The Mars Volta
Live At Rolling Stones - Milano, 6-03-2005

LA RECENSIONE

The scenario is the Rolling at its peak, packed like never before. The actors are the whole audience, and Cedric and Omar are the two long-haired guys who have such a Latin look. In the first act, one is amazed at how the concert started on time. In the second act (10 seconds after the first), one gets captivated by the off-key and vibrant melody played on stage by the two strange minstrels. Omar draws lines in the air with his guitar, which the rest of the group chases, forming around them restless and suggestive songs. Cedric, being the terminal of the group's madness, expresses the craziness and agitation with his voice, sometimes even helping himself with gestures. The audience becomes mesmerized in that slightly magical atmosphere, oscillating between calm and a maelstrom in which the group seems totally at ease. In the third act, the concert ends, and everyone goes home. Unfortunately, what does not appear in this theatrical transposition of the Mars Volta concert is that Omar and Cedric are musical geniuses, that the group behind them is solid and tested, that live shows are their favorite dimension where they can indulge in all possible improvisations, and that the audience was rather well-disposed towards the heroes coming from Mars.

The result of all this is an amazing concert. Omar is excellent, his riffs dance together with Cedric's voice in the attendees' ears and fit perfectly with the band's work. Cedric's voice is extremely versatile because it can shift from howling with very high peaks to beautifully aggressive singing like that in the At-The-Drive-In style without losing its own identity; moreover, he is a pure showman who keeps the audience's attention glued to him with his flashes of madness, like putting the microphone in his mouth and screaming or the now-famous losses of balance in the center of the stage that we so love. The concert is very long (two and a half hours) and resembles a single journey into their world. At certain moments, tension seems to drop, but when you least expect it, here comes the storm again; the only thing we could slightly accuse them of is, in some cases, overdoing the psychedelia, risking boredom. Amid the chaos of songs, I only highlight "Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt", which seemed to be played with impressive intensity.

I recommend them to everyone and take this opportunity to tell all the jerks who whistled during calm moments (they are at any concert) and shouted the classic "go Omar" to go to hell. Truly a great journey.