2005-08-24 - 10:56 p.m.
Last night N. and I went to see this 80s nostalgia tour. We came quite late and missed the first acts, but we didn�t really want to see Dramarama, Missing Persons (who I�m afraid I don�t remember at all), or even the elaborately-coiffured Flock of Seagulls anyway. We got there for English Beat (who were awesome and gave me a serious 80s flashback) and, most importantly, Devo.
I was a little nonplussed to see Devo headlining an 80s show. I guess most of their pop hits were in the 80s, but I always associate them with the late-70s birth of punk. As I once read, the counterculture was clearly identifiable at the point where people saw dissatisfied youth wearing non-belled pants they had probably pegged themselves and stopped yelling �Freak!� and instead yelled �Devo!�
Their set was indeed punk as fuck. Devolution is taking place right now, like they called thirty years ago. I was alas in the bathroom when they played the national anthem and went into �Freedom of Choice�. (And I�d almost forgotten how much Fat Day�s � who, the singer informs me by the way, have not broken up and will still be doing shows when he�s in town from Chicago � stage moves are informed by Devo�s jerky posing.)
I think I figured out the secret to ensuring rock star seating. You just show up incredibly late. This runs counter to my instincts these days. I used to be the type who was always behind schedule (in fact, �schedule� had little meaning to me); nowadays I�m always ten minutes early. But when we came halfway through the show, the lady just looked exasperated and put us in this largely vacant disabled section with clutch views center stage behind the soundboard. (Kind of like my first Rockies game.)
We should all rock so hard and so smart for so long.
� 2005 Geoff Gladstone
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