Incubus HQ Live

by Reggie Edwards Incubus are considered veterans and iconic in the rock industry. They’ve been around for 20 years now, and to celebrate this milestone, the band has released Incubus HQ Live, a three-disc box set that will make any Incubus fan giddy with excitement. Brought to reality when the band was recording their 2011 release (and first studio record in five years), this two CD, one DVD box set is loaded with Incubus material that has a little something for fans of every era of Incubus’ career. The two-CD set is a six-night concert that sees Incubus playing all of their hits as well as some other Incubus fan-favorites. Night one shows the band playing songs from Morning View, night two with Make Yourself, night three with Morning View and A Crow Left Side of the Murder  Alive at Red Rocks and Light Grenades. Since this was to celebrate not just the 20 year existence of the band but also the new record, we get to see night four capture Incubus premiering material from If Not Now, When?, as the new record was nine days from release at that point. Night five gives us a combination of songs from If Not Now, When? And Make Yourself and night six is entirely new material. The DVD captures these nights in their proudest moments, giving us an actual glimpse of what the atmosphere was like- electric. I may not be an Incubus fanatic but I definitely appreciate the band and what they’ve done in the industry. What better way to reward the fans for their dedication than to put out a box set of this magnitude. The only time in the recent past I’ve seen a band do anything close to this was when Hanson (yes, I mentioned Hanson in an Incubus review) released 5 of 5, a five night concert event where they played each of their five albums one night apiece in their entirety for a sold-out crowd. I personally think every band who have been around this long should be doing something like this, especially a day-and-age when rock bands are doing more and more to give their fans something special. It’s releases like this that set the bands who genuinely care about their fans apart. Rating: 9/10