I recently had the supreme pleasure of attending a Mars Volta show at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel. When the band played there nine months ago, I marveled at their musicianship and complex compositions, but the crowd's lackluster energy dampened my overall enjoyment. That night Lupo's was filled to capacity; it seemed as though every bar in downtown Providence had emptied its patrons into the venue, but without the wheat separated from the chaff, there were definitely several bored-looking attendees. This time it wasn't so much of a tight squeeze, and self-respecting moshers had the opportunity to get down. For a general idea of the band's work, imagine a seamless fusion of progressive rock, jazz, proto-punk, (insert obscure sub-genre here), etc. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, one of our great contemporary guitarists, shredded effortlessly into drummer Thomas Pridgen's shirtless grooves as the startlingly thin but immensely sexual Cedric Bixler-Zavala wailed into his spotless white mic. Six rows and two hours next to the speaker wall and I'm still suffering from tinnitus, but the experience was well worth the price my ears had to pay. Physically expressing two hours of continuous psychedelic music proved quite cathartic - the perfect decompression I needed on a Monday night. My only complaint about the Mars Volta is that they still haven't indulged my fantasy that Omar (for whom I've pined since I met him in January) will suddenly decide to resurrect At the Drive-In by ripping into "Pattern Against User," after which he will leap off the stage and into my arms. Well, at least I can dream.
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