If Not Now, When? The Manila Tour and new album of Incubus

Well today is going to be a big day for me. This will be the first time that I'm going to watch a foreign act. I'm not new to going to concerts. Back in college, I was able to watch local acts like Wolfgang, Kamikazee, Parokya ni Edgar, Sandwich, Barbie's Cradle, Sugarfree and a whole lot more. It continued when I started to work and I was able to see Bamboo and Razorback. I really love listening to music and seeing artists perform live is a totally different experience.

I never had the chance to watch foreign bands. Rage Against the Machine, my favorite foreign band, and Metallica have performed here before but I was too young to watch them. Besides, I haven't fully defined my musical identity then. I think now is the time to watch a foreign group and I absolutely don't want to miss another Incubus concert here in Manila.

Incubus was introduced to me by my uncle. I was also in college when I first heard this group. I think Drive was the first single I heard from them. This was followed by songs from their Morning View album like Nice to Know You, Circles and Are You In? My favorite song from the band would be Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song) from their S.C.I.E.N.C.E. album. I also love Battlestar Scralatchtica from Make Yourself because of the great mix of music. You'll know what I mean when you listen to it -- very groovy.

Now with their latest installment If Not Now, When? the band really toned down their music. Now I understand and can interpret the cover of their album. If Not Now, When? is a balancing act. It's the band's first attempt of going mellow to the whole album. They went against their norm which is alternative and rock music. A lot of their fans might probably don't understand it. I also had the same sentiment when I first listened to their new tracks. But going into a musician's perspective, this for me is the band's way of experimenting. For me, I'll give this a rating of 3 out of 5 stars. I was surprised they went mellow but I can't say this is a bad album, Incubus just sounded different. For today's concert, I don't think they'll set a playlist with just the album tracks in them. I think they'll sing the songs from the new album as fillers. There's no denial that it will be an awesome concert.

See you later Incubus! I hope to have a rockin' great time! \m/