Saw The Mars Volta on the weekend

[mitchables]

And they were simply incredible. Hands down, the best concert I have ever been to. The sound was a bit shitty at the start (the mix was way too loud for everything except the drums, so there wasn't much clarity) but either I adjusted or they fixed the mix about 20 minutes in because after that I could hear everything perfectly.

Their drummer is an absolute machine. The fills and general beats he was playing were ridiculous. He never missed a beat, even when he was losing sticks left, right and centre because he was flailing so madly. He was just a smooth motherfucker. Giant smile on his face the whole time, just casually keeping the beat up with one hand while he reaches over to his stick bag and grabs a new one.

The supporting members were all fantastic. The bassist kept up some of the funkiest lines for ridiculous lengths of time. There was definite use of loopage and whatnot, but regardless. They had two dudes on stage left who were looking after auxiliary percussion/saxophone/secondary keyboard duties, and I think they probably had the hardest job, honestly, since their parts are very erratic and depend a whole lot on coming in when the rest of the band decided to move on from the ten minute long canoodling session, but yeah.

They played a nearly 35-minute long version of Cygnus... Vismund Cygnus that simply blew my mind. Cedric had his sexy man-flail on and Omar was stylishly rocking out the whole time. Such a tight band though, musically. Every one of those members is excellent at what they do.

I am so glad that I went to that show, I can't even begin to explain it really. :heart:

[Triple A]

Yeah they seem like they would be good live. :mad:

[RP]

I saw them about 3 years ago when they opened for APC

[mitchables]

Actually that was the other thing, there was no opening band. Just the Volta for nearly three hours straight. And in that time there was probably one or two minutes of actual silence from them, in total.

[Smitty]

I saw them in Madrid 3 months ago. Hands down the best show I've ever seen. They played for 4 hours, basically playing like half of each album. Cedric came over the guard rail into the crowd and I got to sing along to Drunkship of Lanterns with him haha. It was pretty badass.

[RP]

Actually that was the other thing, there was no opening band. Just the Volta for nearly three hours straight. And in that time there was probably one or two minutes of actual silence from them, in total.

yah they never stopped playing at the show i went too. There was no down time. The lead singer was all over the place. He was great. I remember now really likeing the music cause i didnt know who they were, but i enjoyed the atmosphere they created during there set. Now i love there music.

[Juan]

Actually that was the other thing, there was no opening band. Just the Volta for nearly three hours straight. And in that time there was probably one or two minutes of actual silence from them, in total.

Holy shit that's sick!

[ron the dial]

i need to see these guys live. there are very few bands that i will say that about, but with the mars volta it just seems like a necessity.

[FakeLaser]

I am very jealous and have missed seeing them a few times for stupid ass reasons

[Ninti the Mad]

They are awesome live. I saw them play but it was a short set a few years ago as they were opening for SoaD.

[mitchables]

I saw them in Madrid 3 months ago. Hands down the best show I've ever seen. They played for 4 hours, basically playing like half of each album. Cedric came over the guard rail into the crowd and I got to sing along to Drunkship of Lanterns with him haha. It was pretty badass.

That's so awesome. We didn't get treated to any De-Loused material at all :( Very little Frances the Mute (except for the Cygnus... marathon). Pretty much all Bedlam in Goliath stuff with a few Amputechture songs and occasionally they'd drop into a Frances groove before snapping out of it into some more Bedlam or whatever.

BUT IT WAS SO GOOD.

[Fabien Barthez]

I missed this thread. But I saw them In manchester in March, No support.... just 3 hours of non stop fucking brilliance. Opened with like, 10 minutes of randomness and then into Roulette Dares. I forget alot of the rest of the set, but about 45 minutes in, at their first break, Cedric called for people to come over the rail and watch from the stage because they didn't like being so far from the front of the audience. So me and my mate hopped over, because nobody seemed to think it was for real, and got to, with about 50 other people, sit around Ced on stage, like on that old black and white Led Zep vid.... for a 25 minute version of Goliath.

It was insane.

They finished with Drunkship of Lanterns, played pretty much all of Bedlam and Cygnus, Baphomets, Meccamputecture, The whole of Cerpin Taxt, and Eunuch Provocateur, off Tremulant. I forget the rest, and they more or less improv'd from one song to another the whole time. Omar can make his guitar sound like fucking anything, Cedrics voice can finally get them high notes live, and the rest of the band are just insanely good.

They are playing in England tomorrow night, and I wish to fucking Ganesha I could go!

[Penner]

theyre good

i dont like their new stuff

[rojas]

Same here. Saw them in April in Dallas at the Palladium Ballroom and I was just utterly amazed. It was a 3 hour set that flowed so perfectly. I do agree in that I wish I got to hear more of De-Loused but honestly, it didn't matter.

btw, i'm jerry...nice to meet everyone

[Mike Honcho]

Their drummer has a new band with Zach De la rocha of Rage called "One Day as a lion" pretty cool stuff if you dig rage.