Photos by: Rick Clifford –
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Review by: Adam Harrison –
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Incubus performs at Budweiser Stage in Toronto on July 22, 2017. (Photo: Rick Clifford/Aesthetic Magazine)
It was an alt-rock showcase last night at the Budweiser Stage as Incubus brought their “8 Tour” to the 6ix.
Opening the evening with their unique touch of Americana was Navisville band, Judah & the Lion. Fronted by none other than Judah [Akers] himself (who looks like a young Trey Parker). Akers treated us to many of his uniquely bizarre moves like sudden twitches, jumps and even sensual grinding. The 40-minute opening set came to a climactic conclusion with their breakthrough single “Take It All Back.”
The night took a poppy punk turn, as Jimmy Eat World followed. They kicked off their 60-minute set with “Sure and Certain,” the lead single off their ninth and latest album, Integrity Blues. Lead singer, Jim Adkins, was full of energy from the start and dripping with sweat by song number three. The set featured other newer Jimmy songs like “I Will Steal You Back” as well as old favourites like “Pain.” But it was the pure nostalgia of songs from their 2001 breakthrough album, Bleed American, which had the audience at their rowdiest. When the set closed with “Sweetness” and “The Middle,” the fans in attendance were well charged up for their headliner.
Incubus burst onto stage showing off some new material from 8, their appropriately titled eighth record, including the lead single “Nimble Bastard.” A song that is on the harder, grungier side of the Incubus scale and pushed the set into a forward momentum.
The band circulates around frontman, Brandon Boyd. He radiates a rock n’ roll persona on stage with his beady gaze, Christ like hair and focused vocals. After every few songs Boyd would remove a layer of clothing, eventually revealing his bare chest and fully tattooed back, to which an echo of wailing females filled the amphitheatre.
A typical set often starts heavy, slows down in the middle and then builds to the finish. Incubus took a different approach. They climaxed their 90-minute set in the middle with a nine-song run of pure hits starting with “Anna Molly” from 2006’s Light Grenades. The highest amount of audience participation came during “Pardon Me” and “Wish You Were Here” which Incubus seamlessly transitioned into the Pink Floyd classic of the same title for the outro.
The set then slowed from this excited pace to a more relaxed flow in which the band took the opportunity to show off some more new tracks before concluding with “Warning” from the celebrated 2001 album, Morning View. The night ended in complete Zen when Incubus returned for an encore of “Aqueous Transmission,” which gave guitarist, Mike Einziger, the opportunity to rock the Chinese pipa. An interesting choice to close the evening, but as the song suggests, it had us all feeling like we were floating further down the river.
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Incubus
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Jimmy Eat World
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Judah And The Lion
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