An amazing night of music graced the stage of The Royal Oak Music Theatre in early October as the triumphant return of The Mars Volta rocked the Detroit area. After 10 years of fast, focused work, both recording and touring constantly from 2002-2012, the arty, psychedelic fusion band abruptly called it quits, and primary song writers, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, moved on to other projects. While the subsequent years saw them form, record, and tour with multiple new bands, the two reunited as musical partners in a few of them and eventually with the remaining members of their original project together, underground alternative rockers, At the Drive-In, for a successful album of new songs and a tour. Whether due to pandemic reflections, the desire to perform their classic songs again, the need for a money re-stock, or a combination of all three, Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez surprised fans earlier this year with an announcement of a new Mars Volta album, their first in 10 years, and a U.S. tour, hitting the road again after a 12-year break.
The Detroit-area edition of the tour attracted fans old and new, and before the show began, some in the crowd were heard discussing the 6 or 8 times they had seen the band previously, many years ago, while younger fans were excited to see the band live for the first time, having never had the chance since discovering their music over the past 12 years. The sold-out crowd was enthusiastic all night and nearly as supportive of the art rock opening act, Teri Gender Bender, a solo project by the vocalist from Le Butcherettes and a few of Rodriguez-Lopez’ other bands, including Bosnian Rainbows. After a short, 25-minute opening performance, during which Gender Bender and the audience exchanged dialog in Spanish, a set change began that lasted even longer than the band’s set. After more than 30 minutes of preparation, the lights went down again, this time for The Mars Volta, to the roar of the anticipatory crowd.
Every show on the tour has featured The Mars Volta performing the same songs in the same order without changes. This alone is not rare for them compared to their earlier incarnations, but it was clear the repetition helped establish a precise and focused execution of each song section that undoubtedly improved as the tour went on. Original bassist, Eva Gardner, rejoined the group prior to the recording of their self-titled comeback LP and performed with a groove and flow that complimented each song. Newer members including Leo Genovese on keyboards and occasional saxophone and Linda-Philomène Tsoungui on drums both added accents and flourishes to older songs and new tracks alike that filled in fluidly around and between the primary guitar/vocal focus of the show. Long-time multi-instrumentalist, Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez (brother of the co-band leader), alternated between percussion, synthesizers, and keyboards throughout the night and performed while wearing a mask for the duration.
Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez were understandably the focal point of the concert, and both had many enthusiastic receptions for hitting and holding peak vocal notes in “L’Via L’Viaquez” and “Cygnus….Vismund Cygnus” and extended guitar leads and solos during “Cicatriz ESP” and a show-stopping performance of “Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound,” from their previous album, 2012’s Noctourniquet, and arguably their most emotionally engaging and moving song of all. Since the band broke up without properly touring for that album, they could have easily seized this opportunity to feature material from that record and from their latest that even long-time fans would have never had a chance to see them play, but only three of the show's 14 songs originated from either of those albums. Instead of a focus on the tone and style they intentionally used to distance the self-titled album from their previous work, it was notable that the tour for that album seemed to be focused mainly on the band’s earliest songs, featuring 7 of the 10 tracks from their debut LP and 3 of the 5 tracks from their second. On the other hand, rather than dragging out the performance of nearly every song as they have in the past, usually stretching their spacey, prog jams as long as 20-45 minutes at a time, even the longer songs among those selected were performed with arrangements usually comparable to their reigned-in studio versions. A few songs still included extended outro jams or a bit of improvised exploration in the middle, but even those instances were seemingly focused and paced out to allow all 14 songs from the set list to be performed with in a standard two-hour show. By comparison, the band’s Detroit concert from 2008 included only eight songs but lasted 45 minutes longer than October’s concert in Royal Oak. Whether these changes were made to keep the audience more engaged, because the band’s heavy drug intake has subsided, or both, it seemed clear they wanted to present a live sampling of the best of what they do and have done since forming just over 20 years ago. It was a perfect set for a newcomer or first-timer, and it went over well with long-time fans alike by including at least a bit of almost every album era. Those who purchased a ticket expecting and hoping for a bigger focus on the band’s newest songs, however, may have walked away disappointed.
Overall, quasi-hit singles like “The Widow” and “Televators” seemed to get an equal response to deep cuts and new songs alike, so the crowd was definitely there to enjoy anything the band wished to play rather than being focused on waiting for (or complaining that they didn’t hear) their particular favorite greatest-hit. A simple but complimentary light show accompanied the performance and changed with varying tones and moods throughout the evening. While they may have looked a bit older, Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez didn’t hold back as they presented a sampling of highlights from The Mars Vola catalog, and while some of the chaotic unpredictability of performances from a decade or two ago may not have been a big feature of the current show, moments of focused execution and delivery became part of the songs in ways that may have been impossible in the band’s early days, providing an opportunity to revisit these great songs from a different perspective and proving the songs themselves are extremely well-written and arranged underneath the random and unpredictable stage presence for which the group was previously known.
Teri Gender Bender set list:
cortate el pelo
KENDALL
GET YOUR MONEY STRAIGHT WITH ME
MJ
syria ignone
ya no soy
THE GET UP
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The Mars Volta set list:
Vicarious Atonement
Roulette Dares
Eriatarka
Graveyard Love
L’Via L’Viaquez
Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound
Cygnus….Vismund Cygnus
Blacklight Shine
Drunkship of Lanterns
The Widow
Cicatriz ESP
Televators
Son et Lumiere
Inertiatic ESP
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