Formed from the ashes of the now-defunct post-hardcore band At The Drive-In, The Mars Volta have been pushing the boundaries of the aged formula of progressive rock through an injection of Latino beats and jazz improvisation for nearly seven years now, quickly progressing from album to album; starting with the mostly song based De-loused in the Comatorium, the eight-piece headed by former At The Drive-In band-mates Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala quickly progressed their style to the now signature jazz-tingled prog rock fusion jamming evident on Frances the Mute and Amputechture. Now, in 2008, The Mars Volta having released the latest twisting, turning, furious offering, The Bedlam in Goliath, Omar and Cedric have affirmed their status as the new kings (perhaps even the saviours) of prog rock through the sprawling 3-hour, 10 track trip that managed to win over even the most stubborn people in the room.
Choosing to have no support act is a bold move for any band, but from the moment the band strolled out onto the stage in all-black apparel to the sound of the classic Fistful of Dollars theme, it was apparent to all in the audience that it was going to be special, characterized with the grins plastered over pretty much everyone’s faces; starting as they meant to go on, fan favorite Roulette Dares (The Haunt of) from the debut album opened the mammoth set, which was greeted with the crowd immediately igniting and dispelling any fears that through making the last few albums they’d have lost an ounce of their ferocity.
Fifteen minutes into the gig and they’re still playing the same song, neither audience or band having lost the opening enthusiasm – at the point, the band’s live trademarks are out there in their full glory: singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala is a man possessed, leaping around the stage, thrashing/dancing like a madman, swinging his mic stand around… you get the picture. Meanwhile, guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is similarly under some kind of spell, managing to keep the pace up on the guitar, while acting as a kind of composer – sporadically signalling to the rest of the band, it’s obvious that he is the key driving force in the instrumentation, and you can’t help but to marvel at how he does this while pulling off the most engaging and simply dazzling solos I’ve personally seen since… well, ever!
Keeping up the unrelenting pace, Viscera Eyes, the only single off 2006’s Amputechture was next up on the set, effortlessly seaming the songs together, never breaking the enchantment that the band created. During the songs themselves, the entire band are seen jamming along to Omar; at one point, brass player Adrián Terrazas-González duels with him, each taking their turns on belting out a quick-fire phrase of their intstruments, amalgamating in an intense greeting of brass and guitar, kept up to pace by the rest of the band all backing up the battle.
In a rare moment in tonight’s show, the group tear into a rendition of The Bedlam in Goliath’s Wax Simulacra, which follow’s the album track length of about three minutes – even though it’s not long (by tonight’s standards, anyway), this ruthless number features the warmest reception of all the new songs that rocked Brixton, backed by drummer Thomas Pridgen’s simply transfixing drumming skills – first seen by a brief solo back in Roulette Dares, the first of the material which he drummed for on record drives the entire song and shows how skilled this man really is – not only does he have the necessary speed to keep with the pace of the songs, but he also has the endurace and the sheer power to pull it off; all night he keeps up the sheer power which which he hits the drums, it’s a small miracle that the drums didn’t just give way or burst.
Next on the set was another song from the lastest offering, this time Goliath, which for me personally was one of the highlights of the album, so when it came to hearing it live, the result was incredible – the key lines of vocal in the song, namely “Never heard a man speak like this one before… watch me now” were delivered as powerfully and perfectly as on the record, and obviously other fans agreed with me, as those lines garnered possibly the biggest post-Comatorium song singalong of the night. Keeping true to it’s name, Goliath was a sprawling, multi-part jamming session which was at times as brutal as it was technically outstanding, keeping the mosh pit as happy as the people standing at the back just absorbing the experience.
This was then followed by Tetragrammaton, the 17 minute monster that dominated Amputechture – it’s meandering, disorientating way of stopping and picking up a new musical thread on the record was mirrored on stage, and by this point, which was at least halfway into the 3 hour mammoth gig, the band had not relented on their antics up on the stage; Cedric was still seemingly possessed, drinking out of a mug in between jumping off drum kits and throwing his microphone around, while the rest of the band still played with the ferocity and enthusiasm which had opened up the gig.
Ouroborous and Agadez from The Bedlam in Goliath followed, and while the songs themselves were excellent as the previous songs had been, the audience at this point were starting to visably wear out a bit for the jamming sections that preceeded the two songs – while some moments were undeniably moments of brilliance, some of the jam did seem to drag on a bit and I do admit to, at one or two points, thinking “I wonder when they’re going to play the next song”. As I said, the songs were absolutely brilliant, especially Ouroborous and it’s uncompromisingly face paced percussion and bongos interlaced with some superb guitar again, and once the songs were in full momentum nothing was going to stop the El Paso eight piece.
The only song that represented 2005’s Frances the Mute was, for me, the real highlight of the set: Cygnus… Vismund Cygnus, the opener of the record, not only got the crowd worked up, but managed to keep them engaged and riveted on the performance for around a good half an hour, an impressive feat in anyone’s books – getting rid of the quiter section which ended the album version, the live counterpart not once let the pace slow down. People were dancing without a single grain of self-consciousness, letting the music take them wherever their body would take them, which is really what the point of the music tonight was – to relieve people of reality, and, for one night, to show them another place completely. The whole band were still working together perfectly, a well oiled machine that never once faltered, and this perfect fusion of all the instruments summed up the night.
Bedlam opener Aberinkula was the penultimate song of the set, continuing the momentum brought forward by Cygnus, and translated pretty much exactly from the record, and was essentially a build up to the set closer, Drunkship of Lanterns, another fan favorite for De-loused in the Comatorium. The exact time that this song went on for I am not sure, but it’s something in the region of thirty to forty minutes, a massively epic ending for a massively epic show. The song brought together all the parts of The Mars Volta which makes them who they are; after over 2 hours and 20 minutes, you’d expect the sheer energy of the band on stage to wane, however instead it was the exact opposite – drummer Thomas Pridgen was given a good 5 minutes drum solo, his stylish yet brutal drumming coming together in a solo which consited of machine gun fast hits to the snare and bass, displaying again his skill and why he is as renowned as he is. All the band looked as lively as they could of, grinning immensely as they pulled off collectively the most intense ending to a set Brixton has possibly ever seen, with the lights flashing and swinging in time to build up the set to a spectacular climax, creating an incredible sensation for both visual and audio: this was one of many unforgettable moments in the gig.
As all gigs have to, it eventually finished: Cedric gave his thanks and apologised for not coming to London for near enough to 3 years, which was greeted by a roar of applause which continued long after they had left the stage. The audience left stunned, dazed, yet all knowing of the marvel which they had just experienced: this gig alone proves prog rock is still well alive, and The Mars Volta are the forerunners of the latest generation.
SETLIST:
- Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)
- Viscera Eyes
- Wax Simulacra
- Goliath
- Tetragrammaton
- Ouroborous
- Agadez
- Cygnus… Vismund Cygnus
- Aberinkula
- Drunkship of Lanterns
