It’s that wonderful time of the year again where my favorite band of all time, aka THESE GUYS, are coming back to Manila. To add, they’re coming back here for the fourth time! They must love us. ๐ Yup,ย I am uninformed and unupdated of everything Incubus until they announced they would be going back to the Philippines months ago. I even was not feeling the rush, the hype and excitement as any other fan would as soon as they find out about the announcement – not until today.
It is also interesting to me that their fourth show lands on an interesting date: Friday the 13th. The first time they went here, in 2004, was during Ben’s birthday week. It is also the same for this year, but unfortunately the show lands a day after his birthday. Haha. Fingers crossed this Friday the 13th for this month will be lucky, at the very least. ๐ย
Other than that, what pokes my curiosity is why the guys went to tour too early? When they announced the concert dates for Asia, correct me if I’m wrong, no new songs were released by then. When they finally did, it was just one song. Maybe it’s a new marketing technique, or maybe its something that I missed. They are under a new roof after all. There’s also that part of me that’s curious why they parted ways with Renman. Really, really nice guy. Always reaches out to people.
Who cares? As long as they’re going back on tour!
Right. I should stop analyzing and be grateful my band is still going on tour. I do want to see them, damnit! And I have all three books of Brandon Boyd that’s needing his penmanship aka autograph.
Going out on tour with only two new songs to really promote. An album to be released in two parts in two weeks. Heavily relying on social media to promote and market to everyone, afaik. What a bold move, and something I haven’t heard of before. So far it looks like they’re smoothly sailing over this though, so that’s good.
Recently I browsed around Youtube, reliving the old and new Incubus. From the earliest albums, to the last recent songs. They’re grown a lot over the years, and that is a given. Incubus is unique that way. But one thing sticks to me is the drastic change in the two new songs. We, the fans, can’t help but compare and choose sides.
Trust Fall was the first song I heard that gave me high hopes that whatever the new album is, will sound just as awesome as this song. Hearing it first in a stream during their earlier shows this year even solidified this fact. It IS a rockin’ song live. Today, I heard the studio version of it. No difference in my reaction from hearing and loving it the first time when I heard it live — I still like it.
Absolution Calling is that song that caused people to divide and choose sides. Some people liked it, some loved it, some found it to be just okay/neutral, some who already disliked the song in the first place slowly began to feel turned off when they saw the music video for it. From that intro hook that makes you do a double turn, to the chorus that sounds a bit off, to some naysayers who say that Brandon’s voice changed.
Well, what can I say? You can’t please everyone. However, you can do something about it. In my case, listening to the second song made me appreciate it little by little. From disliking it, to loving its live version now. It probably sounds better actually hearing it in a concert which is one of the things I look forward to this week.
One thing’s for sure, these are the two songs you must have memorized by this Friday or you’ll miss out on the appreciation of hearing it live.
Incubus – Absolution Calling
Incubus – Trust Fall (they have a new lyric video for it but I prefer this version)
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I have some fond memories of the last few concerts here, but the most relevant and memorable would be the greatest encounter (I’m sorry for exaggerating) when I finally met them up close 4 years ago. 2011 was a good year; t’was my last year in college and graduation came next, and I had also seen Incubus in the same year. I’d say it was my early present from the universe. ๐
[READ ON MY INCUBUS ‘IF NOT NOW, WHEN’ POST HERE]
Meeting Kilmore after the show too was the cherry on top of that night. And getting more than a few items signed… especially my The Division Group ep!
To end my post, thought I’dย share what I’ve made since I feel that I haven’t made any proper contributions unlike last year when I was super active w/ my friends from ISTPh. It’s kinda irrelevant now that the concert is happening tomorrow, but I hope you’ll like it.
Sure, I may be territorial with my favorite band but I didn’t like what I saw (why am I making a big deal out of this? it’s just a promotional poster) so I just had to make my own. Aaaand, here you go!
I wish I were fortunate enough to get a pass to shoot these guys professionally tomorrow night, but I guess this isn’t the time for that. Altho that is my bucket list. Haha.
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