Well, while I'm glad I finally got to see Mars Volta live; it wasn't the experience I hoped it would be.
It started with a poorly planned parking experience that left me driving around the structure with a bunch of other poor saps and no parking spots. One magically appeared somehow. Then after going through the security line (which included a wand scan and then a pat down, if this for real?) to get into the venue, I found out that "no cameras are allowed." So, I had to make a trip back to my truck.
The show started around 9pm with one of my favorite Mars Volta tracks "Roulette Dares (this is the haunt)." Then I think the next tune was a track off of Francis The Mute. But, I don't know which one because I'm not that familiar with the album. Apparently, things were a bit crazy in the front because Cedric kind of went off saying "Chill out up here, this ain't no football game. These guys are working hard. There's too much testosterone, it smells like balls. Save that shit for the Warp Tour." It was pretty funny. Most of the songs played after that were unfamiliar to me until near the end of the set.
There were a total of eight musicians on the stage. Cedric is one heck of a dancer. You know that expression "Dance like no one is watching," well, that kind of applies. And I dig that about him. The drummer was solid. Omar is clearly talented and brought a lot with his sometimes manic stage presence. There's something about him that is reminiscent of Prince.
My biggest complaint about the show (besides bad acoustics) is it felt self indulgent. Any momentum that is gained in a song is completely lost by the end of it. Almost all of the songs start off mellow ("experimental") then rock, then end mellow. This would be ok if the beginning mellowness wasn't 3 minutes long and then the ending mellowness 3 minutes long. One of those during a set is more than enough. To put your fans through 2 hours of that, come on. But, maybe I'm in the minority and that's what they want to experience.
Check out the Mars Volta at: www.themarsvolta.com or www.myspace.com/themarsvolta