Quality:
Variable
Notes:
A deep dive into the Basement collection and beyond, this collection aims to present a comprehensive set of uncommon (or not well documented) live performances by the band. Tracklist revised in 2023.
Certain live tracks from 1974 were formerly featured on this compilation, but are now available in much higher quality on the incredible Art Devo 1973-1977 release from Futurismo Inc, available in two variants. Booji Boy’s Basement asks all spuds to fully support DEVO by purchasing their official output. Buying the products puts money in their pockets and stimulates further releases. Futurismo does incredible work with all of their packaging and every single one of their releases is worth buying.
*Tracks marked with an asterisk are only available through the Basement on this collection.
Many tracks have been tweaked, edited, and/or EQ’d from their original recordings for this compilation. Please leave all metadata intact to prevent confusion with other distributed material.
Sources and Commentary:
Track 1: 1973-04-18 – Kent State University Creative Arts Festival, extracted from The Complete Truth About De-Evolution DVD
An excerpt of the very first DEVO performance.
Track 2: 1977-02-xx – Akron, OH – The Crypt, xMMx revision, hiss reduced, fades
A live arrangement closer to the 2nd demo version.
Tracks 3-8: 1977-05-28 – Cleveland, OH – Eagle Street Saloon, xMMx revision, fades
A whole smattering of great songs that didn’t make it past 1977.
Track 9: 1977-xx-xx – unknown venue – unknown city, fades, hiss reduced, normalized
Not sure what show this recording is from.
Track 10: 1977-07-09 – New York City, NY – Max’s Kansas City, fades, hiss reduced, normalized
This song unfortunately didn’t stick around past 1977, so here’s a good recording of it.
Tracks 11-12: 1977-08-03 – San Francisco, CA – Mabuhay Gardens, fades, normalized
Only known recordings of Jocko Homo with these breakdowns in the middle.
Track 13: 1977-08-24 – Los Angeles, CA – Starwood, fades, hiss reduced, normalized
Only known live recording of this song.
Track 14: 1977-08-24 – Los Angeles, CA – Starwood, trimmed, fades, light EQ, normalized
Only known live recording of this song, unfortunately only present in this incomplete and inferior recording.
Track 15: 1977-11-15 – New York City, NY – Max’s Kansas City, fades, hiss reduced, normalized
Booji Boy needs love too!
Tracks 16, 18-19: 1979-08-03 – Dallas, TX – The Palladium, fades
An early version of Going Under, a cover of a song from Eraserhead, and a song that would eventually become the NuTra Theme.
Track 17: 1979-08-03 – Dallas, TX – The Palladium, opening patched from 8/4/79 recording, SIB outro patched in, fades
Written by Genral (Gary) Jackett, who originally wrote Sloppy and appears in the Secret Agent Man segment of The Truth About De-Evolution. The best recording of was unfortunately missing the very beginning, so that section was patched in from the band’s performance the next day.
Tracks 20 & 23: 1979-12-31 – Long Beach, CA – Long Beach Arena, alternate recording, light hiss reduction
Tracks 21 & 22: 1979-09-22 – Minneapolis, MN – M-80 Festival, extracted from Live 1980 DVD, fades
DEVO opened for themselves as DOVE, the Band of Love, on three occasions in 1979. Jesus is otherwise known as Beulah, heard on Live: The Mongoloid Years.
Tracks 24-26: 1979-12-29 – Santa Cruz, CA – Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, hiss reduction, light multiband compressor on 28, EQ, fades
Part of the three-show “Fountain of Filth Tour”. Early arrangements of FOC songs and seldom-performed classics.
Track 27: 1980-06-20 – Bologna, Italy – Palasport, hiss reduced using preset, gentle low cut EQ
Mark and Jerry having some fun (or releasing some aggression) with some improvised alternate lyrics.
Track 28: 1980-06-17 – Milan, Italy – Palalido, gentle EQ
This song was only performed on the European leg of the FOC tour.
Track 29: 1980-08-17 – Petaluma, CA – Phoenix Theatre, fade, extracted from Live 1980 DVD
Booji Boy’s showcase from the FOC tour.
Tracks 30 & 31: 1981-10-09 – Fridays – Hollywood, CA – ABC-TV Studios, xMMx revision
Only known public performance of I Saw Jesus, and a nice extended version of the 1981 tour theme.
Track 32: 1982-11-05 – Merrillville, IN – Holiday Star Theatre, gentle EQ, fades
From 1981 and onward, the typical end-of-show Booji Boy showcase became Beautiful World.
Track 33: 1982-11-11 – Boston, MA – The Orpheum, fades
Performed in this arrangement only on this tour.
Track 34: 1982-10-30 – Los Angeles, CA – Beverly Hills Theatre, normalize, fades
Only known live performance of this song.
Tracks 35 & 36: 1988-01-20 – Hollywood, CA – Roxy Theatre, normalize in MP3Gain
Only known 1980s performance of Bamboo Bimbo, debut performance of the “sad” version of Jocko Homo. David Kendrick’s first performance with DEVO. The band performed at a reading by poet Hubert Selby Jr., organized by Henry Rollins.
Track 37: 1990-09-23 – Uppsala, Sweden – Barowiak afterparty, edited end
At an afterparty for a show, during a performance by Swedish tribute band Smart Patrol, DEVO took over the stage for this one song.
Track 38: 1991-03-23 – Pasadena, CA – Raymond Theatre, extracted from YouTube video, some EQ, fades
Only live performance of this song ever.
Track 39: 2004-07-23 – New York City, NY – Central Park Summerstage, fades
This prerecorded bit of music played DEVO to the stage, starting with the Lollapalooza tour in 1997, up until the introduction of new songs in 2009.
Track 40: 1999-01-21 – Los Angeles, CA – Universal Amphitheatre, gentle EQ, fades
One-off performance of this Hardcore classic.
Track 41: 2006-10-31 – Los Angeles, CA – The Greek Theatre, gentle EQ, fades
For the first time on a DEVO tour, Booji Boy didn’t sing Beautiful World. Instead, Jihad Jerry, whose album had recently come out, sang the song in 2006. Mark played keys and Bob 2 played bass.
Track 42: 2008-10-17 – Akron, OH – Akron Civic Theatre, normalize, fades
One-off performance of this song by The Pretenders, featuring Chrissie Hynde on vocals, Mark on keys, Bob 1 & Dan Auerbach on guitar, Ed Marshall (DEVO roadie) on bass, Rachel Roberts & Joe Golden on acoustic guitar, and Neil Taylor on drums.
Track 43: 2009-03-20 – Austin, TX – Austin Music Hall, extracted from YouTube video, EQ, fades
The second-ever performance of this song, feautring Bob 1’s original guitar solo, before Santigold suggested they recycle the Be Stiff solo during the production of the Something for Everybody album.
Track 44: 2013-06-09 – Los Angeles, CA – Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, extracted from YouTube video, fade
First performance of this song since the Sundance show in 1996. Bob 2’s final show.
Track 45: 2014-06-25 – Seattle, WA – Neptune – fade, reduce gain
On the Hardcore Live album release, a verse is (rather obviously) edited out of this song. Here’s a recording of the full song (even if the band self-censored one word).
Track 46: 2018-06-13 – Oakland, CA – Burger Boogaloo, extracted from YouTube video
Booji Boy will shed some light on this one.
Track 47: 1979-09-22 – Minneapolis, MN – M-80 Festival, extracted from The Complete Truth About De-Evolution DVD
Though this is only an excerpt of this performance, it’s still a soundboard excerpt.
Track 48: 1977-02-xx – Akron, OH – The Crypt, xMMx revision, fades
Possibly from a different show, but this recording appears on the 2/77 CD. An atypical arrangement of this song that doesn’t feature any keyboards. Goodnight, spuds.
Contributor:
Compiled from the Basement collection.
