The Mars Volta: Hammerstein Ballroom, 9/17

[stevGNR666]

So I walked into the ballroom at approximately 7:30 with hundreds of tight-pants, fro-do'd Cedric and Omar fanboys with my tie-dye, sandals, and flannel feeling awkwardly at home.

The venue is familiar like a face getting off a plane after years of separation; this is the place where I saw one of my first concert "experiences" - two years ago, Guns n' Roses, another story - as I said, awkwardly at home. Naturally I gravitate towards the right where I stood in that oft forgotten memory and my brother and I engage in idle chit chat of two who rarely talk, but not because we can't but because we have not much to say.

At 8:30, the lights shut, the intro music still hasn't changed since I saw them last March; grandiose, otherworldly, flashy, brooding: the mars volta. Procession to the instruments. Natural clapping. Feedback, feedback, drums - Goliath.

In my opinion, this is the first and last mistake they made in the construction of the setlist. While I love the actual song and really appreciate the reworked live version of the song, I thought it was a weak opener, especially since it was the live reworked version. The actual piece, the reworked one, is a fantastic exposition into the deconstruction of a riff - reworking it, replaying it reworked, repeat - deconstruct - rework, repeat etc. By itself its masterful, but for these same reasons I think this 20-25 minute formulaic destruction of 'the note' is tough to sell as an opener. As I looked around, the crowd response was minimal and subdued.

The first surprise of the set was the newly worked Eunuch Provocateur, which alienated the newer crowd and surprised the older crowd because the song is already 7 years old. When Ouroborous started I went wild and moved to the mosh pit that had formed in the middle section of the crowd. I stayed there for just about the rest of the set, slipping over drunks, witnessing the fights - and all

By far the highlight of the set was the epic "Cygnus…Vismund Cygnus" which clocked in at well over a half hour and morphed into "Cocaine on the Brain" by Dillinger and ended with a weird call and response. Cedric was in excellent form (much better than last time I saw him), and Omar had his best solo I’ve heard to date in this song. In the pit during the quiet parts of the song we had one guy get on his knees and clap – like a ritual in a cult we all gathered round until they moved the intensity back up to level ten and everyone would start moshing again. It was quite a communal musical experience.

Next came The Widow, which surprised the hell out of me, as I don’t believe they’ve ever done that electric. Cedric’s voice was immaculate on the track.

The show closed with Drunkship after Cedric made fun of the people in the mosh pit telling us that there’s a testosterone thing going on and to "like each other" and "get a chick." During Drunkship a lot of the guys who were in the mosh pit earlier in the night broke out into a pretty huge brawl starting with one guy who jumped over another and punched a guy just above the eye. The guy, who was pretty big, retaliated by bear hugging him, dragging him down to the ground, and flailing him. Another guy pulled him off – someone punched a guy in the throat – another started at someone else’s chest. It was mayhem. All the while Cedric looked awkwardly over at the brawl for a couple minutes as the music kept going and I thought for a minute he was going to stop the music but he didn’t and the show ended as planned.

damn, wrong section - can anyone move this to my world?

[madison]

Sounds like a great show Steve.