I'm finishing a larger piece for later this week on Devo, Chrissie Hynde and the Black Keys' devastatingly great Obama benefit in their native Akron (reassure my editor that it's on its way, really!), but for now I'd like to offer you what for me was the highlight of the night: the band's furious, No We Really Mean It performance of “Gates of Steel.” (Yo La Tengo used to do an amazing cover of the song, too). Sorry for the poor quality. The band nearly blew my cheapo video camera mic.

The sold out crowd of 2,500 was 98 percent Democrat, though a few catcalls during Devo co-founder Jerry Casale's stump for Barack offered a touch of opposition. Another highlight was Chrissie Hynde's three-song acoustic set, and the final obligatory end-of-show jam session featuring the collected musicians taking on the Pretenders' new “Break Up the Concrete,” a Bo-Diddley-esque rumba-romp. More to come shortly (really!). The Keys were, as always, killer.

(photo by Karen Schiely, courtesy the Akron Beacon Journal)

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