Friday, September 16th was Rock the Block for most of you Lancers. But for this Lancer, I was rocking out in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Incubus managed to stop there on their "If Not Now, When?" tour. I was escorted to my seat by my boyfriend at approximately 7:50 p.m. to catch the end of the first act. The show had begun with an Indie band called Young the Giant. The lead singer, Sameer Gadhia was a lively guy who had a genuine voice. Even though I didn't know any of the songs, I was able to smile and enjoy him. The music came in nice and clear, and he was a sight to watch as he danced around the stage. Once he was done with his performance, Sameer Gadhia got the crowd excited to see Incubus with a slight introduction that was followed by a break.
Finally the lights went completely black, and the crowd roared as they saw shadowed figures position themselves on the stage. The speakers blared with the sounds of their opening Megalomaniac, which seemed to be a crowd-pleaser. Members began singing as they bobbed their heads along to the music. Incubus continued to play songs from all of their catalogs throughout their set.
A couple special moments that Brandon Boyd shared with the audience was when he got intimate as he played his acoustic song, "Defiance," as seas of bodies began swaying back and forth throughout the number. After "Defiance," his bass player accompanied him and his guitarist as they played a completely different arrangement of the song titled "Dig." The remake had a different sound musically with an entirely different beat and a much heavier use of the bass.
As the night continued, the audience began feeling sluggish. Thankfully, the lead singer was excellent when coming up with the arrangement. It truly showed importance of arrangement when the band began playing "Wish You Were Here." The once sluggish audience was back to its lively self. The entire crowd was singing in unison as the band quit playing, giving the audience their time to share with each other as they filmed everyone on the jumbo screen. The lead singer returned, hitting the high notes as well as he had all night. Noises of cheers exploded throughout the amphitheater.
Even though most of night was enjoyable, there were a few low points. For me, Boyd should have had more interaction with the crowd. The most interaction he had was when a girl threw her underwear up on stage. He laughed and said, "Thank you for the hat," as he placed it upon his head. Besides that, he did not speak to the audience at all. There were a few times when he kneeled down and got real close to the people in the mosh pit, which seemed to be a way to connect with the crowd. Another low point for me was when they played "In the Company of Wolves." The song itself was okay, but the outro of the song seemed never-ending. I am unsure how long it lasted, but I was glad when it was finished. The outro or ending consisted of them playing music and singing "oohs" while projecting annoyingly bright dots beside the band.
As the end of the night came in sight, the show ended for a brief moment after the singing of "Nice to Know You" that projected the words goodbye to all their fans. He wished everyone a goodnight and thanked them for supporting them. The crowd was not willing to let Incubus leave on that note. Claps were made with the accompanying of stomping by all the members in the crowd. The band returned to give the audience what they wanted, an encore. The encore consisted of three songs "Pardon Me," "Are You In," and finally "Tomorrow's Fool." These last little delights were sung by me and my boyfriend as we made our way across the gravel to his car. The night came to an end, and Incubus had truly made it a special one.
