Just half an hour before the gig Cardiff Castle’s annual fireworks held my eyes and ears hostage in awe struck submission. So due to the occasion, it came as little surprise to find the Motorpoint arena floor looking unusually spacious as I entered at 8.30, minutes before the house lights fell for the Cali five piece hit the stage. After all its Saturday and its Guy Fawkes Night, so it was lack of local knowledge or misjudgment from one such manager of the band to expect an arena full of people not to perhaps have other plans for tonight.
None the less there is still a healthy number in attendance as it’s been three years since Incubus, one of the seminal bands of the early noughties Nu Metal wave, last embarked upon a tour Britain. Needless to say, their return is well overdue and despite not selling out, the seating area has been opened up for the audience to walk down to the standing section, so from the band’s perspective, there is still a boisterous throng before them.
The band dropped their long awaited seventh album “If not now, when?” back in April, after a four year gap without fresh material. The new record brought a fresh approach to their song writing and a mature, mellower sound that contrasts against the Incubus of old who combined Brandon Boyd’s soaring melodic vocals, with pummeling riffery and sections of scratching and electronic sampling.
Cheers erupt as an enveloping digital backdrop flickers in to action, projecting the music video of “megalomaniac” and its starts things of on a suitably thrashy ape shit inspiring vibe. The lyrics seem to go a miss in the memory banks of the 8,000 or so mid-twenties looking rockers here though. But concerns are swept aside as 8,000 in attendance find their voices for crowd pleaser “Wish you were here” one of the biggest choruses Incubus have written in their career and probably the closest to pop they have ever come.
New single “Adolescents” ignited a modest response, but the ambient entry of “Pardon me” made one thing clear, that it was the classics that the people of Cardiff had turned up for. The crowds keep up word for word with Boyd’s opening verse before emptying their lungs trying to match his ever impressive vocal prowess and DJ Chris Killmore’s effects laden scratching is as pleasing to the ear as on record. He also looks pretty damn cool as he does it. Through the show, the digital screen switches between colorful graphic effects to footage of the band and combined with an impressive array arena lights (which Incubus bring in abundance), the mood is well set.
Meanwhile, more recent tracks like “Anna Molly” “Talk Show on Mute” and “Have you Ever” successfully keep the energy up and long haired heads banging in preparation for a stonking mid set performance of “Vitamin”. Like with “Nice to know you” and “Pardon me” this opener of their fondly remembered second album “Vitamin”, goes down a storm and the crowd become static with excitement. “Vitamin” was after all for many, a classic of the Nu Metal archives.
Next comes a well suited, if not predictable transition to acoustic. All but Boyd and lead guitarist Mike Einzinger depart the stage and we are treated to renditions of “Defiance” and “Love Hurts”. Boyd demonstrates that his voice hasn’t lost a shred of it’s power and range through their long career and we are shared a glimpse of the duo’s sensitive side, even if the audiences reaction still feels a tad lack luster.
But as the end of the night draws steadily closer, there are hits still yet unplayed. Tying up the loose ends, they proceed by belting out the sinister sounding “Switchblade” followed by fan favorites “Drive” and “nice to know you”. The response of energy and euphoria is explosive as Boyd and co revive these relics of their back catalogue. But at nineteen tracks in since things kicked off, it’s time to retire for the encore.
Such were the almost hysteric pleas for their return though, that seemingly seconds later, they obligingly reappear to us. And they answer the call with my all time favorite “a certain shade of green” almost a decade since the track’s original release. The grand finale however, is not what this arena might have expected. Most people look to have never heard of send off track “Tomorrow’s Food”, the closer of their latest record. It’s anti-climactic end and while the song has its merits, its choice as a set closer seems an odd one.
So with a tour that has struggled to sell out more than half its dates, and an album release that failed to breach the top 20 UK album charts, signs point to the slow departure of these once towering figures of Nu Metal. But despite the odd quirk and hiccup, their long awaited return was a set that no doubt tugged on the nostalgia strings and refreshed the memories of those who remember not only the band’s glory days, but that Incubus probably were one of the great yet most underrated modern rock bands of the last 10 years.
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