Cedric Bixler-Zavala of The Mars Volta - more photos...
photo by jeff barringer - staff photographer |
by jeff barringer
club kingsnake staff
The Mars Volta
Hometown: El Paso, Texas.
http://www.themarsvolta.com
The Mars Volta Concert Photos
Thursday April 10th, 2008
Austin Music Hall (Austin, Texas)
Ok, sometimes I miss really really good bands completely, and it makes me wonder if I have been living under a rock. I think the problem is that I don't listen to much FM radio anymore and never activated the satellite radio in my car. Relying instead on my CD collection stored on my iPods and the never ending flow of CD's mailed in for us to review, sometimes big acts sneak up on me. That said - WOW!
The Mars Volta is like wow - man.
No one had given me much of a heads up on The Mars Volta. Though I had heard they were pretty cool, no one had ever given me much more to go on. I really didn't know what to expect. For all I knew they could have been some electronic accordion band from Europe. What they turned out to be is a bad ass rock and roll band that has the look, feel, and sound of a modernized Led Zeppelin moved south of the border.
Combining elements of progressive rock from the seventies, metal, thrash, and flavored with distinctive tex-mex spices they sound like Yes on speed, or a harder faster Incubus. Blazing guitar runs by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez with frantic almost flamenco like jumps and spins by frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala, its hard to imagine that they keep up the pace for their whole show, but they do. I almost didn't even notice that many of the lyrics were in Spanish.
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta - more photos...
photo by jeff barringer - staff photographer |
Hugely epic sweeping songs that go on forever, acrobatic stage antics from the frontman, dazzling guitarwork, and shows that have a 3 hour run time. I felt like I had been catapulted back to the 70's days of prog-rock symphonies and long flowing hair. All that was missing was the bell-bottoms and the $7 ticket prices.
The Mars Volta has a huge following as well. The concert had been sold out for quite a while, hawkers in the street getting over $100 a ticket. When I arrived, before the gates opened, the line was very long, wrapping almost completely around the parking garage next door. Some of the people had been waiting in line since early that morning.
I was torn. Once they started I wanted to stay for the whole concert, but I had to cover a couple other bands around the corner at La Zona Rosa. I hadn't anticipated getting approved for the Volta shoot and had made backup plans. We got the first 10 minutes to shoot the Volta set, then I raced over to La Zona Rosa, shot there, and then raced back, then back to La Zona, then back to the Music Hall. All in all I would say I got to see about an hour and a half of The Mars Volta's 3 hour set, more than enough to put it into my top ten concerts of 2008, and more than enough to justify buying their whole catalog.
Thanks to Direct Events and The Mars Volta for inviting me out. I look forward to seeing them perform at this years ACL Fest.
Cedric Bixler-Zavala of The Mars Volta catches air while Omar Rodriguez-Lopez plays on - more photos... photo by jeff barringer - staff photographer
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