolution… Continued!, sold the place out. The crowd was multigenerational, ecstatic, dressed to de-evolve. The crew kept spirits high: the band’s grinning bus driver swapping celebrity selfie stories, the tour photographer helping fans secure tossed Tyvek suits like holy relics. The mood was electric, absurd, alive.
No opener. No filler. Just Devo in full force. Devo were pioneers in the music video medium throughout the 1970s, popping out satirical clips long before MTV was even a passing fancy. The spirits of Devo’s fallen comrades – Alan “Oh that Alan!” Myers and Bob Casale – were celebrated in the films. The show opened with their cult classic Rod Rooter Now video, projected perfectly on the grand screen. Then came the rapid-fire rush: Don’t Shoot (I’m A Man), Peek-A-Boo!, Going Under.
Mark Mothersbaugh, bounding across the stage, traded synths and vocals with wide-eyed frenzy; Bob Mothersbaugh held court on guitar, Gerald Casale mugged and grinned like a man born for this moment. The lineup was flanked by Josh Hager on guitar and keyboards and Jeff Friedl on drums.
Costume changes came with short film breaks; they played the Carl Sagan film, and of course the classic Corporate Anthem, but the momentum never flagged. Red domes bobbed. Blue lights spun. The band blazed on.
When Whip It landed mid-set – no encore tease, just straight delivery – it detonated. Mothersbaugh beamed like a mischievous preacher, flinging Energy Domes and radiation suits into a sea of outstretched arms. The crowd surged. The best of Devo’s decades-deep canon rolled out in rapid succession: Jocko Homo, Gates of Steel, Freedom of Choice…each track a hit, a jolt, a reminder of what’s at stake.
Devo closed with Beautiful World, summoning Booji Boy to the stage: a shrill, rubber-faced oracle screeching his way through the deceptively sweet ode to disillusionment. What starts as glossy praise soon curdles, its surface cracking to reveal a world bruised by violence, injustice, and decay. It was the perfect parting shot: part warning, part wink, part wisdom scraped from the wreckage. Booji Boy ended the show in style as he unleashed a torrent of smiley-face bouncy balls into the crowd: symbols of innocence in freefall, joy distorted, optimism bouncing toward oblivion.
Born in the wake of the Kent State shooting on May 4, 1970, Devo’s message has remained remarkably intact. This particular performance marked exactly 55 years, almost to the day, since the tragedy they witnessed. Five decades later, campus shootings feel like almost a daily occurrence. In a twist of irony, the National Guard stood imposingly in the DeKalb subway entrance, clutching M-17 pistols and yes, M-4 rifles – another annoyance to avoid on the ride home from the show. Have we learned a damn thing? Nah. Devo was right all along. We must repeat, we must repeat.
And yet, in the crowd, a fan in a MAKE AMERICA DEVO AGAIN hat stood as proof that amid the entropy, the spirit still mutates, still marches. Though billed as a farewell, this didn’t feel like goodbye. It was a raucous celebration of weirdness, resistance, rhythm, and the glorious chaos that has defined 50 years of De-Evolution.
Catch Devo on the following dates, including the Cruel World Festival in Pasadena:
- May 9, 2025 – Boston, MA – DEVO: 50 Years of De-Evolution… Continued!
- May 11, 2025 – Cleveland, OH – DEVO: 50 Years of De-Evolution… Continued!
- May 15, 2025 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Block Party
- May 17–18, 2025 – Pasadena, CA – Cruel World Festival 2025
- June 18, 2025 – Saint Paul, MN – DEVO: 50 Years of De-Evolution… Continued!
- June 20, 2025 – Columbus, OH – DEVO: 50 Years of De-Evolution… Continued!
- June 22, 2025 – Chesterfield, MO – DEVO: 50 Years of De-Evolution… Continued!
- June 24, 2025 – Cincinnati, OH – DEVO: 50 Years of De-Evolution… Continued!
- June 26, 2025 – Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest 2025
- June 28, 2025 – Detroit, MI – DEVO: 50 Years of De-Evolution… Continued!
- June 30, 2025 – Toronto, Canada – DEVO: 50 Years of De-Evolution… Continued!
- July 19–20, 2025 – Oakland, CA – Mosswood Meltdown 2025
- July 21, 2025 – Denver, CO – DEVO: 50 Years of De-Evolution… Continued!
- July 23, 2025 – Seattle, WA – DEVO: 50 Years of De-Evolution… Continued!
- July 24, 2025 – Seattle, WA – DEVO: 50 Years of De-Evolution… Continued!
- July 26, 2025 – Portland, OR – Project Pabst 2025
- August 29, 2025 – Chicago, IL – My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade Tour w/ DEVO
- September 21, 2025 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees 2025
- September 28, 2025 – Ocean City, MD – Oceans Calling 2025
Set List:
- Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)
- Peek-A-Boo!
- Going Under
- That’s Good
- Girl U Want
- Whip It
- Uncontrollable Urge
- Mongoloid
- Jocko Homo
- Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA
- Gates of Steel
- DEVO Corporate Anthem
- Freedom of Choice
- Gut Feeling (Slap Your Mammy)
- Beautiful World
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