Reviews are in - INCUBUS & Young the Giant

Brandon Boyd

Sunday night I attended one of the best concerts I've seen this summer - INCUBUS. This is a band I've wanted to see live for sometime now & as an added bonus Young the Giant - one of my unknown favorites - opened for them.

Young the Giant

99.9% of people attending a concernt rarely make it in early enough to catch the opening act, especially when the main event is a band like Incubus. Even though Young the Giant was playing to a minimal crowd they still rocked it out and were everything I hoped they would be live - Passionate, Electric & Fun. They even joked with the crowd asking, "so who here actually knows who we are?" But they played like they were standing in front of a crowd of thousands - intensely, impetuously & heartfelt. They closed with their single, My Body,and with that song you could see that these guys have a great future ahead of them.

Then the main event hit the stage - Brandon Boyd stepped out onto the stage with the rest of the incredible band - Mike Einziger, Jose Pasillaz, Ben Kennney & Chris Kilmore and Musical Magic ensued. They kicked off the show with Megalomaniac off the 2003 album, A Crow Left of Murder. I was so glad to see that they would be playing their older tunes instead of strictly off the new album (which is AWESOME), but its always great to hear the songs that made you a fan in the first place. They even followed it with Wish You Were Here - at that point I don't think there was a soul in the audience that wasn't singing along, and it was only song number 2. (See the full set list here)

Promises, Promises

A few songs later the piano was wheeled out and when Mike Einziger sat down & started playing Promises Promises that's when I had my - Holy F*ck these guys are amazing moment. Firstly, this song is by far my favorite of their new album & 2nd-ly anything Einziger does makes me swoon - he is so genious when he plays it almost leaves me without words. Whether it is guitar or piano or whatever I fall in love everytime. I know 90% of Incubus fans are 100% devoted to front man, Brandon Boyd, & believe me I don't think Incubus would be Incubus without his incredible voice & body for that matter - BUT -  Einziger carries them way more than he is accredited with. He is WITHOUT QUESTION one of the best guitarists playing today.

Concerts like Incubus are my favorite kind though - not just because of the incredible musical talent that is displayed but it's the type of show that you can feel the elelctricity running through the audience. Everyone was captivated by the musicality & appreciation that Incubus played with. You can tell that even after almost 20 years (yikes) Incubus still plays with passion and sincerity - as though they were playing together for the first time every time. It is like a part of them still cannot believe that there are hundreds and thousands of fans there for them. After the platinum albums and all of the acclaim they still play with graciousness and put everything they have into their music and its all for their fans. For instance when Are You In was played - Brandon held out the mic for the audience - who in turn sang every word. In that moment he couldn't have looked happier/more grateful for where he was and what he was doing. It's rare that you see a band that still displays such gratitude at a live show.

All and all I will definitely be attending an Incubus show in the future - You clearly should too!

The 2011 VMAs - Ladies Night?

Last night MTV hosted their annual Video Music Awards (VMAs) live in Los Angeles, California. While over the past few years the VMAs have not been the most enjoyable of award shows, this year MTV stepped up their game and finally booked some kick ass performances. Really no one watches the VMAs because they care about who wins, MTV doesn’t even promote music videos anymore (sigh), this show is all about the performance and they finally delivered. 

Lady GaGa/Jo Calderone

The show kicked off with with an incredible performance by the one and only Lady GaGa. Standing on stage in drag as Jo Calderone - she/he delivered a wild monologue that left a lot of the audience confused/nervous about where it could possibly be going (just check the faces of Adele & Katie Holmes you’ll see what I mean). In true GaGa fashion though as soon as she/he sits down at that piano the musical genius begins and she/he delivers an amazing performance per usual. Her voice, her style, BRIAN MAY from Queen!?, everything about this performance of You & I was UH-MAZING.

Jay-Z and Kanye hit the stage with their new hit Otis. This apparently was supposed to be a surprise - but everyone knew it was happening. It was a strong performance by the Watch the Throne duo, but nothing over the top or very notable. Chris Brown also hit the stage and while he had super super sexay dance moves that I only hope my man to be some day will possess, and he certainly entertained I didn’t really get the point? Was it just a cool dance break? The flying? It left me with questions & kind of under-whelmed. Pitt Bull, typical nothing really to say there either. Basically most of the male performances were typical, lack luster and well like I said - Under-Whelming. 

Young the Giant

However, there were two fabulous male performances of the night. One was by a little known group - who I have loved since their album dropped this past October: Young the Giant. It was one of the most passionate performances of the night fo sho. There was an astonishing energy behind it, and I think they gained more than a few fans with their song - My Body. The other outstanding performance was Lil Wayne How to Love. While yes it was hard to understand because of all the bleeping out of words, there is no question that when Weezy gets up on stage he commands attention and you gotta respect it. He’s on the top of his game with his album Carter IV dropping today - can’t wait to check it out.

On to the real stars of the night though, the ladies. I already pointed out the FAB-U-LOUS-NESS that was Lady GaGa, but there were some other real show-stoppers. Beyonce, as always strutted her stuff, but really the best thing about this performance was the revealing of the baby-bump, not much was gonna top that news except for maybe one thing - and that one thing was Adele. Without question the best best best performance of the night. The simplicity of the beautiful performance was unmatched. Standing with a microphone and a simple black dress on Adele’s voice rang out across the theater touching every true music fan in that audience. Her soul, her pain, her life was poured out for everyone to see and that is what makes not only a star, but a legend. Adele gave chills to everyone watching - and not one other performance can say that. 

There was also a tribute to Miss B. Spears herself, the music video queen<3 dancers of all ages got up there to rock it out to all of Brit’s songs it was adorable. There was of course a tribute to the late great Amy Winehouse. It was simple and really highlighted the great talent that she was - it was tastefully done, simple, straight and to the point. Overall the VMAs were a great night of music television.