Best of all were Nice to Know You and Wish You Were Here, a pair of older tracks that prove Incubus are at their best mixing Boyd's soaring melodies with spooky scratched samples and sweetly-timed metal-tinged grooves.
When Boyd, whose model looks have seen him voted rock's hottest frontman on more than one occasion, took his shirt off at the halfway point, temperatures - and noise levels - certainly went up a notch.
Aside from the view, there was plenty to like about the show - Boyd's voice is as strong as ever, the near two-hour show was well-paced, and there were many Incubus diehards grinning from ear to ear by the end.
But if Incubus really are hellbent on reinvention, they still cling to several well-worn nu-metal cliches: They still have a DJ, bless them, and there was enough rap'n'roll to make Fred Durst jealous.
It was tight and clinical, but apart from a snippet of Riders on the Storm appearing during Are You In?, it was a show with few surprises.
For a band entering its 22nd year and with seven albums behind them, it would be nice to see Incubus mix things up, push out their boundaries and go a little crazy.
The only question is, are they in?
What: Incubus
Where: Vector Arena, Auckland
When: Tuesday, January 31
- Herald online
