April 3, 2007 at 10:18:00 AM Prog-rock group blows minds, eardrums during two-hour set in Berkeley, California.
Everyone left the Berkeley Community Theater on Saturday night astonished, for better or worse. Ears ringing, eyes wide open, and thoroughly rocked, much of the young crowd that filled up the venue walked aimlessly outside like a bomb just dropped--some confused about what had just happened, some just happy to be alive.
The Mars Volta had just played a sizzling two-hour-plus set of the band's trademark freeform progressive rock, and for the most part took the crowd on an incredible journey. The show was in support of the band's latest effort, the tepidly received Amputechture, and was part of a quick Californian tour after a handful of shows in Australia. The eight-member band is the ultimate "you either get them or you don't" band, giving the finger to conventional song structure and breaking almost every pop-music rule.
With influences from latin, jazz, and hard rock, as well as cryptic--almost evil--lyrics, it isn't a stretch to call their music an acquired taste. A typical live Mars Volta show is an organic experiment in both improvisation and precision that bubbles over repeatedly, and the burners were on full blast Saturday. Though most of the band's songs already top the eight-minute mark, their live counterparts often stretched into epics (note 10 songs played over the 140-minute show).
"Drunkship of Lanterns," a live staple from their critically acclaimed debut LP De-loused in the Comatorium, got the most extended treatment of the night, clocking in at nearly 20 minutes, thanks to a fantastic wig-out that was part King Crimson jam, part alien symphony. On center stage was lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala, a throwback to vocalists such as Rush's Geddy Lee and other men who weren't afraid to hit the high notes. However, as his role in the band is merely vocalist, Bixler-Zavala brought the goods in other ways during the band's psychedelic meanderings.
The tenor was up to his usual antics, carrying the microphone stand in his teeth, dragging his body across the stage, climbing speakers, gesturing wildly, and leaving the stage to stroll among the crowd while the band played on. While Bixler-Zavala is the main attraction on the band's studio efforts, during a live show it's hard not to give guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez the most attention. Decked out with one of rock's finest afros, Rodriguez-Lopez treats his guitar like a Ouija board, summoning strangely beautiful riffs from who knows where.
He is also a master of the distortion pedal, producing trippy sounds normally reserved for synthesizers, demons, and wounded animals. Even though the band is coming off its most poorly reviewed album and working with yet another new drummer, they play incredibly tight and are all smiles doing it. Hugs were exchanged during the set, Rodriguez-Lopez and multiinstrumentalist Adrian Terrazas-Gonzalez engaged in a playful match of "anything you can do I can do better," and Bixler-Zavala genuinely showered the audience with compliments.
The intense set certainly wasn't short on peaks, but one underlying factor kept it from being the stuff of legend. Unfortunately for those who didn't bring earplugs, parts of the band played extremely loud, sometimes at the cost of other band members. The biggest offender was drummer Thomas Pridgen, whose manic (albeit impressive) Gatling-gun drumming occasionally stole thunder from the rest of the band, including the driving bass solo that opens "Day of the Baphomets.
" While The Mars Volta novices likely left the show wondering what just hit them, the band's hardcore cult following relished the evening. When Bixler-Zavala spewed the line "I got a prayer that'll make you theirs now, beneath sepulchers. Raise you entrails as an offer" from the excellent "Baphomets," the crowd mockingly obliged, raising their empty hands, palms skyward.
However, given the band's charisma, their fans devotion, and the powerful performance that evening, it wouldn't have been a surprise to have seen some blood spilled.
News RSS