zBirdman

I saw Devo in Orlando on the "Freedom of Choice" tour. That was over 40 years ago, and it is still one of the best concerts I've ever experienced. This film encapsulates everything I recall from the early '80s show, except for the energy of the audience. It's a shame that the footage is so bad. It's poor even by VHS quality, but it's good enough.

It's hard to tell from the footage, but the tall light panels (that look like bare bedsprings) start off standing vertically & pointing at the audience, but later get flipped onto the floor pointing up, allowing the band to jump around on top while being lit from below... (again, a lot like bare bedsprings).

During a stage blackout they put on ponchos with the letters D, E, V & O on the band members (the drummer also got one, but that just had a hyphen). Then, with black light only, the poncho letters fluoresced very brightly (it's barely perceptible in the film) spelling out DEVO as they bounce on the bedsprings... which they briefly shift to spell DOVE. This an inside joke - "Dove (the Group of Love)" was a terrible Christian rock band that actually turned out to be Devo themselves. I believe they were even their own opening act for a few shows.

I also remember them playing Devo's Muzak to clear the theater and laughing my way home. A great, innovative group with something important to say, playing at their prime... what's not to like?

As a longtime Zappa fan, I wasn't sure what to expect. There are some fairly good interviews with former band members along with maybe two interviews of Zappa himself... oh, and about 2hrs worth of totally unrelated stock footage - much of it used more than once, almost all of it using very annoying filters to make all that unrelated footage seem more... authentic? Doesn't. I very nearly didn't make it to the end, but I suffered through and finished it. Wish I hadn't. It's about an hour's worth of good content... interspersed with twice as much time spent showing pointless visuals that have absolutely nothing to do with Zappa. Nothing! Esther Williams type swimming dance routines? Hollywood type dance routines, only they're dancing to something other than what we're hearing? Why? Really a huge waste of time. Disappointing.

It's not often that I feel ripped off by a film I paid nothing to watch, but this huge pile of hack boringness was an affront and an offense. To connect this in any way with Kurt Cobain is ridiculous. It's totally made up, has nothing to do with facts, and is the lamest sort of exploitative cash-grab I've seen. Van Sant is capable of some very good films, however THIS ISN'T ONE OF THEM! I wish I could scrub the memory of it from my brain. I seriously doubt I'll ever watch another film by Van Sant. I feel unclean for having watched it. Pathetic and insulting to Kurt's memory. Truly. Painfully!!