Ambrosia-drinking Incubus rock South Africa

These two biological miracles have been touted to live through the next life-ending cataclysm. But outer physiology and beauty have become precarious things. I’ve seen 14 year olds looking worse than middle-aged, heroin-addled musicians while queuing for the next big TV game release. It’s horrendous – sleep-deprived out of excitement they salivate at the thought of the next fix of simulated reality.

What’s Boyd’s secret? Nobody knows, but there’s a rumour going around that he’s spending eight hours in the gym, eight hours in a hyperbaric chamber and the other third of the day in the company of giggling groupies. That’s a sure formula for long life.

Like Boyd, Incubus seems to be on a path of musical immortality. The band’s arousing set, composed of songs from six albums loved by rock fans in their 40s, 30s, 20s and teens, is a fitting testament to an emblematic American band that cleaves through generations and genres. Consider the blend of the musicians on stage: a singer who could have joined the Backstreet Boys if he wanted to; Jose Passillas, a drummer of the ilk of groove machines like Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine; Mike Einziger, a guitarist influenced by the inexhaustible tradition of great American guitar players; Chris Kilmore, the keyboardist and turntablist who adds creative sampling, padding and scratching to the band’s already multi-layered sound; and bassist Ben Kenney, who played for The Roots before joining Incubus in 2003.

The combined efforts of the five musicians present to the crowd an extensive anthology of American music of the past 30 years. It’s a serenade that’s part hip hop, part indie, part dub, part funk, part soul and mostly rock – all carefully stirred together in a boiling crucible.

The Californian band opened Saturday’s show at the politically loaded Voortrekker Monument with new songs from their 2017 album 8 – Incubus’ first since 2011 – to a lukewarm reception from the crowd. Incubus were testing the waters of a country and venue they had never played before, and were rightfully showing off their latest creative clout as any musicians worth their salt should. Whereas American audiences are eager to show appreciation for fresh music by their favourite bands, South African rock fans, much like many of their European counterparts, are a little more sceptical about letting new music into their homes. New music is a stranger that you shouldn’t entertain too eagerly. It must first be observed carefully, tested strenuously and tasted in small portions before anyone gets hurt. Once it passes this pontifical checklist of scepticism, only then can it enter your idiosyncratic clique.

‘Wish You Were Here’ (including a snippet of Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here'), ‘Nice to Know You’, ‘Pardon Me’, ‘Stellar’, ‘Vitamins’ and ‘Drive’ were delivered as expected, but it was ‘Loneliest’ off 8 that signals the next phase of Incubus’ path to immortality. The relatively slow song uses low frequencies and various electronic components in unison with vocals reminiscent of Maynard James Keenan’s phrasing and inflections with A Perfect Circle and Puscifer. The song not only adds yet another dynamic to the band’s stylistic offering but takes Incubus’ music out of high school and into the technological future.

This aesthetic can also be heard in ‘Make No Sound in the Digital Forest’ – another electro-inspired track off 8 that was released as an instrumental. Here, however, the roots of the sound lie with British synth bands like Depeche Mode. Perhaps Incubus are finally getting old, at least under their boyish exterior. And maybe their talent is too colossal to be bound to the intimidating musical force of the US.