Incubus: The Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA 7.11.07

Last night at the Greek Theatre, the thought finally set in that this was such a special opportunity given from Billboard and how lucky I am to be here. 

It was Incubus’ second night in a row at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and the band put on an amazing, dare I say stellar performance.

It was a sold out evening once again and the Incubus fans of Los Angeles were die hard for this show, as it was originally scheduled a few months ago, but postponed.  The outdoor, historic Greek Theatre was a perfect venue for such a grand performance with its outdoor atmosphere. 

The band took the stage just after sundown.  The crowd roared with excitement as the theatre went dark and the opening hypnotic notes of “Quicksand” began.  The opener, which is also the introduction track on their latest CD Light Grenades was a slower track, but Incubus later showed why they did not need to open with a bigger song at all, because this set would be huge.

The set showcased not only their newest fan favorites off Light Grenades but dug deep to showcase their catalog, including songs that are rarely pulled out or have not been pulled out in awhile.  Tracks from every full length release except for Fungus Amongus were played.  They played long time favorites such as “Drive” and “Wish You Were Here” and more recent favorites such as “Dig”, “Anna Molly”, and their rumored next single “Oil and Water”.  One of the surprising song choices was “Vitamin” off S.C.I.E.N.C.E. an old favorite to the long time Incubus fans.

Red and white lights streamed through the theatre on the faster songs with a rustic background that almost resembled shrapnel pieced together.  Brandon Boyd’s vocals hit the mark perfectly, as the crowd got lost in his words.  For a few songs, he not only took part in guitar playing duties, but played various ethnic drums, adding great effect to Jose Pasillas big drumming.  Ben Kenney rocked out on his side of the stage with deep bass lines and helped out with backing vocal duties.  Killmore did his things with the one’s and two’s bringing to the live act those amazing effects, beats, and scratches that make Incubus’ sound even more unique.  And Mike Einziger brought an amazing performance as always, despite news going around at the moment about him having some wrist issues.  If he has been having some problems, it surely didn’t show.

Blue lights pulsated during the slower songs and breakdowns.  During “Sick Sad Little World” they had an extended instrumental break that had the lights lowered even more with only a floodlight held by Boyd to light each member giving them a moment to shine, no pun intended, during the break.  At the end of it, Boyd had two floodlights shining them up in the air and around the stage making for a wonderful visual. 

Things were clearly not over yet after their “last song” “Dig”, but took more than a moment before the band returned for an encore.  When the lights came back on, a string section had been set up on stage.  The crowd went ballistic as they went into the Make Yourself track “The Warmth”.  They followed that up with the Morning View tracks “11 A.M.” and the beautiful “Aqueous Transmission” as the closer, including Einziger playing a biwa (a Japanese sitar-like stringed instrument).  The encore, and especially the last song of the night brought cheers and goosebumps to everyone in attendance.  As the last song wrapped up, slowly and one by one each member would stop playing their instrument and bow out beginning with Boyd and ending with Killmore. 

On this night, Incubus more than showed why they are as big as they’ve been in the last decade.  They are truly one of the bands of this generation that will forever be remembered, always updating on their sound and evolving, not changing, and not having to incorporate whatever the fad is of the moment in the rock scene.

Also, they have the songs and are capable of putting on a “greatest hits set”.  But despite omissions of big hits such as “Pardon Me” and “Stellar”, the crowd still left more than happy as Incubus did not go and play all album tracks that are unknown to a casual majority.  Incubus has found the perfect balance between the commercial and the artistic. 

Setlist:
Quicksand
A Kiss to Send Us Off
Wish You Were Here
Anna Molly
Vitamin
Pistola
Drive
Under My Umbrella
Love Hurts
Paper Shoes
Sick Sad Little World
Oil & Water
Megalomaniac
Dig

Encore:
The Warmth
11 A.M.
Aqueous Transmission

Comments

[Account Deleted]

your photos came out amazingly awesome!!! you don't even know how jealous I was that you got assigned to this since I had requested it too, haha. either way, you did a great job! :)

[Dianna]

oh my goodness those photographs were just stellar! The blog was sooo good, you are very talented writer.

[Aileen]

Dude! You were so close to Brandon! Great photos and awesome review!!

[Josh]

Wish I was there.

(Heh. See what I did there?)

Nice review. You're getting good with that phone.

[KarlaBlume]

I cannot BELIEVE that our EnV phone took those photos. Good ones. Review was good, too. :)

[Kristin]

What a great gig, lucky you!!! Super picks and love the review...

[d]

that is an amazing set list! there was a good mix of old and new stuff. I would love to see "Aqueous Transmission" live..

[Pablo Verzosa]

Incubus is such a great band. all their song are undoubtedly the best. the lyrics are meaningful and the rythm is just fantastic.

[Mariposa]

AWESOME REVIEW! Those pics look incredible!

[AJ Garcia]

Good stuff..

[Drew Hession]

Wow sounds like an amazing show, wish I could have been there too. Sucks I had to miss them play warmth live.

[KS Hirk]

wow, that's an excellent review! i was there and i am glad to have it recorded so perfectly. you must be a really dedicated fan, and thus cool in my book.

[chesca]

oh wow lou, this is really a fantastic review!!! the ones i've read a few minutes ago (i only started today) were good and made me really want to watch them but this one is just great. i love how you talk about the aesthetics of the lights and their set, i really wish this comes out on dvd cos it looks like something that'll even make me cry.

you're so lucky!!

[Anna]

Great review here. Looking forward to more of your reviews for other bands with upcoming concerts. Good shots too!

[Angela]

Incubus is most definitely one of the bands that has influenced our generation. It's so great to see that you detailed every bit of their performance, including the aesthetics of the stage and lighting. After reading this, it almost feels like I was there...haha!

[Paolo]

aooowwwhhH!! woohoo! way to go lou =)

[tiffany bracelet]

In the Ming dynasty, the writer LiuYuanQing Nao an article entitled, "in the essay describes a story: a small figure, Nao with sharp claws. The tiger's head to itch, Nao climbed up to scratch itching, tiger felling. Scratch and Nao continually in the tiger's head dug a hole, tigers for comfortable but not perceive. The tiger Nao so as to eat delicious brain.