Dan Deacon had the crowd eating out of the palms of his hands. They were dancing and bobbing to his effect pedal controlled electronic music like nobody’s business. Towards the end of his set he picked out a guy from the audience and had the crowd form a very large circle in the pool. The guy he chose started running around the ring of people smacking people’s hands and then picking people to run around with him. (See the video clip below)
Then he had a few people create a human archway that people would dance through. Once they reached the end, they would add themselves to the length and the archway would self perpetuate as the line of dancers then peeled itself through, creating a black hole like effect. (See the video clip below)
Next up was Tom Tom Club. Drummer Chris Frantz bassist Tina Weymouth both originally from Talking Heads took the stage for their musical side project. The Connecticut couple was accompanied on stage by a DJ, a keyboardist, a guitarist and two vocalists. They performed an hour-long set as Tina dedicated the song “She's Dangerous” to Condoleezza Rice. It was a mixed crowd: teens and an older set who first witnessed these bands back in the day at CBGB’s. The band was very tight as they ripped through “L’Elephant,” "Wordy Rappinghood” and their cover of Hot Chocolate’s “You Sexy Thing.” The crowd went wild when they performed "Genius of Love," the most sampled song in show biz. At the end of their set they covered “Take Me To The River” from their former band Talking Heads. They band took a huge bow and left the stage. (Check out Amy Wagner's video of the entire song “Genius of Love.”)
Devo was up next, tons of lights were added and a drummer riser was set out front stage left. A film started in the back of the stage (See the video clip above) and the crowd went wild chanting “Devo!” over and over. The band took the stage by storm, in yellow jump suits and red energy dome hats. They performed classic songs like “Whip It,” “Girl U Want” and also their more art-punk songs such as “Mongoloid” and the radical cover of the Rolling Stones “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” They also played their great cover of P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri’s “Secret Agent Man.” The gray haired Devo leader Mark Mothersbaugh kept the crowd entertained with youthful energy, running all over the stage singing and playing his Moog keyboard. Lead guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh played some epic guitar solos, completely breaking all the strings off his guitar during one tune. Gerald Casale donned his headless left-handed bass as his brother Bob kept the rhythm guitar in tune with Josh Freese’s phenomenal drumming. Devo are a band that ages well. I could see them old and gray in walkers or in wheel chairs and it still would be a Devolution! The band came out for an encore of “Freedom of Choice” and “Gut Feeling!” and was ready to dive into another song when the show promoters said “no more”. The band left the stage and the lights came on but a large crowd of Devo lovers stood strong chanting for more even as the roadies were disassembling their gear.
All three bands gave it their all. It was an amazing new-wave show, which has set a pretty high mark for summer concert expectations. The only thing better would be to have had more people experience the show by offering a more reasonable price of admission.
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