Mr. Kamikaze! Mr. DNA!

Last night’s Devo concert was everything I’d hoped it would be and more.

Conn and I arrived fashionably late. When we arrived the one-hit-wonder band, When In Rome, was already on stage and playing their hit “The Promise.” We had pretty much agreed prior to our arrival that missing this band would not hurt our feeling in the least. We used the opportunity to walk the Reliant Arena and catch up with the cast of characters we both knew would be there. Many old friends littered the stadium and it was veritable “who’s who” of the alternative music scene in attendance.

I managed to meet one of the promoters of the event and before long I was the proud owner of one all-access pass. This entitled me to the entire back stage area where I was able to sit and talk with the members of the band and generally relax. Great time talking to Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh as well as Bob and Jerry Casale.

It was a fan-boy dream come true. The pass also allowed me free reign to take all the pictures I wanted after originally having to leave my camera in the car. I only wish I had a better camera. Ah well, that is something that will be remedied soon. I have been eye-balling the upcoming Nikon D80 that is set to come out next month.

The Psychadelic Furs put on a pretty incredible show and I was marvelling at how many songs they had done that I recognized.

The energy was really high but the sound reinforcement was not the best. Not bad, but could have been much better. I noted to Conn that the sound was probably tweaked in favor of Devo and that I had a feeling their show sound much better.

In some ways the audience was just as interesting as the performers. I spotted these guys in the seats directly in fron of ours.

The middle lug-nut in the hard hat thrusting his tentacle fist skyward is Ryan aka Squidflakes and in the foreground is Lunadude who’s real name escapes me. The normally dressed guy with the glasses just behind Ryan is Conn (aka kublaconn) who was my most excellent companion for the evening.

When it was finally time for Devo to take the stage the crowd was in a very good mood. Devo came out strong and played “just the hits”, one after another. It was a high energy show and the guys seemed to be really enjoying themselves.

The crowd was dancing in the isles. I was screaming/singing along at the top of my lungs along with everyone else. Everything sounds great, as I suspected, the sound was completely configured in favor of Devo.

It could not have been a better night. Thanks to Conn for coming along and letting me dork out and be a gushing fan-boy.

More pics in the gallery.