Incubus
Date :
January 15th 2002
Venue : Glasgow SECC
Support : Hoobastank
+ 311
In June 01', Incubus had toured the UK, and since then, their fan base round this neck of the woods has risen dramatically, now being able to sell out the SECC, the Apolo, and Wembley arena amongst many of the massive venues that they've packed out on this tour, promoting their latest release, Morning View. So after arriving at the venue an hour or so early, we loafed for a bit around the shop and whatever, and then walked back up the unfamous oober tunnel from the station to the venue, to see if the bootleggers were out yet, as they weren't first time around, and they were, so we purchased some shit then headed back, also the official merch tonight is priced at 18 quid a t-shirt, and 40 quid a hoodie, and the 311 one was really cool as well. Anyway, after a short walk about the venue. metting up with friends and checking out some of the 'tang, we went to the q. It was now absoloutely massive, and at last we were getting in.
After a little while of sitting around, the lights went down all of a sudden, and although a lot of folk from the 8000 capacity were still outside, there is a huge eruption of screams and shouts, for tonights openers and Incubus' friends, Hoobastank. People always say that Hoobastank, are just Incubus by a different name, and i'll admit i used to think that, but after listening to more of their stuff, they're actually a lot different, as anyone who has heard any of their great old stuff, with the sax player and the lot. Their choice of opener tonight, and as far as what I have heard goes they couldn't have chose better, Pieces, instantly gets a little bit of a pit going down the front, of course, me and friends were among it. The crowd seem to like them, which is cool as it's their first time in Scotland, and hopefully the first of many to come. All of the band (with the exception of the drummer), were all over the stage like whippets, with the guitarist and bassist running from end to end and leaping about, and singer Doug Robb running around in his own little enerjetic world. Their 25 assigned minutes of musical happenings, seems to go by really quickly, but also keeps getting better, playing mainly songs from their new self-titled album, and avoiding songs from their previous release, 'They Sure Don't Make Basketball Shorts Like They Used To', the songs including the latest single 'Crawling In The Dark', which has got them a somewhat bigger fan base already, and other song included in the set are 'Ready For You', which gets the first real good pit going of the night, as Doug requested us all to bounce, and 'Better' which also gets a fairly good crowd reception. Out of all the other songs they played it doesn't include the second single from the self titled album, Running Away, which in my opinion they should've played. Overall, a very decent set, had they of got longer onstage we could've got some songs from older releases, and also, we may of witnessed them stealing Incubus' crown. We definetly be hearing a lot more from this lot, they've got the look, the sound, the confidence, and there's no reason why they won't be absoloutely massive, the next big thing.
Now, 311 already had their backdrop down whilst Hoobastank were on, and it was one big mother of a backdrop, but thats irrelevant. It doesn't take all that much farting about and getting their sound to perfection before the lights go down again, only this time, even with the arena full to the brim, the reaction isn't as loud as it was for Hoobastank. The main reason being that 311 are one of those rarities that you either love, or hate, and sadly, the biggest majority of the crowd seem to be hating them tonight. I'm one of the weird ones that think's their not bad, but not amazing, although one thing I would say is that they need a big lesson on how to open a show, they start with a really sloppy and slow song, which is never good when about two thirds of the audience already hate you. The next half hour of their set is devoted to slow song after slow song, and these guys just aren't fitting in at all. Now here we go, just as i said to my mate, they had better play Down, I must have taken the words right out of Nick Hexums mouth, as he says this one's called Down! Woo! So now we get a little bit more upbeat stuff, which finally gets a little bit out of the crowd, but not a lot. Looks like they had been saving the best songs for the last 15 minutes, as after Down, comes the tital track from the new album, From Chaos, and then followed by a couple more similair songs, and then they finnish off with what I believe is their newest single, You Wouldn't Believe, and Nick holds the final note at the end of the song, just to give it a little bit of show ending class. 311 couldn't get anywhere near Hoobastank on terms of performance, I hope to god that was an off night for them, because they're a good enough band, but that's the worst reception ive seen anyone get out of all the shows ive been to.
Now the part of the show comes that I personally hate, especially when it's your favourite band, and that is the big fucking wait for the headliners to come on. Although, thankfully, Incubus don't take that long to set up, and finally, a high pitched wailing noise can be heard, and the lights go down, and the jam packed arena are going nuts for tonights headliners, as five dark figures can be seen taking to their spots, and the high hat starts going, and the lights come up, and they started to play 'Circles', off of the latest release, 'Morning View', which is quite frankly a great way to open the show, as when the whole band kicks in, the whole arena is going absoloutely nuts. Their set continues on with Nice To Know You, and then on further with Stellar, the first song that they play from a previous release. But suddenley, they stop playing, and don't tell us why, they just tell a group at the front to move a little. But it turned out in the end to be someone who fell, and the band finally get to play again, and they blow us a away with an old funky number, namely 'Glass', from the album S.C.I.E.N.C.E, in my opinion Incubus' best. After Glass, come a couple of tracks from Make Yourself, first of Nowhere Fast, and then The Warmth, both two very good Incubus songs, which both get a somewhat different crowd reception. Now the band, with the exception of Mike + Brandon leave the stage, and the two remainders take to the front of the stage, to play a perfect performance or first, Mexico, from the new cd, and then they start off 'Drive' with just the two of them, and shortly before the second chorus the rest of the band emerge and play the full version of the song, and those two songs were without doubt, two of the best played out of all of the bands on the night. So now they all get sorted out with new gear, Mike gets his electric back, and god knows why, but Dirk switches his Warwick for a Fender...good one mate! Not. And also, Brandon can be seen getting the percussion out, which is just one bongo strapped around his neck, and they then play New Skin, which gets a great atmosphere going throughout the whole place, as it's pretty much the song that got them away from the under ground scene as far as I know. And then, the final song that I had been waiting for, which I thought they would've opened the show with, but it's all good, 'Privelage', the opener from Make Yourself, without doubt, one of the most energetic songs that Incubus have on offer, and that can be clearly seen by the crowd reaction. Throughout the course of the set, they played another couple of new songs, which were unknow to me, but possible songs could've been Echo or Warning. Incubus had now been playing for quite sometime, and just seemed to be getting better and better, and playing songs which seemed to be getting better and better, as now they announce the end of the show, and wrap it up with A Certain Shade Of Green, which is clearly an Incubus classic, and they couldnt of picked a better ender. But as would be expected, by the band and the crowd, the In-Cu-Bus! chants can be heard constantly getting louder, and they then emmerge to the stage again, only this time, looking somewhat different as Brandon's got himself a Digjaredo (check spelling, for dumbasses it's pronounced Dij-er-e-do), and for a minute or two they play a really tranquil relaxing improvisation, which gets good applause from the crowd, as improvisations are one of Incubus' main things, and they are bloody good at them! After taking a couple of minutes to pack away the digjae', instead of playing the acoustic, they play the full electric version of 'I Miss You', one of the great songs that they missed in the main part of the set, and they play Nebula, as part two of the encore, and Nebula in my opinion, is one of the most original and mixed songs ever, and anyone that's heard it will know what i'm talking about, as it mixes a little bit of everything within it. And then, predictible as anything, they close the night with Pardon Me, which as you could guess gets the biggest cheer of the night, but in my opinion, thats the most overrated Incubus song ever, but who cares?
Without doubt, this was one of the best shows that i've ever seen, although 311 were a bit of a let down, but like i said before, lets hope it was an off night for them. Apart from them though, the rest were ubeatable, and were what made the concert as good as it was. Incubus are definetly at the peak of their carreer with the current inrease in alterative music popularity, and Hoobastank are going to be just as big, if not bigger very soon without a shadows of a doubt.
- Click here, for a review of
Incubus' 'Wish You Were Here'
- Click here, for a review of Incubus' 'Morning
View'