Right away there was something weird about this show. After all, it was happening at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. A great place to see and hear a show, but not really a spot known for it's dancing(?) capabilities. Both of these bands were bands with hit songs that were made to pogo to. Also kind of weird, the last time I saw Devo, Bow Wow Wow opened up for them.

Well, I pulled out some old stuff from a box and made Helena wear a " Pleasure Dome" (one of those red flowerpot hats) and I put on a radiation suit. As we walked through Oakland to the Paramount Helena was getting more and more worried about having to wear the the dome, but once we got inside and saw the variety of people dressed totally devo-id of fashion, she felt a little more comfortable. Me, with a current blonde and brown twotone mohawk, I tend to be a little more at ease in these situations. She'll get there.

So, a great crowd of all sorts, ready for fun.

Bow Wow Wow opened up their burundi drum rhythms at the forefront, as usual. I've never been a huge Bow Wow Wow fan, but liked several of their songs. They played their few hits (didn't play my favorite song - Sexy Eiffel Towers, though), a cover of Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made For Walking (okay) and basically watched Annabella.

She is worth watching. Yes, she's still cute as a button. Yes, she still prances all over the stage. And, yes, she has gotten a lot older (that's a good thing) and, yes, she still barely sings. AND NONE of it matters, when you get to watch her dancing so hard, her pants fall off and you get to see her very cute butt in the buff (several times as a matter of fact).

I wish there was video footage.
http://www.myspace.com/bowwowwow
http://www.bowwowwow.org/

Devo came out after General Boy did his video welcome and the boys played a great set, with cool video and radiation suits. Unfortunately one of the guys (Bob Casale?) was due to have back surgery and was in this contraption to keep him upright. He looked like he was in pain, but the show must go on... He played great btw. I think the show was best described by Helena who said "they're pretty damn good for a bunch of nerds"

The house was rockin' (part of the orchestra area literally was) and we had an amazing time jumping up and down to Whip It and Mongoloid and Satisfaction and Jocko Homo and most of your other favorites (not Beautiful World this time, though)

The one comment I had to make that was just so lame at this show was they were definitely NOT ready for t-shirt and merchandise sales. They ran out BEFORE the opening band started! Talk about missing an opportunity. We saw tons of people wanting to get a pleasure dome or a t-shirt or CD's or anything that got zilch. Bad move.


PS: There are rumours of a new Devo CD in the works.

http://www.myspace.com/devo
http://clubdevo.com/