Devo Exercise Their Freedom Of Choice

Phoenix Concert Theatre

Toronto

on Nov 24 2009

Steve McLean (CHARTattack)

11/25/2009 11:22am

Devo had their work cut out for them to match the excitement of Monday night's Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! show, and they ended up falling a wee bit short with Tuesday's (Nov. 24) Freedom Of Choice concert.

The audience wasn't as big or seemingly as rabid, which may have played a part. The fact that there was less guitar to drive the action might also have had a role. And until the last encore song, there were less on-stage hijinks. It was still a very good performance, but not quite as much fun.

After the buzz created by Devo's 1978 Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! debut album, the Duty Now For The Future follow-up was less consistent and perhaps mildly disappointing. Freedom Of Choice came out in 1980 with a sound dominated by keyboards and electronics and became the group's most successful album, driven by the hit "Whip It" and its quirky video.

Tuesday's proceedings began with the videos from Freedom Of Choice singles "Girl U Want," "Whip It" and the title track being shown on a large screen beside the stage, which had a different lighting set-up from the previous night.

A woman in a '50s-inspired outfit came out with a sign reading "Track 1," and she acted as the concert's equivalent of a ring girl announcing rounds in a boxing match throughout the night.

Devo emerged wearing their familiar red energy domes on their heads and grey jumpsuits with a couple of red stripes on their bodies, and they got things off to a great start with "Girl U Want."

As would be the case for much of the set, Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald and Bob Casale played keyboards, Bob Mothersbaugh (but you're welcomed to call him Bob 1) was sharp on guitar and Josh Freese was a monster on drums. There was no bass, just like The Doors. (That's an homage to both a great band and a favourite Kids In The Hall skit, for any of you youngsters out there who are wondering what I'm talking about.)

"It's Not Right" was solid, if unexceptional, but it was the next track that many people in the audience were probably waiting for most: "Whip It."

Oddly, my most vivid memory of the song was from a night I don't remember everything from. I was in grade nine and our basketball team had played a Friday night game before a school dance. I had filled a Coke can with rye pilfered from an underused bottle in my home liquor cabinet, sealed it with cellophane, and chugged it down in a couple of gulps in the dressing room after the game.

An hour or so later, I was told that the coach had caught wind of my boozing and was looking for me. So of course I hid in the gym's equipment room. But as I was standing there in the dark, I could hear the DJ playing "Whip It" and I was so pissed off that I wasn't out there dancing with a lovely young lady to the track. I never got caught by the coach, but my mom told me the next morning that she knew I was wasted because I had thrown my money in the garbage when I got home.

I didn't have a lovely young lady to dance with during "Whip It" on Tuesday, either, but I had one who referred to herself as my beer assistant and volunteered to hold my drink as I jotted notes during the show. The track showed why it was a very deserving top 20 hit back in the day, and Mark Mothersbaugh emulated the whipping motion from the video before tossing four energy domes into the crowd at the song's conclusion.

All five band members danced with their hands in the air at the beginning of "Snowball," and they got the crowd to clap along through some of the song. The dancing continued on "Ton O' Luv," if you want to call Mark Mothersbaugh grabbing his crotch and thrusting his hips forward a few times dancing.

Gerald Casale stepped out from behind the keyboards to play bass for the first time on the album's side one-closing (they didn't have CDs when I bought the album, kids) title track, which featured a lot of on-stage hand gesticulations. Bob 1 unleashed some impressive guitar licks and Freese was at his most powerful on the drums, but the intricate keyboard line was still prominent.

"Gates Of Steel" was played during the encore the previous evening, and musically it was just as good and Mark Mothersbaugh's voice hit everything right on Tuesday. But it didn't have quite the same impact, perhaps because it wasn't a surprise like a night earlier.

"Cold War" and "Don't You Know" are two of the lesser songs from Freedom Of Choice, but were still enjoyable when brought to the stage. "That's Pep" followed and featured some jogging-in-place, which added some obvious peppiness to the performance.

"Mr. B's Ballroom" is a party song and some of its lyrics probably accurately described some of the action in the crowd, which was inspired to sing along to the "woh woh woh woh oh oh oh" section near the end.

Album closer "Planet Earth" featured some nasty guitar by Bob 1 at the start, and the "I lived all my life" backing vocals near the end were as close as Devo gets to harmonies, but they worked well.

The group left and a starry night sky backdrop lit up the stage as a deep voice talked about Planet Earth, Devo and some other science fiction-type stuff that I kind of tuned out before the quintet returned.

There was a two-guitar attack, and another fine Bob 1 solo, during the encore-opening 1977 Stiff Records single, "Be Stiff." The title flashed repeatedly on a light screen at the back of the stage during what was definitely the concert's most rawkin' number.

Devo reached into their bag of tricks for the final number, "Beautiful World," which is one of the many fine songs from 1981's underrated New Traditionalists. Mark Mothersbaugh came out dressed as the group's Booji Boy mascot in a mutant baby mask, red baseball cap and choir gown, and talked and sang in a high falsetto.

The song was great, but a Booji Boy monologue about going to Hollywood and meeting Michael Jackson went on too long before the music kicked back in again. The song and hour-long show ended with Booji Boy bouncing about 100 super balls off the stage floor into the crowd.

Like the night before, a VIP meet-and-greet was held for folks who paid an extra $50 for an autographed poster and a chance to mingle and have their photos taken with the band members. Barenaked Ladies Kevin Hearn and Tyler Stewart, C'Mon's Ian Blurton and The Sadies' Sean Dean were among the guests also milling about on the Phoenix's back balcony.

Mark Mothersbaugh overtly flirted with my beer assistant and explained to me that Devo doesn't draw a lot of attractive female fans.

"Look around," he said, while scoping the group of admirers surrounding him waiting to have energy domes and album covers signed. "These are all nice guys, but they're all pretty geeky — just like me."

It's likely that Devo will return to Toronto in the spring for a more broad-based show in support of their first studio album in 20 years, which is tentatively titled Fresh. Geeks can hardly wait.