Photo: Aaron Sammut

When you see a banner with a naked woman, a cloak-wearing lizard and a creepy green man, you know you’re seeing The Mars Volta. No support act is required this evening, and it’s not long after eight that Ennio Morricone’s Fistful Of Dollars emanates forth from the sound system, signalling the arrival of tonight’s only act.

Witnessing The Mars Volta really is quite a unique experience that can’t be compared to any other live band. The sheer technical skill that they possess is mind-boggling. Cedric Bixler-Zavala serves as a wildly energetic frontman, channelling his unique voice as best he can, unable to reach some of the heights put down on record, but nonetheless impressive. The stage is his playground, and when not tossing his microphone around nonchalantly he cavorts with the front row or simply lies on the ground. Omar-Rodriguez Lopez functions as a conductor to the other six musicians on stage, his guitar in total control of the pace and movement of each song. Drummer Thomas Pridgen is simply a monster behind the drums, hitting the skins with both incredible accuracy and ferocity. The band can stop and start on the millisecond, and at stages its like they’re just showing off. It’s a set over two hours in length though only around eight songs are played, the band jamming extensively over the course of Goliath and the incredible Cygnus… Vismund Cygnus. It’s clear the band have gotten a better handle on the Amputechture material since their last visit, upstaging their previous performance of Tetragrammaton with a version more expansive and tightly wound, with Viscera Eyes also exciting the punters. New cuts Aberinkula, Wax Simulacra and Ouroborous make appearances, though De-Loused material is void from the set. The end to the set is abrupt, a bass loop is left on its own as the band saunters off stage, and The Mars Volta leave Brisbane with yet another excellent live show to talk about.

MICHAEL PINCOTT

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