Congress Theater

Akron, OH quintet Devo may best be known for their ubiquitous 1980 hit Whip It, but throughout the past 30 years, they’ve demystified the one-hit wonder status through touring and releasing a new album of chart topping songs.

Devo commissioned the theory of de-evolution, which basically states the more humans evolve, the dumber they get – hence, where they developed their name from. The band formed in 1973 in Akron and went on to release their first record in 1978 entitled Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Science fiction geeks, they introduced their trademarked energy domes and haz-mat jumpsuits that fans still wear to their concerts. The album spawned a punk cover of the Rolling Stones’ (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, but it wasn’t until Freedom of Choice in 1980 when the band released a bonafide smash in Whip It. After releasing a slew of records, the New Wave pioneers took a break and worked on other projects.

Lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh went on to score films for Wes Anderson and other prominent filmmakers. After a hiatus, the band reformed last year and reissued Freedom and Are We Not Men? and toured in support of them. This year, the band released their first record in almost 20 years called Something for Everybody and have since been touring extensively.

Devo has been playing a lot of festivals around the world including Lollapalooza, so this upcoming show on August 5th will be a precursor to their festival appearance the evening of Friday, August 6th. Opening for them at Congress Theater are Brooklyn art-rockers the Dirty Projectors who released the critically acclaimed indie record Bitte Orca last year.

Harmonies, yelping vocals and collaborations with David Byrne and Bjork have helped the Projectors to become quite a fixture on the indie-rock scene. They will also make an appearance August 6th at the fest.

- by Garin Pirnia, Chicago Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Garin Pirnia

Garin was raised on a healthy diet of MTV and Top 40 radio in the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio, but one day found herself going to college in Los Angeles. After getting a writing degree, she somehow landed in Chicago. She's written about art, music, food and general interest for The Onion AV Club, Time Out Chicago, Chicago Innerview, The Wall Street Journal and AOL's music site Spinner.com.