Saw the mars volta last night ...

Brobaldi · #1 10-10-2005, 01:08 AM

saw them at the oakland arena, and i was 5 feet away from juan! he was sooo awesome , they were great , he was going nuts, they were supporting system of a down , so they played an 1 and a half set, but it was well worth it!!

i highly recomend seeing these guys, its a once in a lifetime thing !

Alan Vorse · #2 10-10-2005, 09:45 AM

Saw them in Minneapolis in May. Great show. Juan is my favorite current rock player. Only complaint was Omar can't stop making noise through his delay pedals.

**j-raj** · #3 10-10-2005, 01:52 PM

great group! solid players!!

Brobaldi · #4 10-10-2005, 03:43 PM

yea, omar was a bit wankerish, but its all good, the percussion , saxophone/ flute, and keyboard players made up for it

Tbirdbassist · #5 10-10-2005, 03:55 PM

"Ikey" Owens PWNS on keyboards!

Juan is just awesome on fretless, And he knows how to use a envelope filter and delay, VERY welll.

Alan Vorse · #6 10-10-2005, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brobaldi

yea, omar was a bit wankerish, but its all good, the percussion , saxophone/ flute, and keyboard players made up for it

That flute solo got one of the biggest reactions of the evening!

Halftooth · #7 10-10-2005, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brobaldi

saw them at the oakland arena, and i was 5 feet away from juan! he was sooo awesome , they were great , he was going nuts, they were supporting system of a down , so they played an 1 and a half set, but it was well worth it!!

i highly recomend seeing these guys, its a once in a lifetime thing !

I was goint to start a thread on this very same topic yesterday, and we were probobly standing together in the same area. I had the very opposite reaction. I couldn't have been more disappointed with Mars Volta's performance. First off, the sound was about the worst that I've heard at any concert, really for both bands, but for Mars especially. Next, they played just shy of one hour which is about standard, but they only played 4 songs IIRC. I really dig all their albums and really like their spacey progressive stuff, but I thought they went way out of their way on that end during their performance. Also, I was quite disappointed in Aldrete's playing, not that it was bad, but I was hoping that he was going to break away a bit from the recorded album playing and venture off into a bit more of his "shredding" stuff or at least get out from what was safe and push it a little. I thought the drummer sure did that. He's a freakin stud and really stuck out as the best performance by far of the whole band. I wasn't impressed with Omar's playing either. I really don't think he's a great player, and actually he's a bit on the spazzy/sloppy side, but I thought he was even worse at the show. His play is pretty loose and I wasn't too crazy about his approach which almost seems like he trys to overplay things constantly instead of being tastefull like Aldrete. All in all, I was totally disappointed aside from the drummer's performance. I really went to the show to see those guys, but they certainly didn't live up to the hype. I was hoping for a lot more live, but I think I've come to the realization that they simply are a studio band and that it's pretty tough to replicate their sound and vibe live. I'm not sure that I'd see them again live, but I think I should give them one more try when they're doing another headline tour. Hopefully then it will be better.

bassjamn · #8 10-10-2005, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halftooth

I was goint to start a thread on this very same topic yesterday, and we were probobly standing together in the same area. I had the very opposite reaction. I couldn't have been more disappointed with Mars Volta's performance. First off, the sound was about the worst that I've heard at any concert, really for both bands, but for Mars especially. Next, they played just shy of one hour which is about standard, but they only played 4 songs IIRC. I really dig all their albums and really like their spacey progressive stuff, but I thought they went way out of their way on that end during their performance. Also, I was quite disappointed in Aldrete's playing, not that it was bad, but I was hoping that he was going to break away a bit from the recorded album playing and venture off into a bit more of his "shredding" stuff or at least get out from what was safe and push it a little. I thought the drummer sure did that. He's a freakin stud and really stuck out as the best performance by far of the whole band. I wasn't impressed with Omar's playing either. I really don't think he's a great player, and actually he's a bit on the spazzy/sloppy side, but I thought he was even worse at the show. His play is pretty loose and I wasn't too crazy about his approach which almost seems like he trys to overplay things constantly instead of being tastefull like Aldrete. All in all, I was totally disappointed aside from the drummer's performance. I really went to the show to see those guys, but they certainly didn't live up to the hype. I was hoping for a lot more live, but I think I've come to the realization that they simply are a studio band and that it's pretty tough to replicate their sound and vibe live. I'm not sure that I'd see them again live, but I think I should give them one more try when they're doing another headline tour. Hopefully then it will be better.

+1 I really liked their Studio albums.
I saw their saturday show at oakland, I only recognized 1 tune within the first 20 minutes of a super long schizoid jam. The 4 of us went in back to the conession stand to down a few beers and all agreed not a great performance Saturday

I wish they would at least give the listener some familiar material, This isnt a Dead "Jam" crowd.. I felt the same way when i saw them with APC....oh well at least their studio albums rock

Figjam · #9 10-10-2005, 08:18 PM

my fav band, saw them in NYC, mm

Brobaldi · #10 10-11-2005, 12:34 AM

i agree with the sound quality being very poor , but hey, its only the oakland arena so i wasnt expecting much, its not like its the greek theatre you know?

btw i was on the right side near the front , i was in the pit for the first bit, only because there was no way i could get out.

while i still agree that they are better in studio compared to this performence, they are releasing a live cd, so im just gonna judge them on that, they will probobly playing somewhere with good acoustics ,and a good p.a. , so ill pass judgement then. As for the performence, i still think it was very good, i didnt expect juan to go crazy, but i did expect the drummer to, and he sure did, i was happy with their performance personally, but hey, different things for different people