Incubus, Live @ The Drive, Adelaide 17/4/2024
It was all happening in Adelaide being spoilt for choice with some big concerts on offer but for me all signs were pointing to The Drive who were playing host to Incubus and Live. Growing up in the 90s both bands had a significant influence on shaping my music tastes and albums such as Make Yourself and Morning View (Incubus) and Mental Jewelry, Throwing Copper and Secret Samadhi (Live) still stand proudly in my music collection.
The lines walking in to The Drive were crazy long with some of us wondering, including myself, if we were going to miss the start of Live. Made it literally with a couple of minutes to spare. Live in short were fantastic and it is a very different looking band these days with mainstay Ed Kowalczyk the only founding member remaining. The history, the drama, the break up and reformation are well documented but all that didn’t seem matter for the next seventy five minutes. Opening with Hold Me Up from Throwing Copper (from the film Zack and Miri Make a Porno, previously unreleased and the twenty-fifth anniversary reissue) it was back to back hits All Over You and Selling The Drama.
Kowalczyk reaffirmed it was great to be back down under and now to get in the time machine and go back to 1997 playing Freaks then Shit Towne (a song about growing up and hating Pennsylvania), Run To The Water and The Dolphins Cry. The crowd were in to it singing the words to these classic tunes and Kowalczyk looked to be in great spirits and having a great time. Putting the time machine away they previewed a new song Leave The Radio On. There was plenty of awesomeness to come with Turn My Head, White, Discussion and Lakini’s Juice to finish their main set. Awesome! Returning for an encore, there were still a couple of big one’s left in the armoury to fire powering their way through massive singles I Alone and Lighting Crashes. This was definitely one of those night’s where you did not want to be late.
It definitely seemed far to long between Australian tours for Incubus and their performance was stellar showing a band at the height of their powers. Classic albums Morning View and Make Yourself were very much front and centre being the focus of their set. Quicksand was a ripping opener and the impact and power of these classic albums can be seen on Nice To Know You and Anna Molly. The crowd were in awe and fully of appreciation. Despite a couple of false starts Stellar was exactly that. Sick Sad Little World was great as was Circles with the take away message on the screen “this means something” was something to think about. The crowd got vocal singing along to The Warmth.
A fan held up a sign asking singer Brandon Boyd’s microphone to be turned up which made a huge difference in hearing what he was saying between songs. Their set featured a few covers which I thought were really well done with Come Together (The Beatles), Glory Box (Portishead) and Let’s Dance (David Bowie). The bridge in Are You In? featured The Door’s Riders On The Storm. Incubus finished in fine fashion with two of the biggest hits in Drive and Wish You Were Here wrapping a solid night of rock music at The Drive.
Live Review By Rob Lyon