Though Incubus has not released any new albums since 2017’s 8 (with their last EP release being back in 2020), they clearly have a strong and loyal following as shown by the huge turnout at TCU Amphitheater this past Friday. Crazy heat did not deter dedicated fans from journeying out to The Lawn; in fact there were so many in attendance that the parking garage across the street completely filled up and the rest of us had to park about a half mile away at the Indianapolis zoo and hike across the bridge to get to the concert.
My Head is Filled with Souvenirs
Kicking things off (15 minutes ahead of schedule) was Paris Jackson. She is a relative newcomer to the music scene, releasing her first album, wilted, in 2020. The performance left much to be desired, unfortunately. Paris’s backing band sounded great, and her vocals were solid, but she gave somewhat of a standoff-ish vibe and did not really seem to want to be there. I wasn’t sure if that was a stage presence/persona that she was trying to cultivate and gave her the benefit of the doubt and came home to watch other live concert footage of her. Seems she was just having an off night, as the videos I watched showed a much different, more passionate side of her.
She’s My Favorite Lover, and I Don’t Even Know Her
Unfamiliar with Badflower until the day of the show has left me with many regrets. These guys are killer, and playing live sets really seems to be where they thrive. Frontman Josh Katz has an electric, manic stage presence that only lets up when he needs to reveal a softer, sadder side (like during the absolute tearjerker performance of The Jester). In general though, I would liken Badflower to a more emo-leaning Highly Suspect in terms of their sound and lyrical content, although I did pick up on some very heavy, funky djent sounds during Stalker. Speaking of Stalker, this is absolutely the part of the performance that brought the house down and it wasn’t even the finale. Katz jumped into the pit and wound his way throughout the pavilion with his guitar and a mic, having various audience members hold it while he absolutely wailed on guitar and vocals.
Partway through the set, Katz admitted to the crowd, “Incubus was the first band I illegally downloaded on Napster”. Despite their foray into fame, the entire Badflower lineup seemed very humbled and grateful to be asked to join Incubus on tour.
Badflower’s breakout hit, Ghost, is the song that put them on the mainstream map. Katz is the primary songwriter and tends to focus on his own emotions and life experiences. Ghost is a super vulnerable look at his struggles with mental health (specifically when he would have panic attacks both on and off stage during past performances), and resonated so hard with fans that it lead to a certified gold for the single; the following album release debuted at #140 on the Billboard 200 chart and was one of Loudwire’s top 50 albums in 2019.
From start to finish, these guys absolutely brought it. Despite the heat, they were upbeat and high energy from start to finish. The set ended with 30, written expressly in response to Josh Katz’s anxiety about reaching his 30th birthday (fun fact: both the song and the video were released on his actual birthday). As someone who is just months away from turning 30 myself, the vulnerability expressed really resonated with me, especially the eloquent line “Cause everything’s changing and I/Don’t know shit about shit”.
I found myself wanting more from the band, but they had already played for almost an hour at that point—I’m really hoping to see them again, but as a headliner.
It’s Time We Met and Made a Mess
Incubus’s set started out with their Magic Medicine interlude off of 1997’s “S.C.I.E.N.C.E”. Frontman Brandon Boyd took his time getting onstage, and when he did arrive, he was toting a gigantic orange Hydroflask. The band did take multiple, deliberate hydration breaks during the set, where the stage lights would black out and give them a second to breathe. They definitely had the right idea with this and I’m glad that they prioritized their health and safety over trying to power through the performance.
Nice to Know You was early on in the set and despite it probably being played on every stop on every tour, the performance and energy felt very sincere from the entire band.
My favorite track from 2006’s “Light Grenades” is absolutely Anna Molly, hands down. The song employs the use of a Marxophone, a relative of a zither, played by keyboardist/turntablist DJ Kil which adds an ethereal, Of Monsters and Men type quality to it.
—Quick sidebar here— I know concerts are for people to enjoy themselves, let loose, have fun. But if you are with someone and they become overly intoxicated, please be responsible and escort the individual out so they can sober up instead of focusing on taking videos of your favorite songs. There was a girl in front of me who absolutely annoyed and got in the personal space of both me (directly behind her) as well as the ladies that were to her left. It really sours the mood and takes everyone out of the otherwise fun experience they are having. /rant
Over the course of the evening, I could tell that Boyd especially was getting tired. There were multiple songs where he seemed to lean more heavily on audience participation than seemed normal (especially with the final closer, Drive).
Boyd had a very Midwestern dad charm about him, asking the crowd probably no less than 7 times throughout the evening, “How y’all doin?” or “You doing okay?”
There were several covers and interjections into songs that were surprising and enjoyable; my favorite was probably the outlaw country inspired cover of the seminal Beatles classic Come Together, though I did highly approve of the use of a snippet of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here as an outro to their track of the same name.
Bassist Ben Kenney was sadly not on tour, as he is currently in recovery from having a major brain tumor removed, as reported by LoudWire. In his stead was Nicole Row, who has played with Panic! At the Disco for the past 5 years.
I’m not sure what exactly prompted this tour, as neither Incubus nor Badflower had any new music to debut, but I am happy that it happened. Overall, the show was definitely more low-energy than I was expecting, but these guys are in their 50s so I’ve got to give them some grace. I wasn’t doing anything except standing and I was pouring sweat for hours.
I think the band did a great job of representing all of their albums over the years; this easily could have just been a show to highlight their greatest hits (not that that is necessarily a bad thing in its own right).
As Brandon sang in The Warmth, “Experience the warmth before you grow old”…safe to say everyone at The Lawn did that on Friday night.
The Good
- Badflower’s crazy high energy performance
- Great mix of fan favorite hits from Incubus
The Not-As-Good
- The heat was absolutely unbearable at times
- The lack of concert etiquette from the people sitting around us (
- Incubus’s steep drop in energy during their performance
The Setlist:
- Magic Medicine
- Privilege
- Anna Molly
- Just a Phase
- Nice to Know You
- Glitterbomb
- The Warmth
- Make Yourself
- Karma, Come Back
- Come Together (Beatles Cover)
- Sick Sad Little World
- Glass
- Are You In? (segue into The Doors “Riders on the Storm”)
- Pardon Me
- Stellar
- Dig
- Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd cover)
- Vitamin (Encore)
- Drive (Encore)
The Lineup:
Incubus – Brandon Boyd, Mike Einziger, José Pasillas, Chris Kilmore, Nicole Row
Badflower – Josh Katz, Joey Morrow, Anthony Sonetti, Alex Espiritu
Paris Jackson.- Michael O’Grady, Nick Diiorio, Anthony Nino Salazar