Archive for March, 2008

2nd Incubus experience

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

I had my first Incubus experience exactly four years ago today. It was magical. It was mind-blowing and life-altering almost like a spiritual awakening. The hauntingly beautiful patron saint of serial torso-baring has phenomenally delivered yet another awe-inspiring performance in last sunday’s concert at the big dome. The enigma that is Brandon Boyd along with his bandmates: guitar nazi Mike Einziger, little drummer boy Jose Pasillas, trip-hop genius Chris Kilmore and the funky, always smiling-at-the-concert Ben Kenney were back again and showcased their schizophrenic funk/metal/jazz/progressive/pop melange. The concert started at around 8:20ish but first with Up Dharma Down as opening act. They sang about four songs i think. I did not pay too much attention they were not the peak of my interest. They instantly became an afterthought. I was so wrapped up with my personal whatever, too preoccupied fidgeting my videocam preparing to gear up to capture everything. When the opening act was finally over, the foreign bandcrew set the stage and made a quick soundcheck. Then the lights went out the crowd went crazy. I went crazy. The instruments started to play and the flickering lights flashing from cameras gave us a vague shadowy glimpse of the band. Excitement grew more when we heard words escape the lips of Brandon Boyd. Practically everyone knew the lyrics to the first song Quicksand. Brandon Boyd officially pierced the night with their follow up song A Kiss to Send us Off. Everybody who knew the song by heart sang along with him with so much enthusiasm including me. Anna Molly and Oil and Water followed the set list. They did Drive like how they performed it on their concert at Red Rocks four years ago. They also did Stellar and my personal favorite, The Warmth, all three from their Make Yourself album. I have again blissfully witnessed Brandon’s utter disregard for shirts. He first took off his shirt leaving his oversized "sando" on him. His voice swaggered on several harder-edged songs like Vitamin, Favorite Things, Pistola, Circles, Sick Sad Little World and Megalomaniac. They also did Talk Shows on Mute. After a while Brandon grew tired of his "sando" and took it off. By then Brandon was topless which made the screams of legions of teenage girls with  raging hormones reverberate. It shook the coliseum. He slithered and cavorted like that of the lizard king Jim Morrison but with more energy. Hyper-actively insane. His whole body thrashing about everwhere on stage. He wa scorching. He was on fire and he burned us with his flame. It was impossible not to be affected. He was infectious. I lost myself into all that euphoria. The music alone was so good it was practically narcotic and seeing The Invisible Floating Torso Man again made it even more exciting. It was great to finally witness them play Nice to Know You, a song I really wanted to hear at the first concert. They also did the ditty Wish You Were Here were the crowd went singing loud and proud. After that I saw Mike change his guitar and picked up another instrument, a kokyu. I had a strong feeling it was going to be their last song. Aqueous Transmission with it’s soothing woodwinds and Chinese kokyu backed the gentle drawl of Brandon. He sang it almost like a lullaby. We definitely did not want to sleep. We wanted more. We did not want it to end. Four long years I patiently waited. Well, it was worth all the wait. Every bit of it. Kudos to that! Happy Birthday, Ben Kenney. Cheers!