the mars volta came on stage right at 8:40pm, and completely ripped into their set. doing some research before the show, i found on the band's website the setlists for several of their recent shows, and they were all the same with the exception of a few songs here and there that changed at the end. so, i printed a setlist out and brought it with me to compare. turns out it was right on the money. they played the following songs:
roulette dares (the haunt of)
viscera eyes
wax simulacra
goliath
ouroboros
tetragrammaton
agadez
cygnus...vismund cygnus
aberinkula
drunkship of lanterns
photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone
the entire band was on point last night. omar barely missed a note as he shredded it up on the guitar. cedric is hitting notes higher than ever, with the greatest of ease, and has the dance moves of nobody i have ever witnessed. their new drummer thomas pridgen is insane. he was pounding away and moving like a contortionist the whole show, barely slowing down to catch his breath. a true talent. the band seems to enjoy having him around as well. as he was playing a drum breakdown part, the other band members were all watching him with this collective amazed grin on their faces, as if they were saying, "oh man, we hit the jackpot with this guy!". many time during the show, i saw parts of his drumsticks chipping off and flying through the air. the rest of the band kept a near-perfect rhythm going throughout. the saxophonist/flautist/percussionist stayed busy with blowing our doors down with his talented playing, and at one point had a saxophone vs. guitar battle with omar. i honestly can't call the winner on that one.
a couple of highlights of the show...
during 'cygnus', cedric broke into lyrics from the traditional american folk song, 'john the revelator', which i came to know of from the white stripes song 'cannon', from their self-titled first album, which also contains lyrics from the song.
during one point in the show, during a quieter breakdown, someone screamed out a song title from an older album or something, which kind of ticked cedric off, prompting a short rant afterwards, where he bashed the guy for only wanting to hear old material. he went on to say that their band is not a jukebox, and if he wants to hear only the 'hits', "you can go see panic at the disco. they're coming in few weeks.". it was pretty funny.
at the beginning of 'aberinkula', they played a quiet 8-10 minute intro that slowly built up to the assault that starts the song. it was intense, and one of the high moments of the show. but let us all be honest, i was in the clouds the whole show, and probably won't come back down for a few days at least. (i still have the ringing in my ears to constantly remind me :))
photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone
the show finally ended at 11:15pm. that's right. 2 hours and 35 minutes with no breaks or encores. these guys are machines. they have earned my respect time and again, and are one of the greatest bands ever, in this part-time blogger's humble opinion. this has been my third time witnessing their live performance (and this last one was longer than the other two shows put together, as they were opening for system of a down and the red hot chili peppers previously). if you get the chance to see them live, you should. if you haven't heard their music, you should. i will be there their next time around for sure. in the meantime, though, i am going to listen to their new album again, and imagine last night some more. --signed, a giddy 30 year old boy
