Oceania - gennaio 2010, Australia & Nuova Zelanda: Big Day Out e sideshows

* New Zealand 1/15 - Auckland - Big Day Out Festival
* Australia 1/17 - Gold Coast - Big Day Out Festival
* Australia 1/18 - Brisbane - The Tivoli
* Australia 1/20 - Sydney - Hordern Pavilion
* Australia 1/22 - Sydney - Big Day Out Festival
* Australia 1/23 - Sydney - Big Day Out Festival
* Australia 1/25 - Melbourne - Festival Hall
* Australia 1/26 - Melbourne - Big Day Out Festival
* Australia 1/29 - Adelaide - Big Day Out Festival
* Australia 1/31 - Perth - Big Day Out Festival

Lees & West, triple j, Video Hits and fasterlouder.com.au present

THE MARS VOLTA

TICKETS ON SALE 9.00AM MONDAY 16 NOVEMBER!!!

Strap yourself in, hold on, and feel free to scream. Few musical experiences match the roller coaster ride that is THE MARS VOLTA, and in 2010, they'll loop the loop in Australia for the fourth time. You love THE MARS VOLTA? Here's three last chances to feel the thrill.

Since emerging from the ashes of El Paso's lauded and lamented At the Drive-In (who also played BIG DAY OUT way back when) in 2001, composer and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and incredibly dexterous vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala have followed their muse in whichever direction it takes them; so far the journey has been the ride of the creative lifetime.

"Some of the most experimental, technically mind-blowing and original music being released today. What THE MARS VOLTA do at a show is more than just play songs… the band takes you on a journey that is all at once uplifting, wild, shameless and self-indulgent." (Beat, July 2008)

Their fifth album, Octahedron, takes all the energy, all of the furious invention that has characterized THE MARS VOLTA’s music so far, and distills it with a clarity they’ve never before achieved. "There's still plenty of room for boundary-breaking," said FasterLouder, "but it’s the quieter, more harmony-filled moments that truly establish Octahedron as a bold step forward for a duo who are always miles in front."

The sound may be less aggressive than 2008’s The Bedlam in Goliath, but touring with a pared-down six-piece line-up of Bixler-Zavala, Rodriguez-Lopez, bassist Juan Alderete, keyboardist Isaiah Ikey Owens, Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez on percussion and synths, and drummer Thomas Pridgen, THE MARS VOLTA are still blistering, ferocious, and set the stage alight like no other.

"THE MARS VOLTA practically exploded onto the stage, rousing the crowd from the first hyperactive guitar chords and terrifying drum rhythms. Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala are the ultimate showmen." (The Independent, July 2009)

"The only objective, throughout, has been to always move forward," says Rodriguez-Lopez. "To always make the next album sound different to the one that came before it, to always be evolving." The latest step in the evolution of THE MARS VOLTA will be on show in Australia this summer.

ALL TICKETS ON SALE MONDAY NOVEMBER 16

BRISBANE - Monday 18 January - Brisbane Tivoli
Bookings thru Ticketek 132 849

SYDNEY - Wednesday 20 January - Sydney Hordern Pavilion
Bookings thru Ticketek 132 849

MELBOURNE - Monday 25 January - Festival Hall
Tickets on sale from Festival Hall Box Office, 288 Rosslyn St West Melbourne OR Ticketmaster outlets, phonecharge 136 100 and Ticketmaster

Licensed & Unlicensed areas

The Mars Volta will be road testing their new album at Friday's Big Day Out. But there is little chance you'll recognise it when it finally makes its way into record shops.

As Mars Volta guitarist and band leader Omar Rodríguez-López explains over the phone from Belgium, he composes and discards albums at a startling rate.

Since the release of 2009's Octohedron, he has already written and binned two albums worth of material.

But he might just have something that will make its way onto their 8pm main stage slot at Auckland's iconic summer festival, just before the headlining act Muse.

"In between every record there's an unreleased one," Rodríguez-López said. "Once I did De-Loused in the Comatorium I recorded one record and that didn't feel right. After Frances the Mute I recorded one-and-a-half.

"It happens all the time, composing, recording, all that fun stuff, you can't really stop it. I record bits and pieces everywhere; I've recorded in New Zealand, I've recorded a lot in Australia and recorded in Japan.

"Now I've recorded another one and I'm handing that one over to (vocalist) Cedric (Bixler-Zavala) to start writing his lyrics and we'll see how far this one gets."

inertiatic
cotopaxi
l'via
goliath
cicatriz
(octahedron track)
roulette

Hey all, i'm fairly new here, been lurking for a while tho. Thought i'd put up a quick review for you guys of the Gold Coast BDO set. It was a trip to see them on the big stage after seeing them at all their other BDO appearances through the years in the tent (plus three of there own shows not including tomorrow at the tivoli ). Awesome time slot with the sunset and all, great atmosphere. The band played great, Cedric was pretty solid with only a few shaky notes. Omar was shredding as usual. Pretty good mix, a bit clearer coz of the smaller band this time round. Dave Elitch was pretty rockin', did Jon's parts really well, a bit less so with Thomas' stuff but still okay. Great dynamics, more so then Pridgen's usual assault on the kit.

Their was a bit of trouble with Cedrics mic a few times cutting out and he had a quick tantrum at one point and threw it to the ground,lol. I gotta say the overall band energy was a bit more subdued compared to Pridgen era but Omar was dancing his arse off as was Cedric. Anyways, the setlist went like this:

Son Et Lumiere
Inertiatic ESP
Cotopaxi
L'via L'viaquez
Goliath
Cicatriz ESP
Teflon
Roulette Dares

Cool setlist, good to hear some old stuff as well as new, especially L'via . Rad jam in Cicatriz, didn't go too out there but very salsa'd out. Lookin' forward to tomorrow night at the tivoli, tonight kinda felt like the hors doeurves before the main course, haha! Peace out

Same set as bdo plus halo, widow, Miranda, since we've been wrong, viscera and eriatarka

if your going to big day out in sydney watch out. rumor has it there's gonna be a ton of cops and drug dogs everywhere!!!

Son Et Lumiere + Inertiatic ESP
Cotopaxi
Teflon
Since We've Been Wrong (FUCKING awesome when it kicked in, best version I've ever heard)
Halo of Nembutals
Eriatarka
L'Via L'Viaquez
Viscera Eyes
Goliath
Miranda
Roulette Dares
Cicatriz
The Widow

they all cracked up during the last pause of The Widow, Cedric bent over double he was laughing so hard. Maybe it was when he was singing the last line of Widow, he held the microphone to Omar's face for him to sing 'alooooone', and Omar got all shy, cowered away and strummed his guitar defiantly in refusal lol. Although the first hour was entertaining it was still pretty so-so, the second hour was nuts. The band were enjoying themselves a lot more, smiling and laughing.

They dedicated the show to Jeremy though which was sweet.

Mastodon were watching from the side of the stage and im pretty sure it was an interaction between the singer form Mastodon and cedric which caused cedric to laugh uncontrollably during roulette to the point were he couldnt sing, it was awesome to watch them play with a greta big smile on their faces.

cedric burped into the micrphone too

there wasn't too much pushing (probably because they only had sold around 1800 tickets of 5500).

i thought it was hilarious that juans bass wa sso loud it made cedric cup of tea vibrate off the stool

Set list for 22 Jan BDO in Sydney
Son et Lumiere/Inertiatic esp
Cotopaxi
L'Via L'Viaquez
Goliath
Tiptoe Through the Tulips
Cicatriz Esp
Roulette Dares

Something seemed to be bugging Cedric through the first half of the set, and finally took it out on Muse's fire/laser show set up. At first I thought the laser reflectors were reflecting the sun back into his eyes, but then I saw that it was catching on his mike lead. He trashed two of them, one of his mikes, the side stage mike, and was trying to break up Ikey's platform by then end of Goliath. His humour came back with a quick rendition of Tiptoe Through the Tulips (and a dig at American Idol).

I was a top set, the Cicatriz jam lasted 20 minutes, and you can clearly see who's boss, with everyone looking to Omar for guidence.

Cedric went nuts, smashing stuff up, writhing about on the ground and climbing up speakers. Funny that he was destroying Muse's set, because Dom (the Muse drummer) was standing sidestage watching for about half an hour.

I also saw Cedric watching The Horrors for their whole set, he was really enjoying them and bopping his head along. He gave Faris a pat on the back and a big smile as they left the stage.

cedric was in top form vocally, generally, and seemed to be in good spirits; his performance was the standout of the show with very few fuck-ups and even adlibed the lyrics from brainiac's "fresh new eyes" in the cicatriz jam which was cool. Also invited the audience sing the "never seen a man speak like this man before" part of goliath (does anyone know what cedric was saying as he was hitting omar on the back at one stage with his mic? looked like he was mouthing "asshole" or "XO" or something??)

Omar played brilliantly as per usual but was quite subdued with little energy, looking a bit despondent or maybe was concentrating hard, im not sure.

Elitch was very impressive and hits hard like a motherfucker! i hope he ends up sticking around permanently - he reminded me of mac mcnielly from the jesus lizard.

the octahedron tracks played were great with SWBW a highlight for me which was unexpected.

Looking forward to catching them at the Big Day Out tomorrow!

setlist was same as the sydney hordern show i think:

son et
Inertiatic
Cotopaxi
L'Via
Goliath
Eriatarka
SWBW
Cicatriz
Halo
Miranda
Teflon
Viscera
Widow
Roulette

setlist same as other bdo's

from what i remember: son et lumiere/inertiatic ESP, cotopaxi, L'via, Goliath, Cicatriz ESP, Roulette

Pretty awesome show, whole band was very energetic, moreso than when i saw them in sydney - cedric was nuts with mouth pulling, ground fucking and back flipping lol.

Cedric also spoke a lot more than usual - if you are a fan that likes to know what he says at concerts here are a few quotes...

"In case oyu havnt noticed...we are the mars volta...and no...you are not"
*points to Elitch* "Sensual chocolate her people...Sensual chocolate...Sensual organic free range chcocolate...harden the fuck up Australia"
After a 15 minute rendition of Cicatrix "That's our new single"
Intro to Cicatriz - "This is a song about chocolate bars (or soccer mums couldnt tell, but i think he had some sort of chocolate theme goin lol)

Ciciatriz Jam was great, awesome show

in my top 2 volta shows & i have seen them 6 times. I was right at the front & have 25 mins of footage I will load it up later.

anyone who thinks Dave isnt a great drummer is a joke. he nailed it. hits harder than the 2 previous drummers & his improv in the jams was great. Cedric & omar were having the time f there life..laughing & joking with dave. there was one point where he dropped a stick & omar gave him a dirty look so he started int a blasting frenzie & omar pissed himself laughing.

cedric did about 5 handstands & was dancing like the old days. It was cedrics best vocal performance by a long shot. this is the 8th time i have seen him live so id know. he was breathing correctly & pulled off all of the higher vocal lines he normally just doesn't sing.

i was thrilled. i was about the only person that new all of the vocal lines. the got a great reception. Goliath was a stand out as was l'via. actually thats bullshit. the entire set was a standout. from the looks of things they will have a little break & dave will remain the drummer full time. i was starting to worry abut the future f the band til i saw just how much fun Cedric & mar were having. Cedric lost a bit f weight & his vocal & delivery of vocals was fantastic. i was really proud f the way they went abut things considering Adelaide is the arse end of nowhere.

the mix was fantastic.