Incubus and Deftones have reunited for their first tour together in 15 years and they brought the widely-anticipated tour to the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts last night. The rock/metal juggernauts lived up to their widely-respected names by delivering a fantastic evening of music on a beautiful late-summer evening.
The Bots opened the show a little before 6:15 to an almost-empty venue. While they had a remarkable amount of talent for a such a young band (their guitarist/vocalist Mikah is 21 and their drummer is Anaiah is 17), their combination of bluesy garage punk and indie rock was too disjointed to be effective. While their music didn't really do much for me, you can't help but feel bad for them. Landing a tour with a pair of popular veteran bands is a huge opportunity for an up-and-coming band, but given that they're playing so early, they're more than likely playing to largely empty venues every night. The Bots are really skilled musicians and I really hope they can land another big tour with a more ideal time slot in the future.
Death from Above 1979 started shortly after the Bots wrapped up. I've heard the name tossed around a bunch over the years and I vaguely remember their song, "Little Girl", from the Tony Hawk's American Wasteland soundtrack, but I'd never really bothered to check them out at length. Death from Above 1979 ended up making a solid impression on me with their noisy and wildly pissed-off 35-minute set. Almost every song had a great collection of riffs and frontman/drummer Sebstian Greinger has the type of gritty voice that's perfectly suited for punk. Making their set even more impressive was the fact they're only a duo with a bass guitar and drums. I previously didn't think that it was possible for two men without the presence of a traditional guitar to produce so much noise, especially on the Xfinity Center's huge stage. It takes an unbelievable amount of skill to create chaotic, riff-driven music with only two people, so kudos to them for making it look effortless. Once again, the almost non-existent crowd's indifference towards the music took away from the quality of the set. In my immediate area, just about everyone was either playing on their phones or leaving to grab beer and food during their set and the conclusion of every song was met with very light applause from the 500-600 people that were actually paying attention to their performance. Death from Above 1979 made a new fan in me last night and I would love to see them in a setting where people actually give a shit about their music
As I expected, the venue filled in nicely as soon as Deftones went on around 7:45. Deftones was the only band on the bill I'd seen before and like every prior time I've seen, their performance was absolutely immense. Their use of atmosphere and ambient sections to compliment the heavy elements in their songs is tremendous and while not as sharp as he was the previous three times I'd seen them, Chino Moreno is an incredible vocalist that shines especially bright in a live setting. The setlist primarily focused on material from their 2010 comeback album Diamond Eyes and their widely-praised 2000 effort White Pony, which was awesome since those are my two favorite albums in their catalog. Songs like "Knife Prty", "You've Seen the Butcher", "Diamond Eyes" and "Passenger" were the highlights of the nine combined songs they played from those two landmark records and proved to be the finest moments of a set that was full of prime cuts from six of their seven studio albums. Deftones are always a blast live and I'm eagerly awaiting the release of their new record in the fall.
Incubus came on about 20 minutes later to close out the evening. I was a huge fan of their early material, but given the poor quality of their recent output (namely their 2011 album If Not Now, When?), I had absolutely no idea how their live show would be. Suffice to say, I was very pleasantly surprised when Incubus came out and played a stunning 90-minute set. Leading the charge behind this outstanding show was a phenomenal vocal performance from frontman Brandon Boyd. The 39-year old was able to hit every note with ease and exceeded his performance on the studio versions of all 18 tracks they performed. The quality of Boyd's vocals even made songs like "Love Hurts" and "Here in My Room" -whose studio versions I find to be insufferable- enjoyable. Other people should find out Boyd's vocal regimen and duplicate it if they hope to keep their vocals in similarly pristine condition as they grow older. Aside from Boyd's vocals, the biggest surprise of their was set was how fantastic the material from their newly-released EP, Trust Fall (Side A), sounded live. While the studio versions of "Absolution Calling" and "Trust Fall" are just decent, their huge-sounding hooks and guitars allowed to reach new heights live. While Trust Fall (Side A) still has its fair share of flaws, it's a definite step in the right direction for them following the unholy musical disaster that was If Not, When?. Given how fantastic "Absolution Calling" and "Trust Fall" sound live, I have faith that they could possibly have another great album in them. While the setlist definitely had its downsides (lack of material from Make Yourself, poor song choices from A Crow Left of the Murder), they still played a solid number of great cuts from their first four albums. It was especially awesome to see "Vitamin" off their 1997 masterpiece S.C.I.E.N.C.E.. Given the fact that their more mellow, alternative rock sound was responsible for making them breakout, it's great to see them acknowledge their funk/nu-metal roots, even if its just for a single song. Incubus defied any possible expectations I had for them and put on by far one of the finest shows I've seen in 2015 to-date.
Scores:
The Bots 5/10
Death From Above 1979 7.5/10
Deftones 8.5/10
Incubus 9/10
Setlists:
The Bots included:
Ethiopia
Deftones:
Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)
My Own Summer (Shove It)
Diamond Eyes
Rocket Skates
You've Seen the Butcher
Sextape
Feiticiera
Digital Bath
Knife Prty
When Girls Telephone Boys
Tempest
Swerve City
Passenger
Change (In the House of Flies)
Headup
Bored
Engine No. 9
Incubus:
Wish You Were Here
Anna Molly
Circles
Absolution Calling
Are You In?
Vitamin
Trust Fall
In the Company of Wolves
Nice to Know You
Here in My Room
Sick Sad Little World
Pardon Me
Love Hurts
Megalomaniac
Dig
Drive
A Crow Left of the Murder
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