|
Review Navigator   FeaturesReviews
 | The Mars Volta / Saul Williamslive in Madison2003 live show   Review by: Bo See others by this writer Only registered users can post comments 
 
Published on October 14th 2003
Having heard great things about The Mars Volta's live show, I couldn't wait to see if they would live up to expectations. The show was being held at the Barrymore Theater, a 900-capacity venue with 750 seats and a pit area. The Barrymore was a very well-kept place with good sound and atmosphere, as well as a no-smoking policy. Great place to see a show. Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
different people have different taste. u dont like the show? get up and fucking leave instead of whining like a dog... u buy a shirt, try it the first time, it looks ok, u go back home, try it again, it looks like shit, who are u going to blame? improvs sometimes turns out ok, sometimes it doesnt. its the same things as playing guitar solos, its not like u bumfucks can play a good one everytime... I dont go to a show to get thanked for going. I go to see the band play their music. I saw the mars volta in glasgow and was amazed. SO different, SO good. What an experience. If you get bored by long songs you dont have much imagination in my eyes. When i saw them in Toronto they played the entire album straight through with extended jams it was by far the best liove show i have ever seen dont listen to this fuckin review go check them out its worth the $20 they charge to get in...Saul Williams if fuckin incredible too. Alright, fuck all this not acknowledging the crowd BS - at their show in Toronto they thanked the crowd for coming out and they thanked Rye Coalition and Saul Williams. yeah, motorhead fucking rock Okay, early 70s better to LZ: Iggy and the Stooges. page kept things musical, and he fucking rocked. he fucking owned the guitar. now, people can play faster. but faster isn't always better when it comes to playing guitar, unless its fucking downstrokes. I'm with BSD on this. LZ could play the instruments, but it was such meathead rock in the sense that it was covered in cliches yet dubbed so "serious". You fuckers wanna know where the rock was in the 70's? Try Kiss. Bitches. god you guys are stuck up fucks. "This is music for a musician to appreciate, and there are people who do play the bass and are maddened at the fact that the bass is always left out of the equation for improvization." I'm just saying you were talking about Pink Floyd, and then mentioned Jimmy and John, sounded like you were referring to them as being park of Pink Floyd. And for the record, Jimmy Page blew on the guitar. He had nuthin'. bsd doesn't like anything released after 1979. thus, the bands influenced around that time were just copycats and clones. the good bands influenced by zep were in the 80s... ratt, poison, motley crue. jesse, you mother fucker. you rag me all over the place! ;) "but regardless whether you like them or not, their musical contributions cant be ignored." Jimmy Page and John Bohnam were in Led Zepplin....dumbass.... i saw them in TO in july and they played the whole deloused album beginning to end. i enjoyed it because i enjoy the musicianship as much as the the songs themselves, i can see how some people would be pissed, especially if they are mixing up and extending the songs. i think people need to eat acid to enjoy them. to the half wit who said zeppelin sucks, you dont have to like the band, and you seem to base your dislike of them on the fans at a time when you werent even born, so thats makes you even smarter. but regardless whether you like them or not, their musical contributions cant be ignored. and i just wrote WAY more than i thought. pink floyd were great for their time. they were fucking inspired. jimmy page and john bonham are two of the greatest rock musicians ever. I saw the Ottawa show last night. The Mars Volta's setlist was I believe the same as the Columbus show's: "Haha, you're right Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin don't matter...*sarcasm*" Isis are several times better than the Mars Volta. The End. Haha, you're right Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin don't matter...*sarcasm* See, this is my point: These guys are serious musicians, and that doesn't make for an exciting live experience... Prog is just overly self indulgent... There's no other way to describe it... This is mainstream 70s rock put into context after an entire musical movement rose to popularity by playing short, sloppy sets... And it just comes off as trite and nostalgic for a time that didn't matter. Jesse, I think you're missing the point. No one is asking for Cedric and Omar to wisecrack; I doubt anyone expected that going in. The Mars Volta is a serious band, and people respect that. The problem comes in with the fact that hundreds of people have paid to see the band perform live, essentially paying for that band to live another day. It certainly wouldn't be inappropriate for the band to say "thank you" at least once. By completely ignoring their audience, it doesn't make them any better as a band, it simply makes them look like total pretentious assholes. Jesse, I think you're missing the point. No one is asking for Cedric and Omar to wisecrack; I doubt anyone expected that going in. The Mars Volta is a serious band, and people respect that. The problem comes in with the fact that hundreds of people have paid to see the band perform live, essentially paying for that band to live another day. It certainly wouldn't be inappropriate for the band to say "thank you" at least once. By completely ignoring their audience, it doesn't make them any better as a band, it simply makes them look like total pretentious assholes. For the guy at the Pittsburgh show, they probably only played about four songs, and for the bootlegger, they did actually play a song that timed 33 minutes. So you are both wrong. If you don't like them, fine, but you can't contest their musicianship. This is why they would be pricks if the sound wasn't right. They're musicians whose sole goal is to play the music that they want to. If someone else is screwing up this goal, they're going to be mad at them. And it's too bad that you have to be acknowledged by a band as a crowd to like them. Not every band needs bad jokes and merchandise hocking sales pitches between every song. Go see this band if you truly appreciate music. But if you want what's exactly on the album, stay away, cause you'll just ruin the show for everyone else. I saw this show in Chicago and was very dissapointed. Many of the songs dragged well into the 20-30 minute range. It was boring to the point that people in the crowd were holding conversations until the next song started. Most of the band came off as being pretentious pricks too. Cedrick would go off stage after every song to to scream at the people working the sound because he was having mic problems, and the closest thing the band did to acknowledging the crowd was when Cedrick got on the mic to inform everyone the sound crew at the Riviera were "Fucking idiots". At the end of the set he hurled his mic at the ground and stormed off with the rest of the band. Bah. OK, I have seen them live twice and have about 7 bootlegs. No song has ever gone over 17 minutes long (which was Cicatriz and is close to 13 minutes even on the album). You people exaggerate so much. The Mars Volta have no 2 minute songs so that "jamming" you were hearing was part of the song you must have skipped over. Yes, they improvise a lot and that is the whole Mars Volta sound...you never get the same show twice. Oh yeah, they are such rockstars, how dare they put a $6.99 price tag on a 70-minute full-length. They are obviously raping you of your money. i just got back from the pittsburgh show and well...first of all i am not a 15 year old kid, i am in my mid-20's and have alot of knowledge in the music field, and i will say that this was one of the worst things i have ever witnessed...the show was poised to start at 8:00 w/ Saul Williams, guess what, he's not there...there was no nobody on stage til 8:55, no announcements, nothing, then when TMV came onstage about nearly 9:30,they just rocked for 2 minutes, then jammed for 25, then played another 2 minute song, the jammed for 20 minutes, 7-8 songs were played, NOT A SINGLE WORD was spoken to the crowd, not good evening, not goodbye, nothing...not a word spoken about the whereabouts of Saul Williams or why the show started and hour and a half late...they are not that good live, they can play their instruments, yes, but have NO presence, o.k. the singer can dance, so fucking what, sing a song from the album, do not make words up and just scream, there was no emotion, this was not worth the 20 dollars anybody paid for it...and the 5 minute bass solo, is not that great, he isn't that good, really...my true advice is stay away from the show, and just buy or download the cd, they seem to be rockstars enough that they don't need your money. I would just like to point out, since it is noticed by less and less kids nowadays, that there is a whole type of music separate from both the NFG/Dashboard bad pop rock & the Mars Volta prog rock and that genre is called "punk". The Mars Volta are so pretentious. They don't even aknowledge that there is a crowd present. To the asshole below, if you actually read my post I said they weren't a punk band, I wasn't the one who posted this review but since it was posted I have the right to comment on it. "relay1112, I think I love you. Why am I not surprised with the reaction to this band on this site? Why am I not surprised with the reaction to this band on this site? Probably because you all listen to Brand New and think it's groundbreaking...oh yeah and Dashboard Confessional has consistently been reviewed with no less than 4 stars...Mars Volta are NOT trying to be a punk band or even a conventional band. They are playing what they want to play (god forbid!) and people who get it, get it, while those who don't, don't. My advice, don't go see them if you aren't into what they are doing...I love how you guys go to their show expecting ATDI and then bitch when it turns out it isn't. There is nothing in this world that could contend with watching that bass solo. Be bored if you want to. This is music for a musician to appreciate, and there are people who do play the bass and are maddened at the fact that the bass is always left out of the equation for improvization. I was also at The Mars Volta concert in Madison. While I missed Saul Williams (who got excellent among the people I talked to afterward), I managed to see the entire TMV set. i just moved to madison for school, where are there good shows besides the barrymore? chicago and milwaukee? i'm seeing mars volta in new york this coming week. if i end up not enjoying them the blood brothers show and dillinger escape plan show will make up for it. "there setlist is the album from start to finish, so when they played cicatriz for "30 minutes" i think you missed a song or two" The Mars Volta is not a mainstream band. They are not something you go to see to romp around in your mosh pit to see. That's what At The Drive In was, and albeit, At The Drive In kicked ass, this is a whole new band. The aim of The Mars Volta is to display music in a new light. They are not a band that is organized to please a crowd by telling jokes, by playing exactly what the album is. They are serious musicians with the goal of playing music and displaying their amazing talent. There is no way anybody can deny that this is one of the most talented bands out there today. They didn't even play Inertiatic ESP, which is the song that gained the most popularity for them. So whine about how they didn't keep enough energy up for you to mosh. Go see Warner Brother's Rancid or Anti-Flag. No one is forcing you to go to The Mars Volta, and no one is forcing you to read this article. And Saul Williams owned like fucking mad. What did you guys expect? Mars Volta are a pretty damned boring band, I don't really know why they're on a "punk" site, seeing as they are (for better or for worse is a matter of opinion) what punk started to destroy anyway... When it comes to prog, just get your ELP, Yes, Genesis, and the Nice albums out... Since it's mood music that is usually for mellowed out people, of course the live show is going to be boring. Of course technical skill doesn't make up for being way overly self indulgent, that's the point... "they did in 10 minutes what they could have done in 2"... Well there you have it, square one of punk rock. Let the 70s keep this boring shit. and yes they should of at least said somethin to the crowd again amazing pretentious acid fiends whoa whoa. sandyyyyyy (relay), how you gonna act a fool. 1) fros need to stay 2) your right about the elitests. 3) on the cd, every concept they have, i feel is not dragged on at all, and is very well thought out, with the exception of a very small portion of cicatrez. so its a great great cd. 4) i was at this concert, and yes while songs were extended much past what they should be (minutes of boredom), the pure emotion, stage presence and AMAZING talent of this band came out. for christs sake, i think they may just have the greatest drummer around, and when the whole band left for the 10 minute mind blowing bass solo my pants were creamed. this particular concert was simply ruined by the bad venue. and as pretentious as omar and cedric are, i love them, god knows--jimmy "I have friends who go to hippie jam band shows and i'll bet most of those bands don't drag a song on for 3/4 of an hour." relay1112, I think I love you. If that was in reference to my comment, you misinterpreted what I was saying. What I said was not in reaction to the review at all, and even backed the reviewer's viewpoint indirectly, but had everything to do with the general mood of most of the comments previously posted. Attention span has nothing to do with it, it's all taste. Personally I hate extended solos, they just seem pretentious and self indulgent. I think that is what he meant by saying that the musicians were playing for themselves. They just were wanking on one song for the better part of an hour not caring if everyone has a good time. I'm sick of elitist scenesters labeling people who don't like TMV as little kids with narrow musical taste (usually stereotyped as being restricted to punk) and short attention spans. I, for one, love bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and other such lengthy post-rock outfits, so attention span is not the issue. I also listen to weirder shit than 90% of people on this site, so that's not the issue either. 'umm... 40 minutes is 2/3 of an hour... ' I have yet to hear these guys but from all the comments so far I'd guess they sound like Trenchmouth's later stuff, just more diverse in style. there are absolutely incredible moments on this album. various 30-second segments make me orgasm. the rest of it is pretty boring and so-so. You wouldn't believe how many used copies of 'De-loused' I'm seeing these days at record shops. So what does the consenus seem to be? Lame. Very lame. "well, 40 minutes for one song is a little much. I have friends who go to hippie jam band shows and i'll bet most of those bands don't drag a song on for 3/4 of an hour" "It was like they were playing for themselves, not caring that they had people who paid money to see them" EMOGAME 2 blasts mars volta but i love them anyway Considering these songs were designed so that they could improvise wherever and whenever they wanted I'm not surprised by this one bit. If you go to a Mars Volta show expect to see Mars Volta, not Black Flag. 'judging by your attention spans, 12 i am guessing?' Finally, a bad Mars Volta review! THANK YOU JESUS! THANK YOU! We've finally reached the day put Coheed and Cambria / the Mars Volta on the same tour and name it the Hippiepunkshow 2003 I just saw them play last night in columbus ohio and your review matches my thoughts EXACTLY. They just kept jamming and dragging out the songs way too long. I kept thinking to myself... 'are they going to play another song, or just keep fucking playing the same solo/jam for the next half hour?'. And THEY DID jam for about a half hour while everyone stared at the walls... Amazing album (one of my top 3 for the year for sure) but mediocre at best live show. They had basically the same set in Columbus last night. It was excellent. I agree to some extent that a few of the solos were dragged out. On the other hand, there are not a lot of bands will play for almost 2 hours, and I appreciate that. There are too many times when I'll go see a band and they will play for only 45 minutes when they have 5 times the material of TMV. In my opinion, it was worth the 3 1/2 hour drive and the money. Not as good as the last leg of their tour, but still in the top 10 concerts I've been to this year. I saw them play two shows in The Netherlands about a month ago. I'm a huge TMV fan, but even I thought some parts were stretched out way too long. They played the same set (plus Concertina from the EP). Cicatriz lasted 43 minutes when I saw 'em! When they played songs the same as on the album with only a couple of short improvs (Roulette Dares, Drunkship, Concertina) it did sound amazing, as good as I could've hoped for. I don't mind 40 minute songs as long as they're enough stuff happening, but on Take The Veil and Cicatriz they played really quiet parts over and over and over again, which wasn't exciting. wow, i have never read more stupid comments before on this website. Man, I saw them play in Toronto and was AMAZED. People weren't moshing around because most of their jam songs don't really encourage moshing. Not too many people were moving around, but those who were are kind of missing the point. You come to watch this band play and appreciate their improvisations and stage dynamics. Well, at least that's why I went to watch this band. I never really got into ATDI. I like one-armed scissor but never really could pay attention to the rest of the album. That said I like a lot things in deloused, and I can listen to it moreso than relationship of command, but whatever. I wanna see 'em live once and I'll be fine. this is the most overrated band in recent music history. atdi was good but this is not atdi. and that's a fact for all you butt plugging indie fucks who would gladly take it up the ass from cedric and his fro. I picked up the Mars Volta CD used a few days after it came out, listened, thought "wow", didn't listen again for 2 months, traded it in. Cedric and Omar seem to be getting more and more wrapped up in Cedric and Omar. I picked up the Mars Volta CD used a few days after it came out, listened, thought "wow", didn't listen again for 2 months, traded it in. "It was like they were playing for themselves, not caring that they had people who paid money to see them" your an idiot, there setlist is the album from start to finish, so when they played cicatriz for "30 minutes" i think you missed a song or two, and in general may have been facing the merch booth for the majority of the show. man, these guys just keep ripping off op ivy over and over. let's put a stop to it. I completely agree with Adam. I always thought that comment on the Delousing... review board that said "you people act like you've never heard a prog-rock album before" was right on target. I've said it before, but I'll say it again. "Yes, they're great musicians, but this song was incredibly long and boring" |
