When you are about to see one of your favourite bands for the 4th time, you tend to know pretty much what to expect. However, in no way does this degrade the experience but deep inside, you are hoping there would be some sort of surprise, something to spice things up a bit.
A couple of things made this gig different, unique and special.
First, The venue.
The venue was in the courtyard of the lovely Somerset House along the Victoria Embankment. It was an open air venue, a first for me since I’ve always seen The Mars Volta indoors. When I think about it, this is only the second open air venue I’ve been to after Hyde Park as London has several awesome venues. Then, there’s the flaky weather.
The Mars Volta has always been known to be pretty loud and this gig was not an exception even whilst outdoors. I guess the setup of the speakers and how they bounce off the four sides of the courtyard was quite optimal. Actually, I I really try to think back on previous gigs, this may have been the best they have sounded live. The vocals were very good as well.
Second, Cedric talking to the crowd.
Yes, Cedric actually talked to the crowd through much of their set and was introducing almost every song before playing it. The past three gigs I’ve been to, the most you’d hear from him was “Thank you.” while they’re walking off the stage. Highly unusual but the change was pleasantly welcome as it gave a different and friendlier feel which tremendously helped the atmosphere in the venue and of the crowd.
Also, due to the size of the stage compared to ICA, Omar and Cedric had more space to move and this meant more crazy dancing from Cedric.
I didn’t push forward to the front as much as I could since I’ve already seen them up close at ICA and The Roundhouse so I decided to close to the sides.
Here’s the setlist viat Last.fm.
- Goliath
- Cotopaxi
- Roulette Dares
- Viscera Eyes
- Halo of Nembutals
- Cygnus
- Desperate Graves
- Ilyena
- Teflon
- Drunkship of Lanterns
- Luciforms
- The Widow
- Wax Simulacra
I really enjoyed this open air gig and sort of a departure from the norm for the band with Cedric talking and no obscenely long jams to bridge one song to the other. I guess the main reason I enjoyed this gig quite a lot was lowering my expectations and not expecting a performance like they did at Brixton.
