The Mars Volta: left - bassist Juan Alderete, middle - lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala, right - guitarist Paul Hinojos

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THE MARS VOLTA

The Band from The Next Dimension

By Michael Benjamin Hernandez

       If the cliché that music is the universal language is true, then The Mars Volta is a master at it. Their spacey, jazzy rock might be difficult to categorize, but their sound is simply incredible.

       With a multitude of amps, guitars, shakers and electronic pianos clouding the stage at the Fillmore Miami Beach, a purple hue glowed while the intro music (courtesy of Sergio Leone) played, like an operatic mariachi band. The band casually walked on stage.

       But their relaxed demeanors under played the two-and-a-half hour intergalactic voyage they soon kicked into with the De-Loused in the Comatorium track "Roulette Dares." If you weren’t expecting a kick in the ass opening, then you might have hit the ground hard when the crowd broke into a head-swirling, fist-pumping cyclone.

If you weren’t expecting a kick in the ass opening, then you might have hit the ground hard when the crowd broke into a headswirling, fist-pumping cyclone.

Cedric Bixler

       With no opening act (the tour should’ve been called "A Delightful Evening with The Mars Volta"), they tore through their set list mixing the old with the new songs, such as "Goliath" and "Tetragrammaton."

       In reality, The Mars Volta only played 10 songs, but the set lasted three hours. They added different elements not heard on any of the albums. Their extended solos may have confounded some fans, as the improvisation detracted from the actual songs at times, but when the music came back into high gear, you couldn’t help but get invigorated.

       What is most amazing about the band’s live performance is that the main structure of the songs remained intact amidst a cacophony of sounds and variations: the guitar wailing by guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez; the unearthly sounds from his brother Marcel; the constant thunder-pounding from new drummer Thomas Pridgen (who had a constant smile while playing, as if saying, "Look at me! Isn’t this amazing?"); and the high-pitched sounds coming from singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala, who often felt compelled to throw himself into the audience, as if a foreign spirit had invaded his body

       The Mars Volta shouldn’t really be listened to through some headphones in a line at Starbucks. Their live show invites the audience to travel into reaches unknown with them, through the anarchy and dark territory. It was an intense, relentless performance, the kind Miami rarely gets to see.

Let us know what you think, email us at: outloud@outloud.com.