Live Review: Incubus - O2 Apollo, Manchester 03/10/2022
Californian rockers Incubus return to Manchester for the first time in four years with a set hinged on their earlier releases.
Nu-metal, as far as genres go, isn’t one the most respected. Though fondly remembered by those who grew up alongside it, it was nihilistic, angry, and aggressive. It was also an outlet for the pent-up frustrations of both its listeners, and indeed those making it, and it was absolutely a product of its time.
As a result, bands evolved or were swallowed up by the music industry, remembered only in the obscure Best Of lists published on occasion by Kerrang! or Metal Hammer. Many of those that did evolve have gone on to become household names; the likes of Korn, Slipknot and Linkin Park all enjoying long, productive careers.
One band who never quite hit household name status is Incubus. They never really subscribed wholly to the nu-metal genre either, instead just dancing and flirting with its tropes and conventions, resulting in a sound that was glitchy, fractured and completely unique.
And now the band are back in the UK for the first time in four years, the final night of a short, four-date run that sees the band packing out Manchester’s O2 Apollo; the iconic theatre on the outskirts of the city centre filling up as the night’s only support stride on stage at exactly 7:30.
Comprised of twin sisters Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn, and tonight playing as a four-piece, softcult’s gentle blend of shoegaze and light is the perfect start to the evening. A delicate amalgamation of imposing walls of sound and shimmering, glacial pop sensibility, it’s a modern take on classic genres of the ‘90s and feels like a fitting way to warm up the crowd.
“We’ve never played to crowds like you before. Never played in rooms like these” the band explain, before launching into recent single ‘One of A Million’, a light and airy, almost country-tinged track that feels much poppier than those it proceeds. It’s final track ‘Uzumaki’ which really showcases the band as something special, however. Building from its outset it’s a bold and brash finale that harbours more weight than its recorded counterpart, culminating in the four members lit by spotlights for a final time and one final embrace before exiting the stage.
There’s just enough time for a trip to the bar before retaking our seats perched front and centre on the venue’s balcony as the house lights dim and a roar engulfs the room. Frontman Brandon Boyd takes front and centre stage, flanked by drummer Jose Pasillas on his right, and DJ Chris Kilmore on his left.
Wasting little time, they launch immediately into crowd-pleaser ‘Nice to Know You’; the stage backlit in pink and yellow and the crowd below us erupting seemingly into a one giant mosh pit. And well they might, the band on stage are much heavier than on record, with only their lightest songs not differing too much.
One such offering comes early in the form of ‘Are You in?’. Interjected with snippets of The Doors’ ‘Riders on the Storm’, its here both Boyd’s voice, and indeed Kilmore’s more electronic elements are really brought to the fore. It’s proof, if any was needed, that Incubus were and indeed are much more than the nu-metal bands they were lumped in with.
There’s little in the way of crowd interaction, the occasional post-song ‘Thank you’ from Boyd perhaps, but it’s not needed. Tracks flow into each other almost seamlessly, with much of what’s on offer centred around Morning View and Make Yourself, arguably the band’s two best known records; the likes of ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘Circles’ making early appearances for instance.
Of course, later albums are represented in the form of ‘Megalomaniac’, and ‘Sick Sad Little World’, but it’s ‘Dig’ that really shines. Bathed in a deep blue light, a topless Boyd leads the crowd in a singalong worthy of arenas, putting any doubts to bed as to just how important this band were and indeed still are to so many. A rousing way to close out the main set.
Though people begin making their way for the venue’s doors as the feedback from the guitars finally fizzles out, it’s clear that the band still have something left. And we’re proven right moments later as they emerge back onto the stage for an expected but nevertheless welcome encore.
A two-song finale in the form of ‘Warning’ and ‘Drive’ respectively, the latter of the two the perfect conclusion to a career spanning, and indeed career defining set. Glitchy and angular, and never easy to define, this was Incubus at their strongest, and long may it continue.
Words by Dave Beech
