The Mars Volta's first visit back to Toronto since backing
up the Chili Peppers at the ACC last year, reportedly sold
out in less than four minutes. Headlining more intimate venues
like the Phoenix this time around, while touring their new
release, The Bedlam in Goliath, they've opted for 20
seconds from a traditional Latin horn composition in place
of a backup act and tactical psychosis in place of a conventional
performance.
Lead by guitarist Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez and vocal sensationalist
Cedric Bixler Zavala, they saddled up, waving a black coffee
mug at the crowd; there's no doubt they're stoked to be here.
"Work with me and
I'll work with you!" Zavala screams.
An extended frantic percussion vamp in the midst of opening
number, "Roulette Dares," sent at least one person to the
floor next to the bar and brought the rest of us to near coronary
madness. Leaning back to grab the attention of the newest
addition, Thomas Prigden on drums, Omar grins ear to ear as
the rhythm mounted to a crescendo, climaxing in the first
of more than a dozen strangled-out solo-fills that barely
touched the recorded material.
The room got its first taste of the new material three songs
in with "Wax Simulacra," opening with another ballistic snare-lead
intro in a mixed-time signature. The song is actually an accurate
representation of the new album in that it exaggerates the
harmony between intensity and precision they seem to have
perfected on this one.
Drenched in psychedelic green and blue lighting, the guys
effortlessly transitioned through tempo drops and spikes while
Zavala communicated with hand signals to prompt changes (when
he wasn't thrashing across the stage or hanging himself with
the mic cord). But it wasn't until he scaled the raised platform
at the starboard side of the stage to mount the miniature
Sphinx that his level of insanity appeared to come anywhere
close to that of the crowd.
Prigden's elegant mania seemed to even intensify through "Meccamputechture"
and "Day of the Baphomets" at the end of the set, giving an
all-encompassing reflection on the progress of progressive
music over the past two years.
No encore. No need.
- by Carl
Gouldson -
