The Mars Volta shocks Fillmore

Something that often gets lost amid The Mars Volta’s bizarre antics, tall tales, big hair, trippy artwork and confounding lyrics is the fact that they are truly amazing musicians.

That was abundantly clear Sunday evening at the Fillmore in Denver as TMV, a progressive rock band out of Los Angeles, unleashed a wall of sound on fans.

TMV’s is known for putting on intense live shows with songs that spiral on for upwards of 10 minutes

To be honest it was hard to tell where one song began and the next ended as front men Omar A Rodriguez-Lopez, guitar, and Cedric Bixler Zavala, vocals, created a sonic landscape that fluctuated from a deafening roar to quiet jam sessions.

The eight-piece band was pure business Sunday. Dispensing with the opening band and any encore, the group played a 12-song set for more than two hours.

For the first song Bixler Zavala toured the theater going at least half way back into the crowd dancing like a madman, sliding down banisters and spitting water on the audience, much to their delight. All while Rodriguez-Lopez unloaded a guitar solo that few guitarist can rival.

Thomas Pridgen, drummer, and bassist Juan Alderete combined to deliver some amazing beats that carried the show at times. And Adrián Terrazas-González played everything from the saxophone to flute.

The group’s elaborate stage setup included a backdrop of a giant eye with tentacles that looked like something out of a Tool show. Pridgen’s kit featured a Daliesque image of a lizard, a women and an alien in a desert. And two Mexican flags were draped from stage speakers.

High points of the show included the songs: “Roulette Dares (The Haunt of),” “Wax Simulacra,” and “Drunken Ship of Lanterns.”

I have been a fan of TMV since some members composed the now defunct At The Drive-In out of El Paso, TX. And while TMV has progressed to new levels pushing the envelope of modern music today, the rawness and emotion that first attracted me to ATDI is still, more than ever, alive in this band today with Bixler Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez.

While that’s evident in the albums, there is no comparison to a live show.