Live Music Review: Deftones & Incubus

My summer concert tour ended with a show that held a couple of surprises for me. Deftones and Incubus played on Sunday night at the Sleep Train Amphitheater in Chula Vista, CA. (It’s close to San Diego.) I believe the tour was a co-headlining tour, much like the Mastodon/Clutch concert that I attended. So, what surprised me?

Two things: I expected the Deftones to be the final performance, but instead it was Incubus who played that slot. The other shock to my system was that I enjoyed Incubus’ performance more than the Deftones. Deftones have been on a roll lately, with their latest two albums being simultaneously heavy, melodic, beautiful, and grungy. Koi No Yokan took my top spot for best albums of 2012. Incubus, on the other hand, has limped through their latest two full length albums. (Though their new EP is quite enjoyable. Buy it for $5 using my link.) I expected their performance to reflect the mediocrity of their new material. Happily, I was proven very wrong.

With me for the day was my friend Chris. We headed down a bit early to grab a few beers at Stone Brewery. It’s worth a stop if you’re in the Escondido area; they have a nice restaurant with a huge outdoor patio tucked away in the trees.

It was my first time at Sleep Train Amphitheater. One of the bands (I can’t remember if it was Incubus or Death from Above) made a comment that he thought “sleep train” was some kind of metaphysical statement and was disappointed to learn it’s just the name of a mattress shop that owns and/or sponsors the venue. That’s pretty funny, but also a sad comment about our entire civilization becoming more and more corporatized. No politics here, let’s get on with the music.

The Eeries

The opening act was a band called The Eeries from Los Angeles. The best way to describe their sound is to picture Oasis as an American band. I don’t really have too much to say about them. I didn’t hate them but I didn’t particularly like them either.

I looked up one of their songs on Youtube and the first music video that came up featured a fat old man stripping down to his underwear. I’ve embedded a different one to spare you the same displeasure. It’s called Shine On, but you’ll figure that out since they say it about 167 times. (And it keeps gettin’ funnier… Nevermind.)

Not a great band, not a terrible band. I think they’re trying to bring back the early 90s but they’re not doing anything particularly original with it so it doesn’t quite work.

Here was the start of the troubles with this concert: the sound mixing. At first, I thought I was just the inexperience of The Eeries, but the mixing issues would continue until the end of the show.

Setlist: ? (Can’t find it.)

Sound: ★★ out of 5
Energy: ★★★ out of 5
Live Performance: ★★★ out of 5
Overall: ★★½ out of 5

Death From Above 1979

I was much more impressed with the next act, Canada’s Death from Above 1979. This is a much weirder band, and I like weird. The first taste of weirdness was the set decoration. Right in the middle of the stage, they hung a graphic of the musicians’ faces but instead of human noses they had elephant trunks. I guess it’s their symbol, but I have no idea what it means. I think it’s worth noting that this is a duo, and they got more sound out of two guys than many bands do with four or five. Well done.

Once again, the sound mixing was off, but the band’s energy was much higher and the musicianship tighter. I had heard of this band before, but never listened to them. After the concert, I listened to a few songs and overall I enjoyed them. I’ve embedded my favorite here.

It was still light out while they played; I would have liked to see what they do with a light show; they seem like the type of band that would do something super creative.

Setlist: Turn It Out | Right On, Frankenstein! | Virgins | Going Steady | White Is Red | Trainwreck 1979 | Always On | The Physical World O

Sound: ★★★ out of 5
Energy: ★★★★ out of 5
Live Performance: ★★★ out of 5
Overall: ★★★½ out of 5

Deftones

I expected Incubus up next, so imagine my surprise when Chino Moreno and company took the stage. If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that I’m a huge Chino fan. Last year, I saw Crosses (†††) and the year before I saw Palms. It’s been about 9 years since I’ve seen Deftones, though, so I was really eager to see them perform songs off of their newest albums. (Sadly, this is the first time I’ve seen them since the death of Chi Cheng. Chino dedicated the song Headup to him, and the crowd roared. A very bittersweet moment.)

Deftones did not disappoint. The setlist was excellent and they played a good variety from their catalog. My only complaint is that they didn’t play anything off of 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist. Luckily, I saw them perform in 2006 and that’s mostly what they played.

The energy of both the band and the crowd was intense, and I could see several people singing along. One of the highlights for me was seeing them perform the song Passenger without the benefit of Maynard James Keenan’s guest vocals. Chino’s rendition was a bit more raw-sounding. My favorite song of the night was Swerve City, which I’ve embedded.

The last song was a medley of two rap songs blended into their own Engine No. 9. This was the perfect way to end a fantastic set. Once again, though, the sound mixing seemed off to me. Chino’s vocals seemed to overpower the music, and the bass hummed a bit. It was noticable but not bad enough to ruin the set.

Setlist: Diamond Eyes | Rocket Skates | Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) | My Own Summer (Shove It) | You’ve Seen the Butcher | Sextape | Feiticeira | Digital Bath | Knife Prty | When Girls Telephone Boys | Tempest | Swerve City | Passenger | Change (In the House of Flies) | Headup | Engine No. 9 (medley with Cypress Hill’s How I Could Just Kill a Man and Ice Cube’s Wicked)

Setlist: ★★★★ out of 5
Sound: ★★★ out of 5
Energy: ★★★★½ out of 5
Live Performance: ★★★★★ out of 5
Overall: ★★★★ out of 5

Incubus

The final performance of the night belonged to Incubus, and Brandon Boyd (the singer) mentioned that Deftones are a very hard act to follow. I think Incubus did it quite well, despite my reservations. The last time I had seen Incubus was 2001, right at the height of their popularity. They were excellent back then, but I was concerned with how they’d sound now due to the quality of their latest two records. Thankfully, most of the songs they played were from their strongest albums. The highlight for me was Vitamin, off their often overlooked S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (Everyone always praises Make Yourself but they forget how good its predecessor is.)

The new EP is a return to form, and hopefully a harbinger of better things to come. They played two songs off of it, and both were very exciting and emotional to hear. Listening, you could tell the band is still just as passionate as they were in the 90s. I’ve embedded one of the new songs for your enjoyment.

Incubus was about equal to Deftones in their energy, but I think I enjoyed their performance better for four reasons: First, I had lower expectations and when they shattered them I was very pleased to be proven wrong. Second, the musicianship was a bit tighter. There were a couple of Deftones songs that seemed to lose track of the timing while this didn’t happen for Incubus. Third, their visuals were more interesting. Deftones mostly used photographic imagery while Incubus used a lot of geometry. I thought the geometry worked a lot better. Last, the crowd was Incubus’ crowd. There were certainly lots of Deftones fans in attendence, but everyone was an Incubus fan.

It wasn’t a perfect show, though. Once again, the sound mixing was off. Also, we didn’t get an encore. However, despite these two gripes, the show was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I’m very glad that Incubus seems to be back to their old selves, and hopefully they can keep the momentum going.

Setlist: S.T.A.Y. (Hans Zimmer cover) | 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 | Love Hurts | Pardon Me | Megalomaniac (with a snippet of Nirvana’s ” Come As You Are”) | Warning | The Warmth | Drive | A Crow Left of the Murder

Setlist: ★★★★ out of 5
Sound: ★★★ out of 5
Energy: ★★★★★ out of 5
Live Performance: ★★★★★ out of 5
Overall: ★★★★½ out of 5

That wraps up my 2015 Summer Concert series. I hope you enjoyed reading my reviews as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. Next up, I’ll do a ranking of the shows I’ve seen this summer. (That’ll be tough, they were all pretty great.) Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.

More Music on This Site

Top Albums of the Year

• Best Albums of 2012
• Best Albums of 2013
• Best Albums of 2014
• Best Albums of 2015
• Best Albums of 2016
• Best Albums of 2017
• Best Albums of 2018

Old Music Tuesdays

Click here for my past Old Music Tuesdays posts. There are too many to list!

Concert Reviews

2013

• Tomahawk (feat. Retox)
• Coheed and Cambria (feat. BTBAM & Russian Circles)
• Palms
• Black Sabbath (feat. Andrew WK)
• Vampire Weekend (feat. Beirut)

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2014

• Fit for a King & For Today
• ††† (Crosses) (feat. Omniflux & Spirit in the Room)
• Soundgarden & NIN 2014

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2015

• Dr. Octagon (feat. Avalon, Gap Dream & No Parents)
• Faith No More (feat. The Urinals)
• Mastodon & Clutch (feat. Graveyard)
• Coheed and Cambria (feat. Seahaven)
• The Appleseed Cast (feat. Adjy & Coaster)
• The Smashing Pumpkins & Marilyn Manson
• Danzig (feat. Cancer Bats & Saviours)
• Imagine Dragons (feat. Halsey & Metric)
• Between the Buried and Me & Animals As Leaders (feat. The Contortionist)
• Deftones & Incubus (feat. Death from Above 1979)
• 2015 Summer Rankings
• Blindside (feat. Hearts Like Lions)
• Puscifer (feat. Luchafer)

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2016

• The Black Queen (feat. Drab Majesty)
• Joe Satriani
• Coheed and Cambria (feat. Glassjaw, I the Mighty, Silver Snakes)
• Killswitch Engage (feat. Memphis May Fire, 36 Crazyfists, and Toothgrinder)
• Andrew Bird (feat. John Grant)
• Lamb of God (feat. Clutch and Corrosion of Conformity)
• At the Drive-In (feat. Le Butcherettes)
• The Dillinger Escape Plan (feat. Author & Punisher)
• Guns N’ Roses (feat. The Cult)
• Animal Collective (feat. Stuart Copeland)
• Alice in Chains (feat. The New Regime)
• Temple of the Dog (feat. Fantastic Negrito)
• Giraffe Tongue Orchestra (cancelled)
• Metallica
• 2016 Concert Rankings

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2017

• August Burns Red (feat. Protest the Hero, In Hearts Wake, ’68)
• Norma Jean (feat. He Is Legend, Capsize, Comrades)
• Red (feat. Wolves at the Gate, Message from Sylvia, Death Therapy) (coming soon)
• Mastodon (feat. Eagles of Death Metal, Russian Circles) (coming soon)
• Pixies (coming soon)
• Tool (feat. Clutch, Fantomas, Primus, Melvins, Crystal Method) (coming soon)
• Rise Against (feat. Deftones, Thrice) (coming soon)
• Green Day
• Dead Cross (feat. Neil Hamburger, Ho99o9) (coming soon)
• Banks (coming soon)
• Between the Buried and Me (feat. The Contortionist, Poluphia, Toothgrinder) (coming soon)
• The Offspring (feat. Well Hung Heart) (coming soon)
• Russian Circles (feat. MGR) (coming soon)
• Our Lady Peace (feat. Smashing Hearts) (coming soon)
• Animals As Leaders (feat. Periphery and Astronoid) (coming soon)

Mike Patton stuff on this website

• Mike Patton’s Guest Spots
• Faith No More concert review
• Old Music Tuesdays: Faith No More
• Faith No More Stripsearch
• Old Music Tuesdays: Mr. Bungle
• Tomahawk concert review
• Tomahawk Red Fox

Chino Moreno stuff on this website

• Chino’s Harder Guest Spots
• Chino’s Softer Guest Spots
• Chino’s Mainstream Work
• Palms concert
• (†††) Crosses concert
• Old Music Tuesday: (†††) Crosses
• Deftones & Incubus (feat. Death from Above 1979)

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