New-wave pioneers DEVO will play the Power Center as part of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, the festival announces this morning.

DEVO

Tickets, between $50 and $100, are on sale now. Details appear below.

Best remembered for their smash hit “Whip It,” DEVO was a high-profile name in the developing new wave music scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Known for their tongue-in-cheek theories and iconic look as much as for their music, the band’s other hits included “Freedom of Choice,” “Girl U Want,” “Mongoloid” and a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” The band will appear in support of its first album of new material in 20 years.

In another announcement today, the Summer Festival names its full lineup for a Beatles tribute concert on June 19:

According to the announcement, “Curated and hosted by musicologist and industry veteran Martin Bandyke, the concert includes guest performances by indie-folkster Chris Bathgate, funk-rock outfit The Brothers Groove, singer-pianist Lucciana Costa, blues diva Thornetta Davis, The Hard Lessons’ Augie Visocchi with students from the School of Rock, jazz swingers Hot Club of Detroit, sonic artist Frank Pahl and his toy band, legendary Ann Arbor singer/songwriter Dick Siegel, and teen band Sole Transit.”

The DEVO concert is set for 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 6 at Power Center, 121 Fletcher Street. Ticket prices are $100 (VIP), $65, $60, $55, and $50. To order tickets, call 734-764-2538 or go online to the Summer Festival website From the announcement: “One of new wave’s most innovative and successful bands, DEVO was also perhaps one of its most misunderstood. Formed in Akron, OH, in 1974 by Kent State art students Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh, DEVO took its name from their concept of "de-evolution" — the idea that instead of evolving, mankind has actually regressed, as evidenced by the dysfunction and herd mentality of American society. Their music echoed this view of society as rigid, repressive, and mechanical, with appropriate touches — jerky, robotic rhythms; an obsession with technology and electronics (the group was among the first non-prog rock bands to make the synthesizer a core element); often atonal melodies and chord progressions — all of which were filtered through the perspectives of conceptual misfits. DEVO became a cult sensation, helped in part by their concurrent emphasis on highly stylized visuals and groundbreaking music videos directed by Gerald Casale.

DEVO’s big break came with the short film which they wrote and starred in, ‘The Truth About De-Evolution’. It won a prize at the 1976 Ann Arbor Film Festival. When the film was seen by David Bowie and Iggy Pop, they were impressed enough to secure the group a contract with Warner Bros. Recorded under the auspices of pioneering producer Brian Eno, 1978’s ‘Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO!’ was seen as a call to arms by some and became an underground hit. Others found DEVO’s sound, imagery, and material threatening; Rolling Stone, for example, called the group fascists. But such criticism missed the point: DEVO dramatized conformity, emotional repression, and dehumanization in order to attack them, not to pay tribute to them. While 1979’s ‘Duty Now for the Future’ was another strong effort, the band broke through to the mainstream with 1980’s ‘Freedom of Choice,’ which contained the gold-selling single ‘Whip It’ and represented a peak in their songwriting. The video for ‘Whip It’ became an MTV smash, juxtaposing the band’s low-budget futuristic look against a down-home farm setting and hints of S&M.

Today, DEVO COMMUNICATIONS (DEVOCOM), is the umbrella under which Mark and Gerald return to their most conceptual roots as a virtual agency hatching ideas and projects from the ground up, demonstrating a devolved slant on contemporary product branding. The re-tooled ClubDEVO website, the band’s official website now hosted by Warner Bros., will make its debut as well. Vintage DEVO merchandise designs will be available through the site along with band blogs, activity updates, and news of forthcoming music video creations in advance of the bands’ body of amazing new music. ‘Something for Everybody’ is the upcoming ninth studio album by DEVO, which will be released on June 15, 2010.”

Devo performing new song “Fresh” on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” last month: