Devo Play Dress Up, Tell Tales of Michael Jackson at Osheaga

Most people tend to mellow with time, but the members of Devo just seem to be getting stranger. Through a full set of hits, the New Wave veterans indulged in their sillier tendencies to great effect.

They may have been relegated to an Osheaga Festival side stage, but the famous "devolutionists" approached their set with all the theatrics and spectacle of a headlining gig, complete with costumes, props and video projection.

Emerging in black Devo t-shirts, the band tossed blue "energy dome" headgear into the crowd while unleashing 'Whip It,' arguably their biggest hit, early on. One costume change later, the members of Devo were ready to play cover artists like only they can. Dressed in full yellow jumpsuits, the band unleashed their funky, spastic versions of 'Satisfaction' and 'Secret Agent Man' proving any song can be Devo-ized.

But it was their own hits that made the biggest impact, and there were plenty of them to go around. 'Mongoloid' and 'Uncontrollable Urge' sounded as fresh now as they did in the 80's, while 'Jocko Homo' inspired the crowd udly respond to the title question: "Are We Not Men?" "We Are Devo!"

After one more costume change, Devo returned to the stage for what they called "something pretty." 'Beautiful World' is arguably their most conventional track, but their Osheaga version was perhaps their oddest. Re-emerging in an ice cream cone costume, Mark Mothersbaugh reprised his Booji Boy character and broke to tell a baffling story about meeting Michael Jackson in Hollywood before finishing the song's hook in an exaggerated soprano delivery.

While the majority of the festival crowd was at the main stage watching Weezer's headlining set, Devo were inciting nerdgasms of their own.