Philzone.org - Philzone Phansite Community Discussion Board: Setlists and Reviews: Non GD Related Reviews: Archive: The Mars Volta 1/9/08 Higher Ground Burlington, VT

It was suggested that I post this here - I had previously posted it in the "Music Only" folder under the Mars Volta Thread.

Listen, man, you need to run and see these guys if they come near you! R-U-N!

(btw - I am operating on 4 hours sleep here - so please excuse any confusion or spelling and grammar errors here - because they played a 2 & 1/2 hour set last night! 2 & 1/2 freakin' hours!)

From the opening "Roulette Dares (The Haunt of)" to the closing ferocious "Day of the Baphomets", The Mars Volta were relentless in their assault. They are so into what they are doing and so is the crowd - or at least the crowd at Higher Ground was last night - that you can't help but get swept up in it. Wave after wave of sound - and Wino's brother really holds down an amazing bottom end. Like the Grateful Dead and many progressive rock bands - The Mars Volta mixes quiet passages in with the wild rocking ones - but TMV move through emotions with only short stops for breath. Amidst that, it all teeters and roils like controlled chaos - at times it feels like it will all go up in flames any moment! It can be frightening to experience - but isn't that what you want sometimes?!?!?

They played a bunch of new songs from "The Bedlam in Goliath" which is set to be released on January 29th along with a ton of my favorites from their first three albums. The new drummer is unbelievable - that he could play that heavy and strong song after song after song through such a long set is remarkable!

All three times I saw them before, they were an opening act and only played for 45 minutes in front of a mostly indifferent crowd - last night they played a long set in front of the faithful - and it was sweet to see and hear.

If your taste is fine in the mix of prog rock, avant garde, punk, metal and jazz - then I highly recommend this very unique experience.


Remaining Tour Dates for The Mars Volta on their current tour supporting the release of their latest disc "The Bedlam in Goliath" which will be released on 1/29/08:

January 11th - New Haven, CT - Toad's Place

January 12th - Providence, RI - Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel

January 14th - New York, NY - Terminal 5 - ON SALE NOW at Ticketmaster

January 17th - Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore at the TLA

January 18th - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live

January 19th - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall

January 21st - Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Hall

January 23rd - Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall

January 25th - Kansas City, MO - Beaumont Club

January 27th - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre

Way to get the word out about a great, if challenging, young band.

Awesome #6!

Nice review and I'm glad you got to see them as a "headliner" and not as an opening act.

I heard some of the new album on the radio last night and it sounded great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8YLDb2hiLU&feature =related

^^^
I watched that video this afternoon and was blown away.
They were also quite good at Terminal 5 on Monday.

I've got to say I think this band is the best relatively new band I've heard in a long time. I'm not exactly a youngster (I'm 51) and I put them right up there with the best I've heard (I've heard a lot, if you saw my music collection it would be evident). The last relatively new band I got turned on to were The Secret Chiefs but I think Mars Volta are steps above them. The only other current stuff that I think is comparable would be Electric Masada and the various William Parker projects. (I'm not counting Lesh's or Fripp's endeavors since that is the continuation of something that has been around for awhile and is not breaking new ground in quite the same way.)