BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Brandon
Boyd manages to keep his shirt on for a few songs.
By Mary Williams
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Jumping around the stage in full rock mode one minute and
playing acoustic while seated on a couch the next, the members of
Incubus showed their musical range Thursday night at the Great
Western Forum.
The concert seemed designed to please the greatest number of
people possible, from longtime fans who came to hear the older,
harder material, to newcomers looking for the recent hits off
“Morning View,” to teenage girls just waiting for
singer Brandon Boyd to take his shirt off. None would have been
disappointed with Thursday’s show.
The set list included several tracks off the band’s
breakthrough album “Make Yourself” and the older
“S.C.I.E.N.C.E.,” which got the crowd surfers surfing
and the moshers moshing. While “Morning View” is a more
laid-back album than Incubus’ early material, the band showed
it’s still in touch with its Ozzfest and Family Values Tour
days by closing with “A Certain Shade of Green” from
“S.C.I.E.N.C.E.” Considering its age, the song was an
unexpected choice, but a treat for the fans who had been around
since the group’s early days.
Even with the inclusion of numerous older songs, the relatively
mellower sound and mood of new Incubus material was strongly felt
Thursday. The hits “Nice To Know You” and “Wish
You Were Here” ““Â songs that exemplify the
band’s growing distance from its funk and metal influences
““ were played early in the set.
The band included its popular acoustic material halfway through
the show, sitting in the quickly constructed living room setting
onstage. Perched on a sofa and armchair, next to a side table and
lamp, the band played “Mexico” and the unplugged
version of “Pardon Me,” creating one of the mellowest
moments in the concert.
The audience’s energetic reaction to the full range of
Incubus’ material was surprising given all the hype about the
perceived growing number of teenage girls among the ranks of
Incubus fans. Boyd was a dynamic performer, flinging himself across
the stage and arching his back as he belted out the lyrics. But his
elevation from rock singer to sex icon was not as strongly felt at
the Forum as might have been expected.
Yes, there were the girls who screamed the first time a
projection of his face replaced the nature scenes on the large
screen behind the band, and again when he stripped off his white
shirt and black tie. Overall, though, more people were singing
along to the angry “Make Yourself” than were creating a
stir when Boyd started playing a bongo shirtless.
As much variety as there was in the crowd, from the old to the
new fans to the ogling females, the encore closer brought the whole
audience together. Rather than leaving the audience with an
explosive rock-song, the band chose to end its concert, like its
latest album, with the serene arrangements of “Aqueous
Transmission.” The song is Incubus’ most unusual,
bringing in Eastern instruments, and the band’s most
dreamlike, relaxing sound yet.
The audience was completely peaceful, a few singing along with
Boyd but most swaying in silence.
As each band member finished his part, he filed off the stage
one by one. Finally, the only one left was DJ Lyfe, who started the
track of frog and cricket sounds before exiting. The nature noises
faded out slowly as the audience waited in darkness. When all was
silent, the house lights rose, there was a final cheer for the
band, and everyone filed out.