James Wood Photography

I don’t know exactly how they did it, but Incubus made the stage at the Hordern seem enormous.

The stage was fairly uncluttered, and had some cool floor-level uplights for each performer. Jose Pasillas II (on drums) and Chris Kilmore (turntables and keyboards) were on risers, quite far back on the stage — but they didn’t seem distant. Lead singer Brandon Boyd, Mike Einziger and Ben Kenney (lead guitar, bass, respectively) were up near the front of the stage — but not too close to the edge.

The overall effect of the layout was a gig that felt very spacious and, well, roomy. The pacing helped as well, with generous breaks between songs, in which, for example, Brandon’s microphone stand was swapped, depending on whether or not he would be playing guitar or not. That might sound tedious (who wants to watch roadies running around after every song?) but it really didn’t seem that way. The band (and crowd!) looked chilled out — and really, it only took a few extra seconds.

Hey, why not have the exact mic stand you want for each song?

I am a big fan of the minimalist stage, but structural stages can be cool too. Like the multi-story construction set that Ke$ha had. Or the prop-filled, everyone-at-the-front approach that Jimmy Buffett went for. If the staging is intended to reflect the music, then I’d say all three of these acts nailed it – layered and flashy for Ke$ha; fun and friendly for Jimmy; spacious and explorative for Incubus.

Of course, it didn’t really work out too well for Jimmy, when he fell off the stage.

Incubus are a tough band to categorise, so let’s not bother. They’re rock and funk and hip-hop and electro and a bunch of different kinds of metal, all rolled into one. They are Incubus!