Less energy, more skillful playing

SOME fans jumped and sang along the band’s chartmakers, while others whipped out gadgets and recorded numbers. PHOTO BY MAGIC LIWANAG

MANILA, Philippines—If anything was in full display during Incubus’ return concert in Manila last Friday, it was definitely age.

Guitarist Mike Einziger donned a button-down with cuffed chinos to go with his derby shoes. DJ Kilmore had alarmingly longer dreadlocks. Frontman Brandon Boyd looked five years older with the unruly facial hair. Bassist Ben Kenney, who just celebrated his 38th birthday, also looked more mature.

‘Like Vanilla’

BASSIST Ben Kenney . PHOTO BY KIMBERLY DE LA CRUZ

Before an almost-packed Mall of Asia Arena, it would’ve been easy for the band, which previously performed in 2011, to have gone with an all-1990s playlist. Boyd, after all, is far from the serenading, angsty version of himself, that one who moaned lustily and melancholically in years past.

But the frontman opted to go with experimental spectacle. And he was clearly enjoying it, even jesting, “‘Manila’…just like ‘vanilla’…two of the greatest things in the world.” The boys were clearly having fun, as they infused their songs with Lionel Richie’s “Hello” and The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).”

Boyd played the conga in a couple of numbers and even whipped the tambourine.

The best surprises, though, were two songs out of the band’s new EP.

After a more psychedelic-than-melodic “Made for TV Movie,” Boyd segued to the effects-laden “Absolution Calling.” Kilmore fired off fat chunks of bass lines but, sadly, the former’s computer-augmented backing tracks were a letdown.

Pedigree

This was also the case with another new song, “Trust Fall.” But the band managed to highlight its original members’ best assets—Boyd’s dulcet stretches, Einziger’s playful riffs and drummer Jose Pasillas’ more textured drumming—thanks to 24 years of music pedigree.

TAKE ’EM OFF! Frontman Brandon Boyd in various stages of undress—button-down, tank, skin. His vocals were gnarled at times, but his dulcet stretches prevailed in the end. PHOTO BY KIMBERLY DE LA CRUZ

The show started spiritedly. Opening act Lindsey Stirling, “dancing violinist” and “America’s Got Talent” finalist, primed the crowd with her unorthodox showcase.

Incubus then kicked off the night with (arguably) the fans’ coming-of-age anthem (aside from “Are You In”), “Wish You Were Here.” Another song that saw transmission off the “Morning View” album was the turbulent “Circle.”

Chart makers

Two songs from their 2013 album, “If Not Now, When?”—which polarized fans and critics—also saw action.

“Adolescents” featured gnarled singing by Boyd, but “In the Company of Wolves” saw him compensate with what felt like “interpretative” singing.

Incubus was quick to recover with its chartmakers— “Circle,” the mathematical “Anna Molly,” the sticky yet disarmingly beautiful “Kiss to Send Us Off” and “Megalomaniac”—all of which were injected with twists to their intros and bridges.

Biggest favorites

These were all performed in six prior stops of the band’s Asia Pacific Tour. (Incubus played in Bangkok before rocking Manila.) They were still the biggest favorites, judging from the enthusiasm with which the MOA Arena crowd jumped in cadence to each one.

“Nice to Know You,” had the crowd singing along with Boyd. But it was the encore’s stripped-bare “I Miss You” that totally won them over. Suddenly, it felt like 1999 all over again.

The playful “A Crow Left of the Murder” wrapped the night, showcasing Incubus in its finest form. The band members may be far from their younger and more energetic versions, but skillful playing has definitely become their new business cards.

Incubus has achieved something that many foreign acts fail at: It did age, yes, like fine wine.