Incubus
4th March 2018
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Connor Crawford.
Ripping through their “8” tour in Asia, South Africa and now Australasia; Incubus blazed bright at Spark Arena last night as the warm and inclusive crowd turned it on for the lads in Auckland before they head to Christchurch to enthrall them some more on this Kiwi leg of the journey.
With a nice early kick off for a Sunday night, Villainy opened up the evening with plenty of ire and a stack of professionalism, showing us just how to do it if you want to be a serious rock band in New Zealand, from excellent songwriting to perfect crowd-to-band interaction and relationship; Villainy know what they’re doing. Bringing their clean, concise rock tunes, Villainy have got this stadium rock thing down it seems, sounding more vibrant and urgent live than they do on rock radio, their multiple guitar changes, their punk-edge and sincere effort was incredibly well received by the end of their set. As Villainy give us jams on Born in the Dark, No Future, Give Up The Ghost, Alligator Skin, Safe Passage and more including a brand new track which front-dude Neill informed was only released on the Friday preceding and was the first time they were performing it live ever, for us tonight. Track in question was Tiny Little Island which sounds like Villainy, The Wiggles, Green Day, The Beatles Yellow Submarine and Weezer’s Buddy Holly ran at each other in a dark room and this amorphous, cheeky sing-song track was birthed. To the delight of Neill and band, the crowd settling in for Incubus were more than happy to peal out rounds of “We all live on a Tiny Little Island” to help finish off their set. After a quick thanks to Incubus for having Villainy play for them again (they shared a bill back in 2012 when Brandon and co. visited then too…); and a brief plug for next weekend’s Demon Energy In The Park (“Come along it’s free!), Villainy were off into the night.
Spark Arena bustled while we waited for the main event to come through; and as we plunged into darkness, screams for Brandon were wailed and copious amounts of jazz cigarettes were lit and plumed into the air; as Incubus seeped onto stage slowly and then eased into Glitterbomb amid a frantic burbling of screams and yelps. Best of all for drummers and people like myself who enjoy watching the intricacies of performance; Incubus’s trademark move of having ridiculously good drummer and founding member Jose Pasillas’s kit side on to the crowd so you can see everything little splash hit, every little stick flourish is ingenious and it was mesmerizing. With a catalogue 20+ years in the making, Incubus treated us to: Glitterbomb, Circles, Nimble Bastard, Anna Molly, Megalomaniac, Familiar, Paper Shoes, Pantomime, Nice to Know You, Stellar, Talk Shows On Mute and Wish You Were Here. Old hands but not treating it like old hat; Incubus glided through a great deal of the set with a single-minded goal of perfectly delivering their tunes with a good chunk of the set having Brandon only say “Thank You” after each song, as you feel the love-stricken Brandon devotees in the crowd wanting that little bit more banter from him. Although a pretty simple rock gig stage set up, Incubus’s video screen vignettes and the camera work by the crew in the pit was fantastic and really added to that experiential, high consciousness thing that Incubus do so well. On Circles the vision of Incubus playing their guts out was replicated on screen by large circles acting as ginormous pixels and made Brandon and co. look like impressionist art as they rocked away.
A whizz through Anna Molly felt like I was inside a live performance DVD, the crowd was pitch perfect and the vibe (and probably most of the punters…) was high. Melting into a pulsing reverb, Brandon with back to stage lifted and waggled a set of sticks to indicate he was about to get his percussion on and the lads launched into a heartfelt cut of Megalomaniac. On Pardon Me it was a moment of catharsis as the most boofiest of blokes around me in the pit threw their heads back and wailed along with Brandon; to which the man himself remarked after “You guys sound amazing tonight” and the lights bathed us for a moment so the band could get a good look at us. Keeping it fresh, Incubus switched it up by playing the bassline for Paper Shoes on keyboard and Brandon also showed his hand at guitar as well, starting off Pantomime on his own, front and centre with a gat and then the rest of the guys joined on the track to bring it to a satisfying high as Mike Einziger seared on his solo. With a dreamy introduction Nice to Know You began with Brandon singing “Auckland” over and over to us then that well loved staccato beat propelled the mosh into action; everything got a bit smoochy with couples taking their eyes off Brandon for a moment and looking into each others for a loved-up version of Stellar; after which some dude close by yelled “I fucking love you mate!” not sure who it was directed to, but it was pretty cute all the same.
Incubus weren’t here to mess around, deliver their hits yes; but also enjoy and unfurl into their talent and authority as the beloved rock band they are by giving us a couple of iconic covers too. After Talk Shows on Mute the beat changed and suddenly, was he, yes he was! Brandon began the lyrics to INXS killer-hit I Need You Tonight and it went off like a frog in a sock as our Aussie counterparts would say; and trust me I’m sure it’s going to slay when Incubus journey across the Tasman once they are done with us here in Aotearoa. Vitamin from the classic album S.C.I.E.N.C.E was super well received by all the old fans with an added thumpy, extended percussion break down. Pleasing Brandon he called out to the troops “You guys having a good time? It feels good. I can feel you from here” – obviously insert amorous screaming as people imagine Brandon feeling them. Then one of those kind of crazy rock moments you hope for happened; at almost the close of a dreamy, sensual, jamming out rendition of Are You In where the crowd had their arms aloft, palms extended and their voices mingling on the bridge; Mike stopped the show. Addressing the Security Team; it seems that Mike had enough of watching his fans get rough-handled by the crew at the front of stage and spat at them “Hey you. Yeah I’m talking to you. Yeah security dude, fucking turn around, I’m talking to you. You and all the other security guys, just let people enjoy themselves, fucking chill out, this is just a chilled out rock show, they are all way fucking smaller than you. He was just jamming out and you’ve ruined his whole night so you can just go home…from the bridge”. It was one of those moments as a fan where you feel even more connected to the band onstage; and Brandon followed it up with a “take care of each other, be safe” and we returned to the bridge as Mike directed and finished off Are You In with an even bigger slice of chill and camaraderie than before.
Unpleasantness behind us; a sweet version of Wish You Were Here was cooed by all those assembled and for their second surprise cover of the night, at the end of the song Mike trickled into that unmistakable riff for Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here and as we we all sang “We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl…” the crowd cottoned on to the fact that in a moment Incubus would be leaving us; and that they did, as they escaped to the darkness of the backstage area for a breather before they returned to give us an encore of No Fun and THE track some were waiting for, their biggie Drive. Putting on a commanding showing, I hope the fans at Horncastle Arena in Christchurch are ready for Incubus on the 7th.
Were you there at Spark Arena to witness this big production alternative rock show? Or have you seen Incubus live somewhere else? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Glitterbomb
- Circles
- Nimble Bastard
- Anna Molly
- Megalomaniac
- State of the Art
- Pardon Me
- Paper Shoes
- Pantomime
- Nice to Know You
- Sick Sad Little World
- Stellar
- Talk Shows on Mute
- Need You Tonight (snippet) [INXS cover]
- Vitamin
- Are You In?
- Wish You Were Here (snippet) [Pink Floyd cover]
- No Fun [encore]
- Drive [encore]
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