As the rain clouds gathered over the Jones Beach Amphitheatre, the opening band Simon Dawes took the stage half-an-hour early, to the surprise of the small crowd who had arrived early. The lack of an audience wasn’t the only thing hampering their performance. They looked very cramped, tucked into the front corner of the stage, with Incubus’ speakers and drum set spread out across the back of the stage, covered in a thick tarp to protect it from the forecasted rain. This band looks and sounds straight out of the 1970’s, and the small crowd had a hard time getting into their classic rock sound. Another problem is that all of the seats are assigned, so there isn’t the normal mad rush for the front row once the doors open like most concerts. The lineup for this tour is rather strange, because all three bands don’t sound anything alike. Musically they sounded great, and in a smaller venue with bands of the same genre, Simon Dawes would have shined.

Darkness began to fall over the stadium, and the wind began to pick up as The Bravery took the stage to a half-filled amphitheatre. This band from New York sounds like a mix of old and new punk rock out of the UK, and they even sing with a slight English accent. It took a few songs, but the crowd finally got excited when they played ‘Honest Mistake’ a song that everyone knows, but few know who sing. The excitement and energy stayed throughout the rest of their set, and as more and more people streamed into the gigantic amphitheatre the electricity in the crowd and the air (from the approaching thunderstorm) seemed to grow with every passing minute.

As people in the front began to stand up to rock out with the band, each row directly behind them would be forced to stand up to see the concert, and eventually everyone in the crowd was standing. During some of the songs, the lead singer Sam Endicott sounded oddly similar to the likes of U2’s Bono and The Cure’s Robert Smith. The synthesizer played by John Conway featured on the politically charged ‘Every Word Is a Knife in My Ear’ and the catchy ‘Time Won't Let Me Go’ is a staple of this band, and fits into the songs in surprisingly interesting ways. This band has lived up to all of the media hype that surrounded them when they first appeared in 2003. As John Conway explains, media attention can have a very negative effect on a new band, “it’s a double edged sword, because when someone tells you that you’re supposed to like something it usually has the opposite effect.” With the strength of the new songs that they were playing, it appears that this band has overcome the media saturation that surrounded them when they debuted.

Finally the moment that the crowd was waiting for arrived. Incubus took the stage to a great deal of applause and screaming. They played a great mix of new songs ranging from ‘Anna Molly’ to older songs like ‘A Certain Shade of Green’ and even a rendition of the Ben E. King song ‘Stand By Me’, with Simon Dawes joining them on stage to play piano and guitar. What makes an Incubus concert so enjoyable is that many songs sound slightly different than they do on their records, as if they are rewriting them as they play. As their bass player Ben Kenney told me before the show, “I don’t usually play the same thing twice. Even if it’s really simple, and it sounds like the same thing I try to really obsess over the nuance and the detail.” Ben Kenney joined the band in 2003 after the departure of Alex Katunich, and he brings a hip-hop influenced bass line and an amazing harmonizing voice that really carries some of the songs along, especially on their latest song ‘Oil and Water’.

Towards the middle of their set, a few rain drops fell from the sky, but as if the rain gods were pleased by the music, the rain drops stopped suddenly never to return. Brandon Boyd, breaking from his usual silence in between songs said, “this is the first time we have played at Jones Beach when it didn’t rain.” The band departed the stage after they played an amazing version of ‘Dig’ off of the new album, but the crowd demanded an encore by banging on the chairs in front of them. It took over 5 minutes, but Incubus finally returned to the joy of the crowd and played a three song encore. They started off with ‘Are You In’ from their 2001 release 'Morning View', and followed it up with a new song that sounds like old-school Incubus of the mid '90s. The night ended with a song called ‘Aqueous Transmission’ which features Mike Einziger on a tradition Chinese instrument called a Pipa. The song is very calming and a perfect way to end the evening, and even ends with croaking frogs which is very fitting since the amphitheatre is right on the water. As the fans left, they seemed in a tranquil mood, vastly different from this type of rock crowds. Whether that was due to the peaceful sounds of the final song, or the ban on alcohol at the Jones Beach Amphitheatre, remains to be determined.

LINKS:
To read our interview with Ben Kenney of Incubus on August 8th,
CLICK HERE.

To read our interview with John Conway of The Bravery on August 9th,
CLICK HERE.

Incubus Website
The Bravery Website
Simon Dawes Website