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Formed by guitarist/composer Omar Rodríguez-López and singer/lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, The Mars Volta rose from the ashes of El Paso punk-rock firebrands At The Drive-In in 2001. Ona mission to "honor our roots and honor our dead", The Mars Volta made music that fused the Latin sounds Rodríguez-López was raised on with the punk and underground noise he and Bixler-Zavala had immersed themselves in for years, and the futuristic visions they were tapping into. The albums that followed were one-of-a-kind masterpieces, their songs of breath-taking complexity also possessing powerful emotional immediacy. After the group fell silent, a legion of devotees (including Kanye West) kept up an insistent drum-beat for their return. Now-a year after 'La Realidad De Los Sueños', aluxurious 18-LP box-set compiling their back catalog, sold out its 5,000 print run in under 24 hours-The Mars Volta are back.
Throughout their career, The Mars Volta have brought played many famous venues to capacity, like Tabernacle in Atlanta and Terminal 5 in New York.
Talk about a group of musicians getting down and rocking out. This was a special surprise having never seen them before (or even having heard much of their music before). Initense energy from start to finish. Even if you're not a huge fan of their music style, you'll love watching them on stage. I witnessed some moves on stage never seen before! Wow, a great performance!
it was fantastic, the venue was great, great show!
What a great concert, worth every penny. The energy emanating from the band is tremendous and it takes a hold of you. The played songs from every album: Tremulant, Deloused, Frances, Amputechture, Bedlam and Octahedron. Great great show!
Although this is the 8th time I've seen The Mars Volta, I can truly say that their shows are an amazing compilation of artistry and psychedelic music. The energy put out by the band always leaves you speechless and in such a small venue as Soma, it feels like your on stage wherever you are in the room. Although it was a hot summer night and there is no AC at Soma, the show was spectacular. If you ever get a chance to watch any band at Soma, I highly recommend it.
I have been a die-hard fan of The Mars Volta for about five years now. As soon as I started listening to them they quickly became my favorite band. Then last night, I finally got to see them play live! Back in June I just barley missed the chance to see them play in Ventura; the tickets sold out the day before I was going to buying them. I was very upset about the way that turned out but I also knew that they were going to be performing at the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco on the 29'th of August. I decided to go to that show to make up for my misfortune with the previous concert. A few days later I discovered that they were playing in Santa Barbara 4 days after the festival. So I thought about it and figured that they would probably play longer in Santa Barbara than they would at Outside Lands being as that it is their own show, plus the tickets were considerably cheaper, I immediately ordered my tickets. I was extremely excited to see my absolute favorite band ever. The anticipation was killing me. Then two days before the event, I get an e-mail from ticketmaster announcing that the show had been canceled. I was devastated. With all of the disappointment that had been haunting me, I was fed up and now completely determined to see them play anywhere, and anyhow. So I checked their tour dates and decided to make the insane journey (that only a true fan would make) from Sacramento all the way to the glorious destination of the Soma in San Diego! It takes a pretty dedicated fan to make the six hour trek from Sac. to Santa Barbara to see a band, let alone the epically long NINE hour expedition to nearly Mexico. Last night my waiting finally came to an end. I arrived at the Soma to witness my much deserved and anticipated experience of seeing THE MARS VOLTA!!! When I walked in the doors I was a little late. They apparently went on a little earlier than they normally do so I missed about 30 minutes of their set. But it didn't even matter because the next hour and a half was the most emotionally moving and intensely joyful musical experience I have EVER been a part of. I knew that they were going to be great because I had already seen so much of their live footage, but nothing could have prepared me for having my mind blown like that. This was Omar and Cedric that I was seeing!.... With my own eyes! I had chills all through the show, and I couldn't stop smiling. Believe it or not, but I AM saying that it was the greatest experience of my life. I LOVE THE MARS VOLTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great show, almost 2 hours long. Played basically every hit song from all their albums. Highly energetic with several mosh pits developing throughout the show. I enjoyed it and barely managed to withstand the mosh for the whole show. The security was respectful and even showered us with water and passed some bottled water to us dehydrated moshers! Very Cool!
The Mars Volta is never a force to be reckoned with. Long, intense solos and emotional theatrics are consistently part of any Mars Volta performance. But in a small venue like Soma, there isn't much space for the artists to feel satisfied with their sound and with an act like The Mars Volta, you can expect nothing but capacity to be reached. So of course, with popular songs like Cygnus Vismund Cygnus and Wax Simulacra (which garnered them their well-deserved Grammy), the powerhouse force that is The Mars Volta is always an enjoyable one. But does this venue offer maximum performance values? Not really.
Band was amazing. Drummer kills it! SOMA sucks, worst venue in San Diego. Show ended at 10pm. Wahts up with that?
Just beautiful. If you had one night before you died, I would recommend blowing off your loved ones and going to the Mars Volta, then you can die in peace.
cedric and omar did it again. sick show. awesome lighting. not as much dancing tho, was a lil disappointed but other than that it was grrreat! as always i was entranced by the mars volta. i loved how they played more old stuff too. GREAT setlist!!!!
Having listened to The Mars Volta for a few years now, I had a feeling that a TMV show would absolutely blow me away. And I must admit: the band is extremely well versed in their instruments. And it shows. The entire crowd got shivers each and every time Omar Rodriguez-Lopez did what he does best: melt faces. Overall a spectacle worth just about every penny. However, this was the first show I have ever witnessed a band NOT come out for an encore. It was a big letdown and a huge anchor that brought down the entire experience, for me at least.
I had only seen them at the Austin City Limits festival, but from afar. In this smaller venue it was a whole different experience. They were very loud, yet very clear. There was a great energy coming from the band. I would definitely recommend them.
It was better than being high haha. Cedri's voice was soo GOOD! And Omar- flawless. I cannot wait till the next show.
It's the Mars Volta. Need I say more. Anyone whose a true Mars Volta fan knows how genius they are and that they rock their shows! They even played new songs which sounded awsome!
This was an awesome preview of material from the Octahedron album which had not yet been released at the time of the show. They played Cotopaxi, and Teflon from the new album. My favorite part is in the attached video where at the fifty four second mark they went into what to me sounded like the guitar rifff from Tom Sawyer. To see them in a venue of this size was an event not to be missed by Volta fans.
Great venue! Performance was awesome! Mic on vocals was a bit low but overall it was an amazing night!!!! Definitely worth the wait
I arrived early after driving an 1hr and 40min run from L.A. to Ventura. the scene on the streets on oldtown Ventura were of many a shape of people, the volta fans are very unique in many ways. we come to expect the best performances thus far. anticipating the new tracks, wondering which old favs will be played. With a cold drink in hand, finished off the drink and headed in 10 mins after door opening time. ........we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited......I'm was hugging hand rails weary of drink, stage darkens , they began!!!!and played some older EP jams, some De-loused madness and stuck in the more power tunes of the new Octa album and Since we've be wrong. Over all a 9 , for us who had to wait more than an hour past scheduled showtime with no extended set was a let down. all dispersed after 2 hours of music with one comment in my head. Cedric had said something to the effect -" I hope your ready for a lot of music tonight, if you don't like it you can go home and play your records".......It was good to see they still play with such ferocity on stage, the group was smaller TMV group but sounded equally great.I will not have to buy another ticket for awhile or until the next years volta album.
the only thing i didn't like that we where waiting 2 hours for them to come out, which i think was a bunch of bs but at the end when everything was over i forgot about that and remembered how they kicked ass. The drummer, Thomas Pridgen, was amazing as always
It was an awesome venue, first time there. 3 rd time seeing the volta. i thought they killed it. like always blew me away. killer show good times
The Mars Volta put on an amazing show, but the Ventura ampitheatre was disgustingly oversold. There were waay too many people for that tiny place.
