ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JAN. 10, 2007
By Steve Newton
Ever been to a sold-out rock show where the crowd is on its feet the entire time, while you’re sitting there wondering what all the fuss is about?
That’s what happened to me at the Incubus show last Friday (January 5) at the Queen E. It was an impressive event from a visual standpoint, and the musicianship—in particular that of guitarist Michael Einziger—was topnotch, but I just couldn’t sink my teeth into the unwieldy mishmash of thrashy nü-metal, overwrought pop balladry, and experimental turntable shenanigans.
Looking casually grimy à la Matthew Good, lead vocalist Brandon Boyd led the multiplatinum L.A. quintet as it kicked off a major North American tour, focusing on tunes from its latest CD, Light Grenades. Two songs in, the band delivered the new rocker, “A Kiss to Send Us Off”, and the crowd went nuts for the collision of Nirvana-like grunge and U2-style shimmer.
Throughout the night the audience fanatically embraced each and every song, while I found myself increasingly annoyed by the disjointed arrangements that begged for some editing and direction. I’ve never been able to figure out why “Wish You Were Here”, off 2001’s Morning View, achieved mega-hit status, and the live version didn’t reveal any clues to that mystery.
It’s still boring as hell.
My disaffection with the band may be rooted in Boyd’s inflated delivery; there’s something in it that brings to mind Bono at his most pretentious. That loftiness is reflected in the current Incubus bio, which Boyd penned himself, quoting English philosopher-author Colin Wilson’s 1971 book, The Occult: A History.
“Like a camera taking a long shot with a wide-angle lens, we conjured Light Grenades; a forty-seven and some odd seconds long bulbous mass of sound and intention captured on tape. ‘Light Grenades’ that explode with consciousness, light, art and mind.”
Geez, buddy, lighten up. It’s only rock ’n’ roll.
Incubus’s warm-up act, Albert Hammond Jr., didn’t thrill me either, for more obvious reasons: the guy’s a lousy singer. It was obvious as soon as he opened his mouth that he wouldn’t have scored this enviable opening slot if he weren’t also a founding member of NYC alt-rock darlings the Strokes.
After kicking things off with a propulsive pop-rock ditty that sounded kinda like the Strokes sans the catchy hooks and charismatic vocals, Hammond traded his prized white Strat for an acoustic guitar, but the switch didn’t improve things; his lacklustre singing continued to sink the set. The nearly inaudible drums didn’t help.
“Not that you know any of these songs,” quipped Hammond, “but this one’s new.” Apparently he has a solo CD titled Yours to Keep (gee, thanks) that won’t be released in North America until March. To quote his MySpace page, “The album comes in addition to Albert’s role in the Strokes—he is not leaving the band.”
Good call on his part.
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