Devo and The B-52's Bring The Party to San Diego

Kaiya Vandemark

2 days ago

3 min read

DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO
DEVO

Surprise! Hey we just thought we’d drop in to The B-52’s and Devo on their Cosmic De-Evolution Tour on 10/30 in San Diego. The perfect line up to see on Halloween weekend! People were dressed up in costumes, mostly band themed such as lobsters, GoGo dresses, and, of course, the iconic Energy Dome! People were so creative! The B-52s and Devo created a few of the most popular party anthems of the 80’s that are not only classics, but still iconic party anthems 45 years later! I love both of these bands for their pop culture, escapism, satire, and just for being a bit weird and letting us all be a little weird, too. The 80’s were so much fun and seeing these two bands together brought back the nostalgia that we all need right now.

Before taking the stage, The B-52’s started with a video montage paying tribute to the last 50 years and showing off their iconic beehive hairdos. Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, the three remaining original members, took the stage and looked stunning as ever. The other two original members Ricky Wilson (Cindy’s brother) passed away in 1985 and Keith Strickland retired from touring with the band in 2013. For some reason, I have never seen The B-52’s live. Here I am in my 56 year old body, but there’s 12 year old me singing and dancing like I did when I watched them on MTV back in 1982. They played five songs off their first album, “Planet Claire”, "Dance This Mess Around”, “6060-842” , “52 Girls”, and their most iconic song “Rock Lobster”.

My favorite album is Wild Planet, so I was jumping up and down when Fred sang the opening line: ”Surprise!” We got “Party Out of Bounds”, ‘Give Me Back My Man”, and “Private Idaho” off that album. To me they all sound pretty close to how they sound on the album, absolutely amazing! The setlist was awesome! I was fortunate enough to have one land in my hand to remember the night. I had tears of joy after that performance and we still get Devo!

Devo came out in all black attire starting off with “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)” off their album Something For Everybody. I have never seen them live, so part of me is wondering if they just don’t do the iconic 80’s costumes anymore. They played a few songs and then went off stage, coming back with the Energy Domes, playing “Girl U Want”! I was so excited! They went right into “Whip It”, one of the most popular songs of the 80’s! They went off stage for a few minutes and came back out in their yellow jumpsuits with Devo on the shoulder for “Uncontrollable Urge”. Some of the things they do on stage seem random, but there’s a lot of deeper meaning to Devo songs. There was a documentary released on Netflix in 2025 with three of the original members, brothers Mark Mothersbaugh and Bob Mothersbaugh, and Gerald Casale that explains their quirky satire performances. Both of these bands have had an amazing 50 year career bringing out the Gen X that grew up with them, and all the generations that came after who love these bands. I wonder if they had any idea back then that this would be the “Song for the Future Generation.”