Devo live at The Palace Theater on November 15th 2025

Review and photos by Kyle Hansen

On a frigid November night in St. Paul, the Palace Theatre warmed up with something stranger, sharper, and far more electric than the weather: Devo, celebrating 50 years of de-evolution with a performance that felt equal parts retrospective, performance art, and cultural autopsy. For a band whose entire ethos revolves around the idea that society is regressing, they played with the precision of musicians who’ve only evolved.

A Feverish Opening

The crowd—a wonderfully mixed blend of old-school spudboys, synth-nerds, and younger fans in freshly minted energy domes—erupted as the house lights fell and a vintage video montage flickered across the stage. Devo emerged in suits launching straight into a grinding, muscular version of “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man).”

It was loud, tight, and strangely joyful. The band didn’t ease into anything—they came out swinging.

Mothersbaugh in Command

Mark Mothersbaugh, now a silver-haired mad scientist of pop, handled the vocals with surprising vitality. When he slipped behind the keyboard for “Girl U Want,” the synths cut through the room like a laser beam. His between-song banter was minimal but dryly funny—classic Devo, letting the satire do most of the speaking.

Gerald Casale, ever the co-conspirator, anchored the performance with bass lines that thumped through the floorboards and commentary that felt half sermon, half sneer.

A Setlist Built Like a Story

What stood out most was how carefully sequenced the show felt. Rather than simply playing the hits, Devo crafted a narrative arc:

Early chaos (“Mongoloid,” “Jocko Homo”)
Synth-pop precision (“Whip It,” naturally a crowd-igniter)
Later-era deep cuts (“Gates of Steel,” “Freedom of Choice”)
A dark, pounding encore that reminded everyone how radical they really were

The band played with a tightness that belied their age. If anything, the years have sharpened their sense of rhythm and their instinct for tension.

Visuals: Retro Futurism Done Right

Devo’s visuals were a huge part of the show’s success. The screens behind them mixed Cold War-era industrial films, glitch art, and corporate training video aesthetics. At times, the Palace Theatre felt less like a concert venue and more like a malfunctioning educational auditorium from an alternate universe.

During “Working in the Coal Mine,” silhouetted animations of assembly lines and collapsing infrastructure rolled behind them—an on-the-nose but effective reminder of what Devo has always been criticizing.

A Moving, Mutating Encore

When the band returned to the stage for the encore—this time in their iconic red energy domes—the audience roared like it was 1980 again. They closed with “Beautiful World,” delivered with a haunting bitterness that hit harder in 2025 than ever before. The contrast between upbeat melody and apocalyptic resignation landed with uncomfortable clarity.

It was the perfect ending: hopeful, ironic, tragic, funny—everything Devo has always been.