Live Review: The Mars Volta @ Glasgow Barrowlands

The Mars Volta – Glasgow Barrowlands, March 11^th 2005

The Mars Volta, formed from the defunct At The Drive-In, have proven their worth with newly released second album 'Frances The Mute'. The album reaffirms their love of the grandiose cliches of the prog genre - from weird album artwork, to thirty-minute epics, through singing in Spanish and dividing songs into separate movements. But there is so much more to The Mars Volta than flashy gestures. Tonight, it wasn't going to matter whether they rode in on camels, themed their stage set-up around an episode of 'The Twilight Zone', or shaved their heads of all but pink mohicans - first and foremost was the matter of their deep and complex music being translated into a live setting.

As the Barrowlands very slowly filled, the pre-gig buzz of excitement was definitely tangible: fuelled by the news that they had recently been finishing their sets with the half-hour long 'Cassandra Gemini', a veritable fan-favourite. By 8 o'clock, the venue was a sardine tin of anticipation. On that note, the only complaint of the night involved certain sections of the heaving crowd. While most of the audience looked like a mixture of genteel art students and Toni & Guy models, there were exceptions...case in point, having Scotland's 300lb answer to Bruce Banner's alter-ego "Woooo!"ing in your ear is far from the perfect accompaniment to a night of chilling and emotive music...Despite having to compete for attention against a collective of drunks, the guys appeared onstage and hammered on faultlessly like true professionals. As though driven by some unseen and warped group dynamic that had them writhing around the small stage, they launched into the punchy opening riff of 'Drunkship Of Lanterns', a song that they had been experimenting with and jamming around for the first twenty minutes of the show. Upon kicking the tune into first gear, their crowd was sent into a rib-squishing whirlwind, and The Hulk beside me soon moved on in a series of erratic bounces.

Further jamming saw them move through every sort of noise imaginable, predominantly jazz, but also taking in progressive metal, acid rock, P-funk, emo, salsa and what can only be described as random space-y noise. And so you would have been forgiven for mistaking the Barrowlands for a 1960s jazz club thrown into deep space, as they continued their relentless attack of punchy scales and beats, and guitarist Omar Rodriguez felt out his musical limits like a young Jimi Hendrix. Over the course of the two hours, and with a ridiculous array of instruments (which included bongos, maracas, a saxophone, flute, tambourines and three or four keyboards), the band picked their way through a setlist that took in 'Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)', 'Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt', 'Cygnus..Vismund Cygnus', and did indeed finish with 'Cassandra Gemini'. Standout track of the night was new single 'The Widow', a song worthy of Led Zeppelin circa 'IV'. Although breaking the mesmerising juggernaut of a jam session, it was entirely justified and proved to be a much-needed breather...with the mellow red lights complimenting Cedric Bixler's softer vocal performance. Seeing The Mars Volta live is much more than a concert...it is an experience. While other live bands are content to recreate their singles and strong album cuts as though in a studio, with little improvisation, The Mars Volta are the very opposite. At the core of their show is a relentless thirst for breaking down their structured melodies into something more graceful and complex. Make no mistake: The Mars Volta make pretentious and pompous music. But they are the single most special and unique band that the world of music has offered in recent years. Live, this comes across stronger than ever before. So tonight's audience was left with a very strong impression, good or bad, of the world's most daring band. Thankfully, I fell into the segment, which left this adventurous noise feeling excited and inspired.

Graeme Johnston