13

Excellent would be an understatement.

You can't deny it, Incubus have changed a lot as a band. Don't believe me? Listen to their collection of early demo tracks, Fungus Amongus, and then cast your aural gaze over their latest offering, A Crow Left of the Murder. Yep, that's difference for you, a massive transition from funk-flavoured metal to mellow rock with a disappointing lack of funk, or as my friend put it: "poof rock". Not only has their music changed/matured over the years, but their line-up has swapped about a bit since the beginning. Starting off as a four-piece, they took on DJ Lyfe before they recorded their debut album, S.C.I.E.N.C.E. However, before the recording of second album, Make Yourself, he was replaced by another DJ, Chris Kilmore. Much to people's dismay, original bassist "Dirk Lance" left (probably due to the band moving away from the jazz/funk sound), leaving guitarist Mike Einziger to call upon his friend, Ben Kenney, to take up the reins. Until tonight, I was disappointed more and more by Incubus' changes over the years. Take note, the key phrase here is "until tonight."

Incubus open up the proceedings with a song that harks back to the old days of catchy riffs and heavy sounds, "Pistola". The crowd - as would be expected - go wild, and they stay this way for the whole of the show. Thankfully, Incubus have remembered to give older fans a treat by playing songs from a wide range of their albums, including songs from their first LP, "S.C.I.E.N.C.E", such as "Idiot Box" and "Vitamin". During the DJ/guitar solo of "Summer Romance", they even play the music from one of their early demo songs, "Trouble in 421", although Brandon Boyd (vocals/??????) changes the lyrics to that infamous Milkshake song. This, in addition to other little extras, makes it painfully obvious that Incubus are keen to add in lots of experimentation and random things to their set. This comes out in various ways during the show, such as Jose Pasillia's (drums) five-minute drum solo, or the slinky cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" during "A Certain Shade of Green" - I was almost expecting Boyd to burst out with "You need cooling/baby I ain't fooling" at any second.

Okay, so that's a wide variety of songs, and plenty of little extras throughout the show, what more could you want? Decent performance? Incubus even managed that, playing their instruments immaculately and with a tightness that would rival "a size eight thong on Lisa Ridley" (thanks to a guy I don't know for that one) - even Brandon, who in his own words, has "only been playing guitar for a year". Yes, a shock to all - Brandon can play guitar. You could almost feel a ripple of discussion break out, louder than the music, when he left the front of the stage to have a guitar strapped on by a guitar tech during "Pistola". This also allowed regular guitarist Mike Einziger retreated to a piano for the melancholy "Here In My Room". Perhaps the highlight of the night has to have been before Incubus' encore, when the new bassist, Ben Kenney, came out on stage and proved to many non-believers that he is just as skilled a bassist as "Dirk Lance" ever was - showing off with a sultry slapping bass solo, and then finishing with a rendition of "Scotland the Brave" - obviously setting the crowd alight, seeing as this is the Glasgow SECC. To reiterate, Incubus - change is good for the soul, as well as the music.