Great Googley Moogley!!

Yesterday I heard in comments from strange_idol asking if I knew that Lene Lovich was the opening act on a tour with DEVO and The B-52’s teaming up even though the latter had officially “retired?” Uh, “NO!!!” I responded. Even though I am ostensibly a subscriber to the DEVO mailing list…specifically so I could know about any appearances live that could happen nearby.

But it’s true. The tour was sparked by both DEVO and The B-52’s playing at the SNL 50 concert at Radio City Music Hall and the bands, who were New Wave labelmate royalty at Warner Brothers Records back in the late 70s explosion of new sounds, finally discussed touring together for the first time in 50 years. Apart from festivals where both played, this will be the first time they have toured together. Fred Schneider was of the opinion that this needed to happen.

And this in spite of the B-52’s having stopped touring in 2022. They have a Las Vegas residency that is gentler but they apparently held out the notion that short tours might still happen. With suitable impetus. This will be eleven dates with the Spudboys. I’ve seen The B-52’s twice. Each time on two different legs of their victory lap “Cosmic Thing” tour of 1989-1990. The 3000 seat show on the front end of the album release at an Orlando PAC was fun but the 18,000 seat arena [following the smash hit status of “Love Shack”] was even more fun, surprisingly. And there it’s sat with the B-52’s since then. I did see Cindy Wilson live in 2017, though!

DEVO on the other hand have been a conspicuous band of tremendous value that I’ve never had the occasion to see live. The first time they played where I lived in 1980, I was too young to attend shows. The next time they played in Orlando it was 1988 and I stupidly thought they were past their sell-by date and did not go! And when I finally bought the “Total DEVO” album they were touring on the next year…I loved it.

There were New Years Eve shows at the Disney Pleasure Island complex in the late 90s but the tickets [even then] were a solid three figures at a time when a solid two figures was a high price for a concert. I blew them off again only for them to not play anywhere near me again. Oh, there was that Moogfest appearance in 2010 but as Bob 1 had severely cut his hand a few days before, they could not play as scheduled. Not that I was prepared fiscally to buy a festival ticket for one act anyway. By now I’d resigned myself to the fate of never seeing the crucial DEVO live in concert. And now it is finally happening. How was DEVO at the SNL 50 show, anyway? It looked like they were ripping it up!

But it was beyond a foregone conclusion that I’d never see Lene Lovich live and in concert! And I only have to drive two hours to Charlotte for the show! I’d drive ALL DAY to see Lene Lovich, if needed! Amazingly, Lene’s solo gigs in-between will make her tour twice as long. The one shot I had at seeing her was when I stupidly passed up her gig in Atlanta in 1993!! I had just gone to Atlanta one weekend to see Pete Burns [highly memorable, let’s say] and chasinvictoria, who I went with asked me if I wanted to see Lene Lovich the next weekend. I was single, earning more money in software development then I knew how to spend, but back then, I thought that going to Atlanta two weekends in a row was decadent, so I passed. Like a fool! Fast forward a few years later and I’d trek to Atlanta so frequently for a couple of years that I should have gotten an apartment there.

For their parts, each of the headliners were connected with Lene Lovich. Lene has been long involved with the B-52’s in PETA events over the years [see photo]. She memorably covered DEVO’s “Be Stiff” and I’d say better than anyone else on Stiff Records.And there’s this AMAZING TRUE FACT: The UPC bar code on the cove of DEVO’s “Duty Now For The Future” album from 1979 is actually from the US LP of Lene’s debut album, “Stateless” from the same year! But I want to know who was the person who first uttered her name in the planning stages as the opening act!?! And I want to send them a huge bouquet of flowers. Lene Lovich has not mounted a North American tour in over thirty years. Sure, sure. She’s been active live now for a dozen years… in the UK and Europe, of course! But this is tremendous news. Better still, apart from the eleven dates of the “Cosmic De-Evolution Tour,” Lene will be doing a sharp turn in solo shows tucked all over this great land of ours!

I’ve sampled the live release from a decade ago that Lene has released on Bandcamp and I have to say that her voice was all there at the age of 66. Recent live viddy on the web shows little or no ebbing of her vocal energies even now at 76 years of age! So the notion occurred to me…She’s doing two shows in Florida as a solo act. I’d get more than 40 minutes of Prime Lene if I were to trek down there and see those shows while visiting friends I also value highly. One of the shows is not just in a sports bar, but Florida’s Largest Sports Bar®. Surreal enough, but her other Florida gig is in the town of Mount Dora!

I saw that Midge Ure was playing Mount Dora on a recent tour where in the past not a single Florida city [no matter how populous] could support an Ultravox gig past their initial club US tour in 1980. For the 29 years I lived in Florida, Mount Dora was a town that was more properly described as a “hamlet” back then! A quaint backwater filled with retirees and citrus groves. Now they have a municipal PAC that books lots of shows I might want to see.

So tonight I’ll be calling friends up and making plans. The tickets for the big tour go on sale on Friday but the presale has already started. I hope to have tickets locked down in the next 24 hours. So what are those dates? The ones in red are the full Cosmic De-Evolution Tour with Lene opening for The B-52’s and DEVO.

LENE LOVICH 2025 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

• Tues 16 Sept | Des Moines IA | Lefty’s
• Thurs 18 Sept | Minneapolis MN | Parkway Theater
• Sat 20 Sept | Milwaukee WI | Shank Hall
• Sun 21 Sept | Evanston IL | Space
• Weds 24 Sept | Toronto, Canada | Budweiser Stage (Cosmic De-Evolution Tour)
• Thurs 25 Sept | Clarkston [near Detroit] MI | Pine Knob Music Theatre (Cosmic De-Evolution Tour)
• Fri 26 Sept | Cleveland OH | Beachland Ballroom
• Sun 28 Sept | Cincinnati OH | Ludlow Garage
• Tues 30 Sept | Pittsburgh PA | Crafthouse
• Weds 1 Oct | Annapolis MD | Ram’s Head
• Thurs 2 Oct | Mansfield [near Boston] MA | Xfinity Center (Cosmic De-Evolution Tour)
• Sat 4 Oct | Holmdel NJ | PNC Band Arts Center (Cosmic De-Evolution Tour)
• Sun 5 Oct | Wantagh NY | Northwell Jones Beach (Cosmic De-Evolution Tour)
• Sat 11 Oct | Vancouver | Canada Rickshaw Theatre
• Fri 12 Oct | Everett [near Seattle] WA | Apex Kings Hall
• Mon 13 Oct | Portland OR | Alberta Rose Theatre
• Thurs 16 Oct | Mountain View CA | Shoreline Amphitheatre (Cosmic De-Evolution Tour)
• Sat 18 Oct | Los Angeles CA | Hollywood Bowl (Cosmic De-Evolution Tour)
• Fri 24 Oct | Charlotte NC | PNC Music Pavilion (Cosmic De-Evolution Tour)
• Sat 25 Oct | Alpharetta GA | Ameris Bank Amphitheatre (Cosmic De-Evolution Tour)
• Tues 28 Oct | St. Petersburg FL | Ferg’s
• Weds 29 Oct | Mount Dora FL | Mount Dora Music Hall
• Sat 1 Nov | Austin TX | Germania Insurance Amphitheatre (Cosmic De-Evolution Tour)
• Sun 2 Nov | Houston TX | Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (Cosmic De-Evolution Tour)

If all goes well, I will be seeing three Lene Lovich concerts this Fall…in America! And, oh yeah…finally seeing the almighty DEVO live. After the news of Lene Lovich touring it all feels strangely anti-climactic, but lets hear it for the notion of weird music for weird times. I’ll take all that I can get. Watch this space.

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