Freedom of Choice

Did I ever tell you about the time I went to the circus, but instead of a bunch of clowns and animals there were some old 80’s bands playing? Probably not, as it just happened last Saturday…

Okay, it wasn’t really the circus – it was the CityLights Pavilion. For those of you not in the know, the CityLights Pavilion is a big tent they set up in the parking lot of the Pepsi Center during the summer for concerts. (The li’l woman thinks it looks like it was made out of leftover material from the terminals at the airport – I’d hafta agree.) So you’re outdoors, but not really because you’re under a big tent - this was a good thing on Saturday, as it had been raining off and on all day. Otherwise, its pretty much your typical corporate venue – overpriced tickets, expensive parking, and you need to take out a bank loan if you’re going to have anything to drink. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but plastic (!) bottles of beer were $6.25 each. But there’s something about those plastic bottles…mainly, that something is that they kind of suck. Oh well, when in Rome you do as the Romans do, right? (This is where I’m tempted to quote the late, great Clinton C. Collins - “I don’t know about some of them Romans…”)

Speaking of being in Rome and whatnot, the first act of the evening was When in Rome. Certainly you all remember them, and their big hit The Promise. Actually, if you remember them you’re in the minority. That song was recently re-popularized when it was used in the movie Napoleon Dynamite, so I guess we have that film to blame for these bozos thinking that there was some sort of demand for them to reform. I didn’t know of their other songs, and apparently there were pushing a new album, but I can honestly say that they were one of the cheesiest acts I’ve seen in years. They had a conga player, two keyboardists, and a singer with just about the worst dance moves ever. It was the 80’s all over again, and definitely not in any sort of positive sense. We sat at one of the picnic tables at the rear of the venue, I sipped at my plastic bottle of beer, and we laughed harder than we have in some time.

After my sides stopped hurting, we found out seats in time to catch the Psychedelic Furs. I’ve seen the Furs several times over the years since the first time in ‘84, and they’ve always been a good live act (with the notable exception of the show I saw in ’87 at Red Rocks, blech). Their set on Saturday was short, and they stuck with the usual hits and fan favorites – Pretty in Pink, Heartbreak Beat, The Ghost in You, Love My Way, Sister Europe, Into You Like a Train, Heaven, and the awesomely weird Dumb Waiters. Vocalist Richard Butler sounded great (few vocalists have such a distinctive voice), and was as cool as ever. Playing along for a few numbers was saxophonist Mars Williams (who played with the Waitresses back in the day), adding some great noise to the proceedings. I would’ve liked to have seen them play another 10 or 15 minutes (Mr. Jones or President Gas would’ve been nice additions to the set), but I enjoyed the Furs’ too short performance thoroughly.

Next up were the reason most everybody was there – Devo! Truth be told, the set was pretty much the same one they played when I saw them last year. That said, it was a blast and it was fun to see the diehards freaking out. Lots of energy domes in the crowd, and quite a few people with their kids. I decided that I was going to get my money’s worth, and jumped around like an idiot for the entire show. Ouch, I’m still sore. And no, I didn’t buy an energy dome this time…I bought an action figure.

Big corporate concerts like this are always very weird to me. I found this one more enjoyable than most. I’m not sure exactly why, but it was. What was strange about this particular show was that it was part of a short package tour sponsored by a tequila company. They didn’t really bother to advertise it either – I saw one small print ad in the local arts weekly, and that was it. When I mentioned that Devo was coming to town to friends, not a single one of them had heard anything about it. Consequently, the turnout was small – this might’ve been why I enjoyed it so much, it was mostly Devo fans instead of the typical crowd of yahoos you usually see at big concerts. Which was fine with me, hopefully the bands got a guarantee from the tequila company. If they didn’t, they should’ve – there was a big video screen behind the stage showing ads for tequila during the first two acts (apparently, Devo had enough clout to show their own films during their set). When in Rome kept pimping the tequila onstage, but nobody else even mentioned it. Besides, who wants tequila when you can have a plastic bottle of Budweiser? (Or its distinguished colleague Budweiser Select – I challenge anyone to prove that there is a difference between the two.)

Looking at my recent posts, I’ve come to the realization that my life is getting to be like the film Groundhog Day. Once again, I went to see Devo. In my last post, I mentioned seeing The Futureheads again. And how many times have I seen The Briefs since I started doing this? Oh well, I’ll enjoy it while I can – things will be different when the baby gets here in early February.