The premier show of NXNE was the Saturday, June 18th headliner at Yonge-Dundas Square. None other than New Wave legends Devo brought their oddball stage performance to an estimated crowd of 25,000 people, ranging from hardcore fans in energy domes to those who just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

The show began with a video montage as the band marched on stage wearing grey vinyl suits with masks. They then opened with “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)” from their 2010 album Something for Everybody, and proceeded to take the audience on a complete tour of their entire discography with songs from all eras of Devo.

Of course, Devo’s live shows are only partially about the music. Throughout the set, Devo went through multiple costume changes, from their classic yellow worksuit outfits, to all black outfits with white kneepads, to blue and white ensembles complete with blue energy domes. Some of these energy domes were tossed into the crowd during the mandatory performance of “Whip It” halfway through the set. Following this song, casual fans filtered out of the square, while those who recognize Devo as pioneers of sound and stagecraft remained — and were treated to an incredible second half of the show.

Devo’s musical uniqueness was displayed not only in their own songs, but in a pair of cover songs that were turned into Devo’s own. The first was a cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction,” which took the faux angst of Mick Jagger into the real angst of nerdier men. The other was a bizarre take on Johnny Rivers’ “Secret Agent Man,” which combined with Devo’s political sense to make a perfect parody of a song.

The set’s high points came with the back-to-back classics “Mongoloid” and “Jocko Homo.” “Mongoloid” may have been the only song of the night that sounded slightly flat, but was performed marvelously with Mark Mothersbaugh hanging on the railing in front of the audience waving oversized red pom-poms. “Jocko Homo” had the entire crowd singing along.

Devo did what many older bands simply can’t do on stage: they kept the crowd in the show, even when going through new material that would lose fans of other bands. Devo flowed from song to song flawlessly, and the one major interlude between songs was filled with a video about the infinitesimally small nature of Earth.

There were some rough moments — Mark Mothersbaugh’s voice seemed to lose range at points, but other members — particularly his brother Bob — covered for him well. But overall the set was a brilliant, multi-sensory experience. Casual fans got to hear “Whip It,” hardcore fans were treated to all the classics, and the people who just wanted a good free outdoor concert got a spectacular one.