I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: August 8, 2026] Kevin Devine

I’ve been a fan of Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band for several years now.  Last December, I went o see him one week after a hip replacement because it was at a brewery fifteen minutes from my house.  Tonight’s show was at a record store in Milltown, NJ.  I had seen Ted Leo there last year and they have a great setup for in-store artists.  And this time, there were seats!

Kevin is a delightful, funny performer.  He jokes with the audience and at his own expense.  He has a great powerful voice, although most of his songs, when solo, are rather soft.

He played an acoustic guitar for the whole set which had several songs from his soon to be released album (next year sometime).

He opened with a song he played last time a new song that may or may not be on the new album.   Then he played one that is definitely on it (they just finished mixing it).  Then, as he said, he’d play some songs from throughout the years and then take Q&A and requests.

It’s not surprising that the set was similar to the solo show at Flounder eight months ago, but he had a few news songs and he took requests which meant a lot of new (to me) stuff.

He basically opened with the same few songs as last time (although we missed the very first few songs, so it was like hearing them for the first time.)

After the newer songs he went really deep for Go Haunt Someone Else (2006) and Yr Damned Ol’ Dad (2005).  After playing a song from Brother’s Blood, he talked about Bad Books and then ran through a quick version of Andy Hull is Garbage.  This is now the second or third time I’ve heard this and it makes me laugh every time.  So Kevin and Andy work together in Bad Books (Andy is in Manchester Orchestra as well) and it’s hard to follow the order, but Kevin says he wrote the “garbage” song but Kevin says that Andy says he wrote it about Kevin first.  So, I gather they each play their own version in their live sets from time to time.

The Andy Hull version

Kevin also joked that he wrote all of the songs for Bad Books.  One of my concert regrets is not going to see Bad Books when I had the chance.  It was the same night as another band I didn’t know (Astronoid).  Of course, I haven’t heard anything from Astronoid since then either, but I would have liked to experience Bad Books.  He did confess that he did write Mesa, Az, though.

I have seen Kevin 5 times and he hasn’t play any song at all of the shows, but he has played Instigator four times.  And I’m fine with that song, it’s one of my favorites.  He has also played Carnival 4 times (it’s hard to argue with playing anything from Brother’s Blood).

The last two times I’ve seen him now he’s played a Miracle of 86 song.  It’s hard to find Miracle of 86 stuff online–that was his younger punkier band.  They put out 3 albums, but only one of them seems readily available.

He said he would play two more new songs, but he only played one (title not given).  He did tell us that the new album is basically dine.  They are just finishing things up and it will be out next year.

Then he took some requests.  I couldn’t hear most of the requests, but I enjoyed his reaction.  Some: oh, that’s an old one, thank you for knowing it.  I don’t remember it.  Some: I think I can play that.  Others: yes, I can play that.

He played four requests (only one ha I heard live before) and then he played two requests “about 60%” of them.  And I got a huge laugh out of his improvising when he forgot the words:  “It gets so scary in my mind./And my name is Kev Devine.”  [actual lyric: It just gets scary inside my mind I turn straw men to monsters And line their mouths with knives] and “What if I’m wrong…. something happens, and that’s the rest of the song” [What if I’m wrong? I’ll open my doors up Wind will come sweep me along].  He was particularly pleased that someone requested this song and was pretty happy that he remembered it so well.

After playing an absolutely outstanding version of Brother’s Blood, he told a story about how someone (his manager?) said that eh should always end with Brother’s Blood, but he always wants to “play baseball” after it.  Kevin laughed and said, yes he did always want to play baseball.  And then laughed and explained that the song was called The Ballgame, not Baseball.  He did play The Ballgame.  Although he had some good joke openings, like the intro to Mr Jones, and then Stairway to Heaven–including a note that the end of Estranged by Guns N Roses is the same as the end of Stairway to Heaven.

Like the previous show, he ended with I Was Alive Back Then, although this version was certainly shortened.  It’s such a lovely song and a nice way to end a show.

His daughter was over by the merch table–he shouted out to her mid show and when I chatted with him, he did remember me (I had had hip replacement surgery a week before the last show, so it was pretty memorable). He’s so nice and so genuine.   I’m happy to see him whenever I can, and I was happy to hear he’d be touring with the Goddamned Band next year.

 

	2026 solo at Revilla	2025 solo at Flounder
	……………………………………..	Negative Conviction Δ
	Negative Conviction Δ  (2)	God Is in the Numbers Σ
	Laughing in the Ambulance Again Σ (2)	Laughing in the Ambulance Again Σ
	Not Over You Yet Ω (2)	Not Over You Yet Ω
	Go Haunt Someone Else ¶	You are the Daybreak ⊗
	Yr Damned Ol’ Dad ⊗	Me and My Friends ¶
	All of Everything, Erased ß (2)	I Could Be With Anyone ß
	Andy Hull is Garbage ¥ (2)	A Story, A Sneak ∞
	Mesa, AZ (Bad Books song) ≅	Little Bulldozer ⊇
	Instigator ⇔ (4)	Nobel Prize (Kevin Devine & The Goddamn Band song) Θ
	Knife (Miracle of 86 song) ‰ (Jokingly intro’d song with a riff and lyric from Outshined by Soundgarden)	Instigator ⇔ (3)
	Albatross Ø (2)	Albatross Ø
	Carnival ß (4)	Carnival ß (3)
	(Unknown) (New song. “$390 in a checking account”)	Another Bag of Bones ß (jokingly intro’d the song with the first line of Fresh Prince of Bel Air)
	I Used to Be Someone ∞ (request time)	Andy Hull is Garbage ¥
	You are the Daybreak ⊗ (request time) (2)	You Wouldn’t Have to Ask (Bad Books cover) ≅
	Wolf’s Mouth Ω (request time)	Aishiteru, Yellow Blue (new song by Funambulist, Kevin’s new band with Caroline Glaser) ∃
	Tapdance Ω (request time)	Every Famous Last Word (Miracle of 86 song) ‰ (Kevin sang a line from his 4th grade band Arsenic’s song No Light in the Darkness)
	No One Says You Have To ⇔ (request–played “about 60%  improvised: “It gets so scary in my mind./And my name is Kev Devine.”)	Cotton Crush ⊗
	The Easy Mark and the Old Maid (Bad Books song) (Played “about 60%” of it. Improvised line: What if I’m wrong…. something happens, and that’s the rest of the song)	I Was Alive Back Then ⇔
	(Unknown) (New song “caught myself practicing your eulogy”)
	Brother’s Blood ß (3)
	Ballgame  ß (Joke open w. Mr Jones & Stairway to Heaven–said end of Estranged by GNR has same ending riff as StH)
	I Was Alive Back Then ⇔ (partial) (2)

 

	2019 with the Goddamn Band	2019 solo at Boot & Saddle	2017 opening Frightened Rabbit
	All of Everything, Erased ß	Only Yourself  ‰	Daydrunk ⇔
	Carnival ß (2)	Just Stay ¶	No History ⇔
	Another Bag of Bones ß (2)	Instigator ⇔ (2)	Instigator ⇔
	Hand of God ß	Longer That I’m Out Here Ω	Another Bag of Bones ß
	Brother’s Blood ß (2)	Bubblegum Θ
	Fever Moon ß	You Wouldn’t Have to Ask (Bad Books cover) ≅
	It’s Only Your Life ß	No History ⇔ (2)
	Murphy’s Song ß	Little Bulldozer ⊇
	I Could Be With Anyone ß	I Wrote It Down for You ‰	No setlist online.  I recorded these songs
	Yr Husband ß	Carnival ß
	Tomorrow’s Just Too Late ß	I Was Alive Back Then ⇔
	encore	Cotton Crush ⊗ (with snippet of The Beers by The Front Bottoms)
	Big Bad Man $	Brother’s Blood ß
	She Stayed As Steam $
	The Burning City Smoking ¶
	Just Stay ¶ (2)
	Buried By the Buzz ⊗
	Cotton Crush ⊗ (2)

Σ = Split EP (2025)
Δ  = single (2025)
Ø = Nothing’s Real, So Nothing’s Wrong  (2022)
‰ = Devinyl Splits Vol. 2
⇔ = Instigator (2016)
Θ = Bubblegum (2013)
⊇ = Bulldozer (2013)
∞ = Between the Concrete  & Clouds (2011)
$ = She Stayed as Steam EP (2010)
ß = Brothers Blood (2009)
¶ = Put Your Ghost to Rest (2006)
⊗ = Split the Country, Split the Street (2005)
Ω = Make the Clocks Move (2003)
Circle Gets the Square (2002)

BAD BOOKS
≅ = Bad Books (2010)
Bad Books II (2012)
Daytrotter Session(12-inch/digital) (2013)
Bad Books III (2019)
II: Reimagined (2023)

FUNAMBULIST
∃ singles (2025)

MIRACLE OF 86
Stages (EP under the band name Delusion) (1995)
Teenage Unity (EP under the band name Delusion) (1996)
Render Useless/Miracle of 86 (Split with Render Useless) (1998)
Miracle of 86 (Fade Away) (2000)
Kevin Kolankowski (2001)
‰ Every Famous Last Word (2003)
Last Gasp (EP) (2005)