By Nick Romanow

Collegian Staff

Incubus

July 2

Dunkin Donuts Arena

Providence, RI

Providence – Much to the delight of fans all over New England, Incubus brought one of the most exciting and invigorating tours of the summer to the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence on July 2.

While 2001’s “Morning View” saw Incubus dangling dangerously close to generic radio rock, the unique and spirited “A Crow Left Of The Murder,” released last winter, signaled the return of Incubus as an imaginative and inspired juggernaut.

The tour’s Providence stop found Incubus continuing to move in the right musical direction. The band started the show with a bang, taking the stage amidst a sea of noise and launching right into “Megalomaniac,” the strongly anti-Bush first single from “A Crow Left of the Murder,” and rarely letting up for the rest of the evening.

The band was brave enough not to rely on a greatest hits set and instead mixed some of their best songs from their past with a fairly large and welcome dose of songs from the new disc. They may have played the slightly boring, but not bad “Nice To Know You” but they followed it with the hard-rocking “Idiot Box,” a track from the band’s unheralded classic, 1997’s “S.C.I.E.N.C.E.” Lead singer Brandon Boyd and the rest of the group even took their most popular song “Drive” and transformed it into a full-on trip-hop tune that breathed new life into the already outstanding, if unfortunately overplayed track.

Just as Incubus seemed to be as tight as they could get, they broke into the energizing “Vitamin” which then deconstructed into a lengthy, awe-inspiring drum battle between drummer Jose Pasillas and bassist Ben Kinney. The battle was impressive to such an extent that it had to be seen to be believed.

Perhaps the highlight of the entire night was the overall feeling of the band returning to their roots. Incubus did not play the Dunkin Donuts Center as the world-famous, chart-topping band they are, but rather as they were when they used to perform in small clubs, when rock radio and MTV wouldn’t give them the time of day.

Though the stadium was only half-full (which very well might have been what kept them grounded) the band seemed to be in good spirits and was very focused on giving the crowd a great show.

Catering to the fans seemed to be theme of the night as Incubus continued to gently balance their set for both hardcore fans and the fans that cared mostly about the singles. It was difficult to sit through the painfully lame lyrics of “Wish You Were Here” but the band more then made up for it by playing the rare track “Crowded Elevator” which, as front man and heartthrob for teenage girls all across this great planet Boyd pointed out, is not available on any of their albums. And lest music fans be concerned that an Incubus concert gets turned into an all-out pubescent shriek-fest when Boyd takes off his shirt, the true star of the show was criminally underrated guitarist Mike Einziger who shined, especially in the shows final songs – a triumvirate which featured very possibly the best tracks from “A Crow”. The big-brother themed “Talk Show On Mute,” “Sick Sad Little World” (which both on record and live features Einziger at his experimental and effects-heavy best), and “Made For TV Movie,” featuring a truly soaring chorus.

The band could’ve easily quit then, already topping themselves many times over and doling out more highlights in one night then one would think was possible, but they still had a few more tricks up their sleeve.

During the encore the band broke into a cover of Soundgarden’s classic “Black Hole Sun” that was performed with the perfect mix of skill and love. They topped themselves again by finishing up with “The Warmth.” The crowd showed their appreciation for the great night by engaging in an arena-wide sing-along of the anthematic chorus. “The Warmth,” one of the best from the band’s entire catalogue and perhaps the song that best exemplifies Incubus as a band was a perfect way to end the night that saw Incubus jump from rock to pop to electronica to funk, from fury to love to fear to joy. The band traveled through many different sounds and emotions but was always having fun and always ended up optimistic.