"I haven't felt the way, I feel today, in so long, it's hard for me to specify..." Hearing Brandon Boyd sing those lyrics from "Nice to Know You" at the Incubus concert in South Carolina last Friday really hit me because it was my first concert since the pandemic started and also my first concert in about 4 years. It was also my first road trip for a concert since 2018 when I drove to Pennsylvania to see Johnny Depp play with Hollywood Vampires.
So I did a bit of a whirlwind
road trip just to see Incubus, approximately 7 hours down Friday and 7 hours
back Saturday. And whirlwind is a pretty accurate description because it was
quite windy, I could feel it blowing the vehicle as I was driving.
Oh by the way, since my last
entry I actually got a new vehicle about a month after writing that blog. My
old 2002 Chevy Cavalier died in the snow on the way to work one morning that
February. That car lasted me almost 19 years! It took me on many road trips and
adventures. But now I have a new steed, a 2021 Chevy Equinox, and I love it. I
even drove it all the way to Florida and back last summer for a family
vacation. Road trips are kind of liberating to me, especially when I can blast
my music the whole time. And with my new Equinox and the technology differences
adjusting from my 2002 car, I now use the Amazon Music Unlimited app on my
phone to listen when I drive. I made an 8-hour Incubus playlist for my trip to
SC so I wouldn't even have to touch it.
Let me back track a little bit...
I bought a ticket to this show in February because they only had a handful of
dates scheduled for awhile and I kept eyeing that SC show, thinking how I had
taken several road trips to SC in the past so it was familiar. And I worried
that those summer tour dates that were canceled in 2020 would never come, so
when I read a post in an Incubus fan group that basically spoke my thoughts, I
commented and this other fan persuaded me to go for it. So I got a ticket and
made a new friend from Ohio at the Incubus show in South Carolina.
What's funny is, the Monday right
before this show they announced a summer tour and in 2020 they were coming to
Jiffy Lube Live, which is convenient to me. But I'm assuming that venue was
booked already so they're coming to Merriweather Post Pavilion, where I saw
them in 2001 with Moby's Area One Festival, AND After Hours, which is super
close to me and kind of a smaller scale outdoor concert setup. I was super
excited! So I got tickets to both and my tickets for Merriweather are pretty
close, about the same as this SC show, but my tickets for After Hours are in the
third row! I'm so happy about it! And I got the VIP package for that show since
it's the closest to me and also a smaller venue so I thought that would make it
even better. I got the same one I had back in 2020 that got canceled, so I'm
supposed to see the pre-show jam and do the meet and greet. So it seems like
the 2-year wait and disappointment of 2020 might end up working out for the
better!
Besides Incubus, then I also
found out Duran Duran is playing at Merriweather Post Pavilion in August
right around my 40th birthday. Yep, already got tickets for that
too. Those are not close seats but it’s hard and expensive to get close seats
for Duran Duran. It will be like my 5th or 6th time
seeing them and they are my favorite band EVER, so it is perfect for my bday. I
also already started planning some fun to celebrate my 40th… I’m going
to eat at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant in Baltimore, which I’ve been wanting to
try ever since it opened, and then do a moonlight sailboat ride in the harbor
with a few friends. So I’m looking forward to a lot of fun this summer.
Let’s see, what else did I do
since my last post? I got to see the Van Gogh Immersive Experience in DC in
December. That was very cool. I got a new crush on Adam Driver after developing
a crush on Kylo Ren, after experiencing the Star Wars Rise of the Resistance at
Disney World hahaha. I already liked the movies, but I don’t know, something
about that animatronic Kylo Ren and then later a live actor in costume made me realize
I kinda had a thing for the character. So then I got on an Adam Driver kick,
which is what I usually do anytime I like an actor or musician. Then I watch or
listen to everything they’ve ever done. The cool thing is, Adam Driver had 3
pretty big movies come out last year after theaters started opening back up.
And I got hooked on “Annette” from the first trailer I saw and that came out on
my 39th birthday. It was the first movie I saw in the theater since
the pandemic and I love it. It’s very unique and you should check it out on
Amazon Prime. Then later I also went to the theater to see his movies, “The
Last Duel” and “House of Gucci.” “Duel” is very good but also very sensitive so
it’s not for the faint of heart. “Gucci” was good but honestly of these 3
films, it was the least impressive for me.
As for some of my other actor crushes,
I am stoked about Ewan McGregor in the Obi-Wan Kenobi show coming on Disney
Plus in May. “Phantom Menace” was the first thing I ever saw him in and I
instantly fell for him and have been a fan ever since. Also, Cillian Murphy is
back for the final season of “Peaky Blinders.” It’s already out on BBC but I’m
eagerly awaiting it to be on Netflix after the long wait due to the pandemic
delaying things.
Now let me circle back to music… In my last post, I mentioned Brandon Boyd writing a type of blog back in the day and emailing these entries to subscribers. Well he recently started doing this again! (Are you reading MY blog Brandon? Did I have some influence on this?) Or maybe it’s just things cycling back around as they do, just like I am with writing here as well. Whatever the reason, I’m enjoying it! I’ve also been following his project “Moonlight Arts Collective” and just purchased my first Brandon Boyd art! It’s also a collaboration with Sarah Hay, the lovely ballerina featured in the art, and Brian Bowen Smith, the photographer. I got “Tiny Dancer III” which is the one with blue and rainbow colors. I was debating between that and the gold one, but the colorful one fits me better. I don’t want to post a photo because I’m not sure about copyright and all that when it comes to art and I always try to be respectful of music and film rights as far as paying artists for their work, so I will share a link to the Moonlight Arts Collective where you can view and purchase the art. moonlightartscollective.com
It was actually delivered on Friday when I
was driving down to SC for the Incubus show so I was a little worried because
sometimes I have delivery issues at my condo building. But luckily they used UPS,
who is usually good to me. We’re not going to talk about Fedex… So I was happy
to find my artwork safe and sound waiting at my door when I got home on
Saturday. It is beautiful and my first piece of real authentic artwork too. I
got number 46 of 100. I need to get a frame for it, right now it’s just safely
stashed away so my cats don’t mess with it. Also, on the subject of art, I
still need to get myself back into exploring my own painting creations. I have
some of the supplies, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. But I WILL.
Brandon also released his solo
album and I really love the video for “More Better.” That is also my favorite
track on the album. Some others I like are “Dime in My Dryer,” “Ad Infinitum,”
and “New Dark Age.” It is quite different so some people like it, some people
don’t, but those are the songs that struck my attention so far. I bought the
mp3 album from Amazon so I could listen in my app and I also decided to order
the vinyl mainly just for a keepsake and because I like the album artwork. I
don’t have a record player but I have a few records on vinyl of my favorite
artists like Filter, U2 and Duran Duran.
Now back to the Incubus concert, if you are still reading after all my rambling… I took a few pics with my phone and they all came out blurry so I just put a few in here that were the most decent of them, which still weren’t good. However, I am very happy about the good sound quality I got in my videos. The visual isn’t great again, also because I don’t like to be obnoxious and hold my phone up high a long time and block other people’s view. So you’re basically seeing the concert from my perspective and height haha. I will post them here and you can also see them on my youtube channel. youtube.com/user/mewzak
I regretted not recording, “Nice to Know You” but I think at that point in the show I was still soaking it all in. Later I found someone else got a video of that song though so it’s cool I can still savor the moment. I got a clip of "Stellar" which is one of my faves. I was psyched that they played "Sick Sad Little World" and got the whole thing! It was my first time hearing that live in person, but I had seen performances on youtube before so I knew it was awesome live. I got the second half of "In the Company of Wolves" cuz I LOVE that groove. Then another amazing surprise was "Defiance!" That was a treat. And last but not least, I got the closer of the encore, "Warning" another fave. And I made sure to keep recording for the group bow at the end! Some other highlights on the setlist were “Karma Come Back” and “Glitterbomb.” Those both sounded great live and are a few of their newer tracks since the last time I saw them in 2012 at the DC101 Chili Cookoff. I also loved hearing "Quicksand" and "State of the Art." The new friend I made managed to get a setlist from the stage afterwards.
So that’s another thing, I had seen Incubus 4 times before but always at festivals. This was my first just Incubus show and I’m so glad I ended up going with them being the only band because I feel like I got to experience a longer set and some special treats that they may not play on the summer tour with Sublime with Rome and The Aquadolls. I need to check out the Aquadolls but of course I know Sublime, so I’m looking forward to seeing them on the summer tour as well. I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t get to see 311 though, who was supposed to tour with them for the 2020 shows.
I feel like this blog has ADHD so forgive me
if I’m skipping all over the place. I used to write these the day after the
show back in the day but now I’m getting older and life distracts so I’ve been
doing bits and pieces of this at different times and it’s already been a week
since the show! But I’m also out of practice because I haven’t been going to
concerts like I used to back then. So far this summer is looking very promising
on that front though, so hopefully I will be posting several more blog entries
in the coming months.
What else regarding this particular concert
adventure? Well my road trip was fairly smooth so there’s not much to share
about that, but my new friend from Ohio and I did have a little bit of
traveling drama at the hotel. It took forever to get a room. They were very backed
up. I mean I have never seen a hotel lobby full of people waiting for rooms. She
had been there for a few hours already before I got there, so we waited about
an hour at that point and then went to get dinner at Bonefish Grill, which was
nice. Then by the time we got back they had rooms ready but we still had to
wait in line. I think we had maybe 30 to 45 minutes to chill before we needed
to start heading toward the concert. But I will say the guy working the front desk was a champ and he ended up giving us free breakfast which was very yummy the next morning. The cool thing was this hotel had a nice
walking path to the venue. It was like a raised wood bridge over a swamp so it
was like a little nature walk. I had brought a small flashlight with me as a
precaution but they had it well lit. We did joke about alligators though. So I
got plenty of walking in after my road trip, which was a good thing.
Speaking of the flashlight, another new thing
for me was the clear bag policy for the concert. That’s something that has
changed since all my previous concert adventures. I’m glad I found out about it
beforehand so I ordered a clear purse from Amazon. I feel like I’m really
promoting them in this blog… I’m cool with the bag policy though, it’s all in
the interest of safety.
As far as the weather that night, they were
calling for scattered thunderstorms. We got lucky on that too. It drizzled a
little when we were outside but mostly we were good. A storm came through while
we were eating dinner in the restaurant but cleared up when we were leaving to
go back to the hotel. Then it stormed during the concert but cleared up when we
were leaving afterwards. The only thing that disappointed me was there was a
full moon that night and you couldn’t see it.
Incubus put on a great show. The band sounded
awesome, the sound in the venue was perfect quality, and they also had nice
lighting effects. The place seemed a little fancy for a rock concert but it was
a nice venue. The crowd was sold out, which I found out afterwards, and it was
just satisfying to be in that positive energy again. People were singing along
and rocking out and it filled me with a sense of hope and anticipation for more
concerts this year and life getting better after the last few years of disarray.
Here's to the future…
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