Billy Idol and DEVO Turn Virginia Beach Into an ’80s Rock Time Machine
There are certain concert pairings that make perfect sense before anybody plays a note. Billy Idol and DEVO at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach was one of them.
On August 22, it was an evening that felt pulled from a particularly good chapter of rock history and dropped into a Virginia Beach summer night.
Two bands. Two very different flavors of the same punk-era attitude. One built around sneers, leather and rock-star swagger. The other armed with plastic energy domes, twitchy rhythms, strange humor and a knack for turning nervous energy into something nobody had quite heard before.
The two acts came from different corners of the early punk and new wave explosion, but both helped change what rock music could look and sound like. Idol brought punk attitude, pop hooks and a sneer that could cut through concrete. DEVO took a stranger, more cerebral route.
On a warm Virginia Beach night, the combination worked beautifully.
DEVO’s music has always sounded like somebody fed punk rock through a malfunctioning computer and decided to keep the results. That strange, angular style was still very much intact when the band hit the stage first. From the opening notes of “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man),” DEVO made it pretty clear this wasn’t going to be a nostalgia act going through the motions.
And yes, the red hats were there.
So was the wonderfully odd DEVO stage presence. There’s something refreshing about watching a band that never seemed particularly interested in behaving like a traditional rock band.
Their sound still has that wonderfully quirky quality, with guitars, keyboards and rhythms locking together like machinery that has developed a personality of its own.
“Peek-A-Boo!” and “Going Under” kept things moving before “That’s Good” and “Girl U Want” sent the crowd further down the musical rabbit hole.
Then came “Whip It.”
Some songs become so familiar that they can lose their edge. “Whip It” hasn’t. The opening riff still gets an instant reaction, and hearing it roll across an amphitheater full of people who clearly knew every word was one of those moments when a song sends a lightning bolt through your skull.
Watch the official music video for “Whip It” by DEVO on YouTube:
DEVO didn’t stop there. “Planet Earth,” “Uncontrollable Urge,” “Blockhead” and “Mongoloid” kept the set firmly planted in the band’s wonderfully odd little universe. “Jocko Homo” delivered the full DEVO experience, followed by “Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA” and “Gates of Steel.”
“Freedom of Choice” provided a fitting finale for a set by a band that has always marched to its own strange beat. DEVO left the crowd thoroughly warmed up for a completely different kind of showmanship.
Billy Idol walked onstage like he owned the place and opened his set with “Still Dancing.” Dressed in leather, with the platinum hair, unmistakable grin and familiar attitude all present and accounted for, Idol needed no elaborate introduction.
Some performers spend half a career trying to recreate the image that made them famous. Idol has never seemed particularly interested in doing that. He simply keeps performing.
The hits “Cradle of Love” and “Flesh for Fantasy” came early, followed by “77” and “Love Unchained.” The set mixed familiar songs with newer material without allowing the energy to sag.
Then came “Eyes Without a Face,” one of those songs that gives an Idol set a little breathing room. The softer opening allowed the audience to settle into the melody before the song’s electric side kicked in. It remains one of Idol’s strongest songs because it doesn’t need the leather-and-studs treatment to work.
It also still has that strange ability to pull a large crowd into a quieter space. For a few minutes, the party atmosphere gave way to something more atmospheric and reflective.
That moment didn’t last long.
Watch the official music video for “Eyes Without a Face” by Billy Idol on YouTube:
“Mony Mony” kicked the energy back up, with Idol turning the Tommy James & the Shondells classic into another big singalong. The rarely played “Trouble With the Sweet Stuff” followed before “Ready Steady Go” provided a reminder that, long before the MTV years, Idol was already building his reputation with punk band Generation X.
“Blue Highway” added another layer of grit before guitarist Steve Stevens took an even more prominent role.
Stevens remains a major part of the show’s identity. His partnership with Idol has always been one of the secret weapons of Idol’s music. Stevens can make a guitar sound elegant one minute and downright dangerous the next, setting up the inevitable explosion with the opening chords of “Rebel Yell.”
“Rebel Yell” is one of those songs that doesn’t need an introduction. The guitar hit like a brick through a window, and that’s when Virginia Beach really got loud.
Idol worked the stage with the confidence of someone who has spent decades learning exactly how to command a crowd. He didn’t need to manufacture excitement. The songs did most of the heavy lifting, and the band delivered them with plenty of muscle.
The main set may have closed with “Rebel Yell,” but there was no chance the night was ending there.
The encore began with “Dancing With Myself,” bringing the Generation X connection full circle. The singalong rocker “Hot in the City” followed.
Then came “White Wedding.”
It’s difficult to imagine a more fitting way to close the night. The song remains one of Idol’s signature pieces, and hearing that familiar riff roll across the amphitheater brought the evening back around to where it belonged: loud guitars, big hooks and a frontman who still knows how to command a stage.
Watch the official music video for “White Wedding” by Billy Idol on YouTube:
For one night, Virginia Beach became a little less about summer concerts and a little more about 1980s punk, new wave and MTV-era rock colliding in the same place.
That’s the funny thing about music from that era. The hairstyles may have changed and the technology certainly has, but the songs still do exactly what they’re supposed to do.
They get people out of their seats.
They get people singing.
And on August 22 in Virginia Beach, Billy Idol and DEVO did plenty of both.
## Billy Idol Setlist
1. “Still Dancing”
2. “Cradle of Love”
3. “Flesh for Fantasy”
4. “77”
5. “Love Unchained”
6. “Eyes Without a Face”
7. “Mony Mony”
8. “Trouble With the Sweet Stuff”
9. “Ready Steady Go”
10. “Blue Highway”
11. “Rebel Yell”
Encore
12. “Dancing With Myself”
13. “Hot in the City”
14. “White Wedding”
DEVO Setlist
1. “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)”
2. “Peek-A-Boo!”
3. “Going Under”
4. “That’s Good”
5. “Girl U Want”
6. “Whip It”
7. “Planet Earth”
8. “Uncontrollable Urge”
9. “Blockhead”
10. “Mongoloid”
11. “Jocko Homo”
12. “Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA”
13. “Gates of Steel”
14. “Freedom of Choice”
Here are some photos of Billy Idol performing live at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater on August 22, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography.
Here are some photos of Devo performing live at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater on August 22, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography.
