Incubus brings rock, romance to Portland Introspective band packs Civic Center

Don’t be fooled, rock concerts are actually about two things: selling bottles of water and outrageously long lines at women’s restrooms. Too bad, too, because Tuesday night’s Incubus concert at the Cumberland County Civic Center belonged mostly to the lady fans. The Honda-sponsored tour is as close to a perfect place for music fans to go on a date as possible. Guys go for the rock; girls stay for the rock-hard abs.

The show began at 7:30 p.m. sharp with a short set from the L.A. group Phantom Planet.

The barely-out-of-their-teens five-piece flopped across the stage and pleaded for the audience to love them. The band’s most notable asset is its drummer, Jason Schwartzman, most famous for his role in Wes Anderson’s “Rushmore” and more recently the comedy “Slackers.” The group knows it, too. Their set included a thunderous, if not unnecessary, drum solo complete with spotlight and drum-stick twirling. Before ending their set, the band’s front man begged to be loved again by shouting: “You guys are by far the best crowd we’ve ever played for.”

Between the two groups, a short, pseudo-radio show hosted by a canned announcer titled “Between the Acts” was brought to us by the record store chain FYE and was kind of creepy.

What a difference a hit makes. Incubus has played Portland before, most notably at the delightfully dingy State Theater. Tuesday, the band packed out the equally dingy Civic Center- but this time they had a light show and a rabid following.

At 8:30 p.m. a black curtain masking the band’s stage set dropped to the excited cheers of concertgoers. A minute later, the band took the stage and launched into what would be an hour-and-a-half-long performance.

Energetic and polite, the band was in sync both with each other and with a well-orchestrated light show. The visuals included a large projection screen framed by a curtain which glowed like a Lite-Brite interpretation of the evening sky.

Singer Brandon Boyd – along with guitarist Mike Eiziger, bassist Dirk Lance, drummer Jose Pasillas, and DJ Kilmore – rocked their way through the introspective tunes from “Morning View,” such as “Are You In?” and “Wish You Were Here,” as pleased fans sang along. They even threw in “New Skin” and “Different Shade of Green,” more metal-tinged songs from their earlier years.

Midway through, a small living room set was brought out and the tempo of the show was brought down. Boyd and Eiziger, joined later by Lance, performed a three-song acoustic set which began with a cover of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and included their own hit “Pardon Me.”

Boyd glibly chatted with the audience about 10 percent of Portland’s population being in the room and then scatted about the fact as the band jammed before concluding the show with “Drive,” their mega-hit. Naturally, a dreamy and uplifting two-song encore followed, at the end of which the band members exited one by one for a final time.

The sweet and shy Incubus gives a great experience; a little bit of rock ‘n’ roll and little bit of romance. Heartthrob Boyd coyly waited until halfway through the show before taking off his shirt to reveal his strangely sculpted abs. Amidst swooning and salutation, he remained a gentleman, humble and effortlessly polite. You can’t help but want to take him home after the show to meet the family. And, he had us all on our way home by 10 p.m.