Nothing beats a big rock show at the Pavilion and this concert was no exception. You could feel the unrelenting enthusiasm from the fans. All signs showed that they were having a blast and were in it for the long haul. It was a packed house by the apex of the performance. It made me proud of all my fellow fans for their show of support for two of alternative rock’s most interesting and unique acts, co-headlining in a show that could have easily been two separate headlining shows. It was great to see how these two bands and their openers could build this night into one to be remembered.

The concert got off to an early start with an unbilled opener, “The Bots,” from LA. They are a 2-man duo with a drummer and guitarist playing high impact blues-y garage rock. I had to do some quick research to see what these guys were all about, but what I did know intuitively was how awesome it would be to get to open for the billed opening band on a lineup of this caliber.

Granted, it was super early in the night and people were still fighting their way through Houston traffic on a weekday to get to the venue, but they seemed to be having a lot of fun up there playing their set. A couple of skaters who are just enjoying the ride is the message I got from their website and I couldn’t help but root for them and be curious about where their music will go in the future. Surprise bands are always fun and I love that the big boys decided to throw a bone to the little guys.

“Death From Above 1979,” usually a dance-punk duo, from Toronto, started their set with a thrashy opener which grabbed me because it felt like a bold move. The drummer and singer, Sebastion Granger, played a stripped down 4-piece punk kit with only two cymbals, a sampler pad, and a microphone, whilst Jesse Keeler played a sweet clear body bass guitar and an extensive pedal board to create a giant crunchy tone. Keeler would very occassionally do some backup vocals or play the synthesizer but he spent most of the set swinging his bass back and forth and playing with technical precision.

The only backdrop on stage was a big cutout of their stylized photo with both their faces featuring elephant trunks for noses which is their calling card. Their studio albums are very tight and polished but live they had much more of a rowdy punk sound which was sprinkled with psychadelia and a hearty dose of tasteful distortion.

These are some pretty impressive musicians. I couldn’t help but think, if they were playing in a smaller, more intimate venue, they would slay any audience. After running through their newest single, ‘Virgins’, these guys have a lot of swagger in their tunes and a lot of suggestive lyrics Granger addressed the audience, which at this point was mostly people on the lawn and less people in the more expensive seats, and asked “How are you poor people up on the grass?” It is easy to think these guys identify with the common folk. That and a sticker prominently facing the crowd, on a mostly unused synth, which said “Don’t Steal: the government hates competion.” Not to mention their trippy intro before one of their songs that repeated “fuck the establishment” over and over. Canadian punks are some of my favorite musicians. It must be in the water up there. The crowd gave them solid applause after they finished their set.

Next up on the docket “Deftones” from Sacramento took the stage as the sun started to go behind the hill. The lawn was full and the seats still surprisingly sparse, nevertheless, they received a very warm welcome. The stage setup, utilizing a concave horizontal video screen, played a new video for each song and there were vertical stands of swirling spotlights underneath.

This is a band that can seamlessly alternate between crunchy riffs and transcendantly beautiful choruses; one of their hallmarks. They are also known for one Chino Moreno on vocals, who has an unusual approach to singing over heavy music. Its hard to describe but its always not what you’d would expect and usually pretty abstract. The first sing-along moment came in the second song’s chorus as Chino encouraged the crowd to sing “Guns! Razors! Knives!!!,” (fan favorite.) Editor’s note: “Dude! He’s wearing a Morrissey shirt.” (talking about Chino). When they launched into a classic song ‘Drive’ early in their set, I got my first goosebumps of the night. It’s such a great song and reminds me of my teenage summertimes. Side note: Stephen Carpenter, guitarist, was spotted rocking a Louis Vuitton wrap on one of his guitars which was pretty boss.

One of my favorite features of the Deftones is how groovy and hard hitting Abe Cunningham is on the drums. He’s one of my personal inspirations for how to approach the drums as a musician and get a crowd to bang that head around, and it is in full effect. The sun is almost down now and Chino grabs a guitar for the first time and starts playing the opening notes of ‘Rosemary,’ one of the many standout tracks from their most recent album ‘Koi No Yokan.’ That’s when I notice the Easy E sticker on the guitar that he’s playing. Awesome. When the Deftones played one of their radio hits, ‘Knife Party,’ the crowd freaked out. Especially when Chino hit a crazy high note during a Pink Floyd-esqe wailing section later in the song. We all let them know how pleased we were after the song. The next huge sing-along moment was when they performed ‘Change,’ another one of their hits. The entire crowd seemed to know every word and sang the whole song. On this particular Wednesday night, the singer then noted, “This feels like a Saturday!” The crowd was  burgeoning and eating it up by this point. Many songs off of all of their albums were well represented in the set and they all sounded fantastic! After they went off stage, the crowd was extremely enthused and thirsty. The lines were epic because rockers apparently love beer and weren’t willing to miss a moment of the action on stage.

As I was waiting in one of said lines, I heard what I thought at first was a sound check on the drums. Wait, not a sound check; they would’ve done that earlier in the day. Then came the cheers, deafening lady cheers! As the drums continued in their introduction, you heard the opening chords of the song “Wish You Were Here” by ‘Incubus.’

Now, Incubus has a lot of hits from the radio in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and this is one of their most beloved and the entire crowd is in sing-a-long territory for much of the rest of the night. To my surprise, the crowd is very supportive of the new material and deeper cuts, which can be tricky for a band with so many radio hits. They have a real ‘thick and thin’ fan base and it shows. Even unrecognizable songs hit the mark and no one appeared to let go of the crescendo of fun they were having. Old songs made new and new songs made more compelling. It was all coming together thanks to Brandon Boyd’s fantastic singing voice and fit unshirted physique and the man-fans were loving it!

It was an impressive performance by a band that has managed to stick it out even after their commercial success’s heyday and many of the fans have kept up with them all along the way. The set came to a close with an encore of their biggest hit, ‘Drive,’ (yes both headliners have a popular song called Drive) followed by a new song. It was nice to see them championing their new material instead of becoming a legacy act and resting on their laurels.  When you have as many hits as Incubus, that might seem like a safer bet, but the fans are obviously still into it and they seem as ready as ever to hear what all of these bands, some of which have been around for two decades or more, will come up with next. I have to tip my hat to the fans this night. It was so wonderful to see the ecstatic passion on display.

See pictures gallery below

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