Devo and the Residents!

Sheesh - I've got Devo and the Residents coming thru here on consecutive nights next week and am trying to figure out if there's any way I can go to both shows. I remember from Erik's experience a few months ago that the Devo show is probably not to be missed. But does anyone have any idea what the Residents are like these days?

I'm as big a fan of the early stuff as the next guy (that next guy is a pretty weird dude), but I'll be honest - I haven't paid them much attention in the last 20 years or more. Still, it's the only time I can remember them touring to a city I've lived in since I've known who they were and I kinda feel like I oughta be there just to be able to say I've seen the Residents live. Any intel, fellas?

Given how rarely The Residents tour, I'd make sure to hit that. Devo live is almost always fantastic, though.

I saw The Residents at a "Future Music Festival" about 6 years ago and they festival name seemed a bit ironic in that they seemed a fair bit dated.
Sunn O))) blew 'em away.
They did however do a great Picnic In The Jungle but the highlights were few and far between.

do both
you won't regret the time given

Yeah, well, aside from the usual issues with going out two nights in a row and it being a worknight both times and having to cash in chits with the wife because it means she's got bedtime duty for the kiddo on consecutive nights while I'm out watching bands and drinking, it also turns out the Devo tix are 40 damn dollars. The Residents tix are a mere $26. So I will have already spent more than $70 (including the goddamn fees) before I even set foot in the place. Throw in a handful of $5 beers and all of a sudden, it's seeming a little less do-able. Haven't ruled it out yet though....

tweaking it:

~Go get the tix at the venue to avoid service fees
~Go late, miss the opening band, appease S.O.
~Don't buy flat venue-beer from unbleached, sour-inducing hoses
~Justify by comparing to night out at arena concert ($100 tix, $10 parking, $50 t-shirt, time-sucking traffic jam)
~Tell S.O. "because p-gan said so!"

edit:evo are hot right now. You want to be able to say you saw the Residents so your great-grandkids can look at each other and say "WTF is he on about this time?!".
I just ring the venue, find a knowledgeable person, and ask for the stage-cue and shut-down times. You might even be able to put the kids down first.



Post Edited (03-11-11 23:54)

Devo and The Residents? Assuming my calendar was free both nights, I can't imagine that I'd pass this two-fer up. It's like a gift from the gods!

Cash in those silver bullets with the missus, Rhett. Promise her a two-night reprieve from child care in the near future. Pagan is right: You won't regret the time. And, assuming you don't have to skip groceries or something (a shaky assumption, I admit), you won't regret the expense either. But, being a true TPer, you will kick yourself for ages to come if you miss these shows.

Ok, goddammit - y'all have me convinced. Assuming wifey will let me go to the Residents show too (she's already consented to Devo), I guess I'm in. Paganizer's suggestion of skipping the beer will probably be disregarded, however. I'll post a report next week.

Just noticed that I missed Hugh Cornwell last night. I believe I saw that he's doing No More Heroes on this tour too, so I'm kinda bummed to have missed it.

Cornwell's doing the first Stranglers record in its entirety, rather than No More Heroes.

He's playing in Austin at Lovejoy's, a fairly small and crappy bar that usually charges nothing for its shows. I can't imagine they won't charge a cover, but when I saw the Batusis (AKA Cheetah Chrome and Syl Sylvain) there a couple of months ago, it was indeed free. That would be amazing.

Fuck! The Devo show sold out before I could get my tickets. It's at a big venue with crappy sound, so I didn't feel like I needed to hurry too much to pick up tix (tho I probably would have gone to get 'em today). Oh well - I guess I have absolutely no reason now to skip the Residents on Thursday.

find the right person and bribe him/her with a bottle of chivas regal (tm) rhett.

Didn't make it to the Devo show because of the aforementioned sellout problem (and didn't feel like standing around in the rain like a sucker, looking for a marked-up ticket).

I did go to the Residents show though and it was a blast. They're down to a threesome now and there are no more eyeballs or top hats, but it was still quite the spectacle. Much of the music was seemingly pre-programmed, as there was just one dude on laptop and some sort of mini-keyboard, one guy on guitar, and "Randy" on vox. The guitarist was quite good and had both some cool atmospheric stuff and at least one amazing solo that sounded like classic Adrian Belew.

It was also just cool to be standing 20 feet from the guy with that instantly recognizable Residents voice as he spun his tales. I didn't recognize a single damn song, but it didn't matter. And for these 60-something dudes to play for more than 90 minutes was admirable in itself!

With the legacy acts, you show up a bit late and there's always some dude whose buddy no-showed who will flip a ticket for you. Even when sold-out. I haven't not got into a sold-out show in decades. Helps if you know the venue. Glad you saw the 'dents.