Image via Summerfest
Devo
Devo
One of the most-anticipated acts performing at Summerfest this year has to be Devo. Formed in 1973, the Akron, Ohio-based new-wave band that achieved status with its 1980 single “Whip It” began a “farewell tour” in 2023 and is now on its extended “50 Years of De-Evolution … Continued!” tour.
“Whip It” helped drive Devo into the MTV mainstream. Kitschy and satirical, the band wore costumes on stage that famously included red, terraced energy dome hats. The classic lineup featured two sets of brothers and a pair of Bobs—Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh and Gerald and Bob Casale. All but Bob Casale, who passed away in 2014, remain in the band to this day and are in their 70s.
“Whip It” charted as high as No. 14 on the U.S. charts, while subsequent singles like 1981’s “Working in the Coalmine” and 1983’s “Theme from Doctor Detroit” flirted with the Top 40. By the early 1990s, though, after eight albums with diminishing returns, Devo split only to reunite later in the decade and embark on tours and a variety of musical and non-musical projects.
In 2010, Devo’s dropped its first album in 20 years to mostly critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone declaring Something for Everybody “frantic and wall-to-wall catchy.”
Before the latest tour kicked off May 1, Devo performed at SNL50: The Homecoming Concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall in February. Band members wore their signature matching yellow hazmat suits and performed “Uncontrollable Urge” from their 1978 debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
Devo also played that song the last time they were in Milwaukee, at Summerfest’s Miller Lite Oasis on the Fourth of July in 2010. Fifteen years on, this might be your last chance to see Devo live; farewell tours can’t last forever.
