USA & Canada - agosto/settembre/ottobre 2009

beh, che senso ha amputechture senza juan?

1. Son Et Lumiere
2. Intertiatic E.S.P
3. Goliath
4. Cotopaxi
5. Roulette Dares
6. Viscera Eyes
7. Halo Of Nembutals
8. Eunuch Provocateur
9. Ilyena
10. Teflon
11. Drunkship Of Lanterns!!!!!
12. Luciforms
13. The Widow
14. Wax Simulacra

just got back, everything was absolutely amazing. From where I was the sound was great, I could hear a little bit of everyone in the mix (including more Ikey than usual which is always nice). I love when they would jam/wander for extended period of time back in the day but the shows I've seen this year (this and Bonnaroo) have both been really focused shows that have been surprisingly 'normal'. As in, they almost feel like a rock concert more than the psychedelic journeys of the past. I personally hope they continue to switch it up over the years to keep everything fresh and surprising, I'm guessing there will be Flaming Lips style props within 10 years (I'm seriously down with anything). The setlist was standard, but well executed...but after they started with "Son et Lumiere" it was impossible to not wish they would just jam the entire album! Cedric seriously sounded absolutely phenomenal, I love that he is embracing those wailing peaks now more then ever.

How about Omar on backup vocals??? That was awesome! I can't wait to hear his new solo album that will apparently have more (not so extremely manipulated) singing (I have no idea where I read that). I think that he should do vocals more, especially when Cedric needs to get ready for the crazy parts because it gave the two (I think only two) songs he sang backup on a more cohesive/energetic band feel.

Most importantly, who else waited around after the show outside? There was around 50 of us or so to start and my buddy and I were in no rush so we just hung out. Ikey just came out of nowhere and signed a bunch of peoples things and was just completely chill. I asked him what music I was missing out on and he said he was too drunk to answer but mentioned TV On The Radio and Grizzly Bear which was awesome/surprising. After that we decided to stay because the buses were just hanging out and the rest of the band had to go there at some point so we just chilled for a while and out of nowhere Cedric and Omar and someone else appeared as silhouettes walking to the bus from the opposite exit, it was madness! So we just casually walked over there to check it out and 20 or so people were also hanging out and then it happens, Cedric gets out of the bus! Everyone was totally relaxed and cool about it, all of the ADULT Chicago fans are really great people I've noticed. I was in total shock and said some really stupid fan-boy shit I never thought I would ever say in that situation, but mostly I just soaked it in. I know these guys are humans....but common...that's kind of crazy to believe there are humans on this earth that are that fucking awesome. So I disproved my belief that Cedric was some sort of alien/something and it pretty much blew my mind. After seeing Cedric and Ikey it would have been ridiculous to not wait and see if Omar would come out, but he didn't and that is fine with me that he remains the mysterious silhouette I saw flee across the street. Juan came out though, and man is that guy cool. He was so humble about everything and really nice to the fans that were still hanging around. That's when the buses turned on and were about to leave, but not before T Pridg came across the street to get into the bus. He was not able to stop and hang like the others but he was really nice about everything and it was just cool to see him in a regular situation like that. I really can't believe tonight happened, and I'm sort of blown away by how easy this was. If I would have known it was this easy I would have hung around to personally to tell the guys how great the show was back when I saw them in the Deloused days when it would have been (seemingly) way easier. The cool thing was that it was just a bunch of people who wanted to tell the band how much they enjoyed the show and their art in general.

This is only my 2nd Volta show, my first being last years 420 show at the Aragon. The crowd was very different this time. At the Aragon last year everyone was pretty chill and just stood and watched the 3+ hour jam session as if dumbfounded what was occurring before their own eyes. This crowd was way more into it, way more aggressive, way more hot and sweaty....I made my way up to the front (first 10 rows or so) and it was pretty intense, constant pushing and shoving. I was disappointed they only played for an hour and a half but honestly I don't know if I could have handled a 3 hour show this year with that constant intensity.

The sound I thought was blatantly shit a few different times, during ambient noise breakdowns it was very noticeable. Aragon isn't known for being the greatest but I don't recall it ever sounding as bad at any one time as it did last night at The Congress. Also the stage at The Congress is low, for my fellow vertically challenged brethren it was tough to have a constant view of any one member on stage.

I was pumped that Cedric talked to the crowd which he didn't do at all last year, and on a few seperate occasions. Before Eunuch he talked about how this was the song that seperated everyone along the lines of what they were doing and what the wanted to do musically. As others have said Cedric was on his game last night hit all the notes and sounded great.

As far as the setlist, what I have seen posted was right on point, no one seemed to mention that they opened with Fistful of Dollars, as usual. Loved the Son et Lumiere/Inertiatic Esp intro, SO GLAD they played that. I could have done without Roulette Dares and Drunkship Of Lanterns because they played both of those in Chicago last time they were here. Cygnus would have been nice along with Desperate Graves or maybe some other Frances The Mute songs other than The Widow, which was still good. Way less jamming at this show than last years 420, but I guess that is a product of the new album and this tour.

The art backdrops were all money, very cool to look at and I like how they switched multiple times.

My ears hurt.

Cedrics brief little rant (not word for word) was along the lines of


"When we first started this band, we drew a lot of lines and made some enemies. These people were against this band, they said we could never
make a commercial record with our "weird" music. That's because they're a bunch of sheep This next song is one of the first songs we wrote
about those lines and enemies."

Just got home and I can see this thread is just as dead now as it's been for the last couple of months. Sigh...

Well, hold onto your hats, kids, because this show was fucking insane and I'm sorry most of you missed it. I'll post pics tomorrow. The husband got some AMAZING ones. Sorry to be a tease...

First, here's the correct setlist gleaned from the one I snagged when the roadie threw it out, it bounced off like 10 hands, landed on the stage-side of the rail and I nearly broke my goddamn pelvis getting it. Worth it? Yes.

Son et Lumiere/Inertiatic ESP
Goliath
Cotopaxi
Roulette Dares
Viscera Eyes
Halo of Nembutals
Eunuch Provacateur
Ilyena
Teflon
Drunkship
Luciforms
The Widow
Wax Simulacra

About 1 hour and 40 minutes--9:30 until after 11:00

Pre-show extravaganza sidenotes: After seeing Rahzel (great!) we went over to the smoking area and saw a white shuttle van pull up. I saw glasses and a cup of soup and I exclaimed, "Honey! I think that's Omar and he's eating soup!" haha --It was. And the whole rest of the band as well. They got out and I yelled "We love you, Volta!" Ikey and Thomas turned around and smiled and waved, Omar turned and smiled, and Cedric just looked up. You know. =) Fun stuff.

Then coming back from seeing Monotonix and a few other bands, we decided to go smoke again before seeing Method Man and Redman. Pete said "hey, let's go around the corner first." And I was like no, I wanna smoke first, blah blah. I went with him anyway and lo and behold, there's Cedric along the side rail watching Method Man and Redman in his awesome (seemingly custommade) Raiders jacket. Pete met him and got his Volta hat signed with a metallic marker (good planning!) while I just watched from nearby and swooned. Awesome. After that, there was a steady stream of people appoaching him to get pictures, sign stuff, etc. He stayed for about 5 minutes of that and then went backstage again. I bet that gets old for him, but people were SO complimentary and respectful. I wonder if he gets annoyed or flattered. He was really sweet to everybody, so...

Okay, so these words are gonna be hard to come by because I'm still in the throes of the most amazing festival experience I've ever had, Coachella included, which is saying something. But here goes and I'll narrow it down to Volta stuff for ya...

First of all, if you haven't been to a show @ Red Rocks, get your ass there immediately. The monoliths enclosing all sides of the stage provided a perfect setting for seeing the enigma that is a Mars Volta show. In fact, at one point, Cedric said something like, "We used to not have enough money to even get into places like this, and one time we came here to take pictures where we thought it's looks the most like Mars. It's pretty weird to be playing here now." No backdrop (although Dandy Warhols and other had backdrops earlier) but it was perfect with the colored swirling lights playing against the huge rock behind them the whole show.

Cedric greeted us with "Good Morning" and they launched into Son et Lumiere/Inertiatic right away as the husband and I freaked the fuck out and danced our asses off in the front row. (No rail against the actual front row--just lots of space to dance on your own wooden "stair". Photogs allowed for like 5 minutes and then they get kicked out. Rad. )

Goliath came next and though it was short, which definitely feels as weird as everyone's been saying about other shows this tour, Cedric took the opportunity to pull some shenanigans. =) He climbed over the rail, walked along the front row right in front of us and proceeded to lie in the lap of a seated security guard by the rail, facedown. Pete (husb) screamed "Spank him" because it appeared that that was indeed what Cedric wanted the guy to do. hahaha. Instead, the guy looked perplexed and shy and kind of moved his legs slightly so Cedric slid down them onto the ground, got up, tossed the chair onto the stage, then returned to the stage and did like a shimmy dance sliding down the chair onto the floor during the next verse.

At one point Cedric threw his micstand in the air between TP and Juan all the way over everybody and seemingly into the dark void behind the stage. Surreal and amazing moment for some reason. A couple of donkey kicks and inspired dancing for sure, but Ced wasn't as acrobatic as we've sometimes seen him. In the middle of the set, he burped into the mic and said, "I don't know how you guys do it. I fart and I get short of breath up here." So true. The combo of all those stairs and the altitude were brutal. He was super energetic, though, and very into it the whole time AND spot on with this vocals. Holy shit I really don't know how this guy keeps improving all the fucking time. Isn't there a ceiling on how good of a vocalist you can become? Anyway...

Before Eunuch, Cedric said, "I've been saying this a lot on this tour and these guys are gonna roll their eyes behind me, but when we first started this band a long time ago after leaving our other band and people would always wanna know why and this was our response." *proceeds to slay Eunuch*

Near the end of Luciforms, Cedric went into a couple verses of Sergio Mendes' The Look of Love. Take a listen if you haven't heard it. It fit SO perfectly with what was going on in the song that after they were done with that part, Omar was grinning from ear to ear and I saw him say, "That's great!" SO cute. Outro to Roulette was fucking beautiful--it put the audience in a trance-like state. Or maybe that was just me. Hard to tell. =)

Omar was really into the show the entire time, rocking out SO much at the beginning especially. TP was an animal as usual--too funny to see him try so hard to hold back on some of the gentler songs. He strains so hard then but makes it look SO effortless when he's destroying the drums other times.

Crowd was good, took some loosening up, but those around me started to do so when they saw us throwing our hands up, dancing our asses off and singing along at times. That's always a nice feeling to show people it's okay to fucking dance at a Volta show. It's a must, really, in my opinion, but to each her own.

At the end (Widow and Wax--enough has been said about the ineffectual nature of that closer combo--whatevs) Cedric said, "Thanks for sticking around" and Omar mouthed thank yous and did "hand bows" to like 12 different sections of the crowd. Really sweet and sincere.

Overall............ holy shit. The Mars Volta. Fuck. See you in Philly next month, guys.

Son et Lumiere/Inertiatic ESP
Goliath
Cotopaxi
Roulette Dares
Viscera Eyes
Halo of Nembutals
Eunuch Provacateur
Ilyena
Teflon
Drunkship
Luciforms
The Widow
Wax Simulacra


same set list

He was implying that the Bush administration orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. He started off saying something about how a couple of police officers were able to orchestrate and cover up JFK's assassination (never heard of that theory). Then he said imagine what a whole government can secretly arrange, and he said to check the photographs of the planes hitting the twin towers. He ended with saying not to trust anything the government says and to remember to "rock the fucking vote".

"Have any of you seen the movie called The Stepford Wives? Well beware of the Stepford BANDS. You'll know them when they come through....with their Sex is On Fire."

the boss says we're adding l'via to the set on the next leg of the tmv tour

Show was great, but they did look a little bored. Roulette Dares was the highlight of my night, I hope they never stop playing that jam! Halo was spot-on as well! Can't wait till the next one...

i love what Juan played before the widow started

yeah omar looked really bored, it was nothing like last years show, i really did like roulette dares,

The posts in this thread make no sense to me. Having seen both dallas and houston, the houston show was definitely the highlight of my trip. In Houston, Omar was way more into it, Juan, Marcel and Thomas seemed to be having a much better time, and if you think the crowd was bad in Houston, you have no idea what it was like at the Palladium. Also, the sound was definitely mixed better in houston (maybe due to the venue, i'm not really sure). Houston ppl need to chill out. You got a fucking awesome show (even if the setlist is a little weak on this leg of the tour)

Set list:

Son Et Lumiere
Inertiatic ESP
Goliath
Cotopaxi
Roulette Dares
Viscera Eyes
Halo of Nembutals
Eunuch Provacateur
Ilyena
Teflon
Drunkship of Lanterns
Luciforms
The Widow
Wax Simulacra

Great show! I was in the balcony since I wasn't sure if the floor seating would be seating or gen ad. It was seated. Interesting for a Volta show, but I guess it prevents moshing which is good. This was my fourth show I've been to. Definitely the most talkative I've ever seen Cedric. Gave his appreciation to the crowd and those in the balcony and told people to be nice to the ladies up front I guess at the barrier? First words of the night I think were "God d*** San Antonio...God d*** I didn't know it was gonna be like this!" Found that funny. He dedicated Eunuch to when he and Omar were broke trying to get the band going. Stated he had made up w/ the others in ATDI not specific terms but I'm sure that's what he meant since he was referring to they had broke up and started TMV. Omar also provided some backing vocals which I had never seen at a show I'd been to, just in vids from other ones. I specifically recall Halo of Nembutals, and another one, but can't remember right now. Cedric sang some lyrics from Bullet by The Misfits before Teflon. "Texas is the reason that the President's dead!" Juan had an awesome bass solo in Drunkship. The backdrops were sick. Light show wasn't for the epileptic haha. Loved how it was in sync w/ Thomas at the beginning drum hits in Son Et Lumiere. I didn't see a poster for this show, but that doesn't mean there wasn't. This was the last show of this leg, so they were out of some stuff merchandise-wise.

I thought the band had some great energy and loved hearing some old songs I had never heard live before (Inertiatic, Eunuch).

so same setlist. Viscera was particularly bitchin' and just when I think I'm all sick of Drunkship and Roulette, they nail it and it's awesome.

Thomas went apeshit and was destroying the drums, going a bit too long with the jamming. Omar was trying to get him back on track. They played it off quite well none the less. On another note, it was very, very cool to see Juan getting into his jams. He seems very laid back, so to see him really get into the groove was cool.

She somehow got through the ushers and security, got on stage, and made a mad dash for Cedric, who quickly sidestepped her. Props to her for getting through the ushers-I couldn't even go up by the rail before the show to take a picture of the drum set. ><

Oct 4 2009 - Kool Haus - Toronto, Ontario

Oct 5 2009 - Metropolis - Montreal, Quebec

Oct 7 2009 - House of Blues - Boston, Mass

Oct 8 2009 - Roseland Ballroom - New York, New York

Oct 10 2009 - Electric Factory -Philadelphia

Oct 11 2009 - Sonar - Baltimore, Maryland

Oct 13 2009 - Lifestyle Communities Pavilion - Columbus

Oct 14, 2009 - Clutch Cargo's - Pontiac, MI

Oct 16, 2009 - House Of Blues - Cleveland

Oct 17, 2009 - Bogart's - Cincinnati

Oct 19, 2009 - Minglewood Hall - Memphis

Oct 20, 2009 - War Memorial Auditorium - Nashville

Oct 22, 2009 - The Fillmore - Charlotte, NC

Oct 23, 2009 - Ritz Theatre Disco Rodeo - Raleigh, NC

10/4 Kool Haus (Toronto, ON)
10/5 Metropolis (Montreal, QC)
10/7 House of Blues Boston (Boston, MA)
10/8 Roseland Ballroom (New York, NY)
10/10 Electric Factory (Philadelphia, PA)
10/11 Sonar (Baltimore, MD)
10/13 Lifestyle Communities Pavilion (Columbus, OH)
10/14 Clutch Cargo's (Pontiac, MI)
10/16 House Of Blues (Cleveland, OH)
10/17 Bogarts (Cincinatti, OH)
10/19 Minglewood Hall (Memphis, TN)
10/20 War Memorial Auditorium (Nashville, TN)
10/22 The Fillmore Charlotte (Charlotte, NC)

cedric got sick no cincinnati show. sorry people. we feel your pain.