Incubus: 'Incubus HQ Live'

To celebrate both the release of 2011’s If Not Now, When? (their first studio album in five years) and the fact they’ve been together for 20 years, Incubus invited its fans to six free, intimate nights at a storefront on La Brea in West Hollywood. The shows were broadcast live on the internet, and now they’re released in CD/DVD format (there's an 18-track and a 28-track version, as well as a limited-edition box set available at incubushq.com). The concert includes tracks from Morning View, Make Yourself, A Crow Left of the Murder, and a non-album rarity (“Pantomime”) included on Alive at Red Rocks. The sound, image, musicianship, and Brandon Boyd’s vocals are so superb one forgets that, as usual, Incubus — an acquired taste — hints more than delivers on the melody department. I can forgive you for lacking melody, but only if you can play and sing like this. The band launched its U.S./Canada tour with Linkin Park earlier this month in Boston, but the closest they come to SA is an August 28 date in Houston at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.

★★★ (out of 5 stars)