Cedric is playing w/ Omar on tour (aka the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group shows are sorta Mars Volta shows)
“Can’t believe Cedric did the whole Omar set.” – Brendan Hubbard
“Holy shit cedric is at the show…
playing new mars volta music…. best day ever.” – Jim Kettler
“Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group turned out to basically be Mars Volta. Cedric cut all his hair off. Still has the slick foot moves though.” – Joey
Times Square: You’re playing the Highline Ballroom on the 29th in NYC. What are your thoughts on the city and its music scene?
Omar Rodriguez Lopez: New York’s cultural diversity speaks for itself. There’s so much to check out. If you walk down the street you’ll hear a different language or dialect on almost every city corner. The music obviously mirrors that diversity….
Times Square: Your music comes off as quite complex. In light of the fact that you aren’t formally trained, how do you write music and then communicate it to your band?
Omar:Writing just happens. It ends up being intuitive. It’s just documenting internal monologue. As far as communicating music to my band goes, I’ll either give them recordings, show them their parts with my guitar, or just sing to them…. We’ll practice a few times before a tour. Then I’ll show them new material that we’ll insert into the show the day of the concert. Fans often mistake the new material for improvisation because they don’t recognize it.
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has been inserting new material into his recent sets, but not just solo stuff. His other half in The Mars Volta, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, has been out on the road with the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group, and they’ve been performing new Mars Volta material, as you can partially see in a series of videos below.
The tour hits Highline Ballroom in NYC TONIGHT (3/29). Advanced tickets are now sold out, but the venue says “LIMITED TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR AT SHOWTIME.”
UPDATE: a few more tickets will also be online around 4:30pmEST.
All tour dates and those videos are below.
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SXSW 2011 – The Mars Volta
Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group @ SXSW 2011
Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group in Houston
Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group in New Orleans
THE OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ GROUP – 2011 TOUR DATES
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Highline Ballroom, New York, NY
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Middle East, Cambridge, MA
Thursday, March 31, 2011 The Town Ballroom, Buffalo, NY 14203
Friday, April 1, 2011 Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights, OH
Saturday, April 2, 2011 Southgate House, Newport, KY 41071
Sunday, April 3, 2011 Bottom Lounge, Chicago, IL
Sunday, April 10, 2011 Vive Latino @ Vive Latino, Mexico City, MEX
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA 94109
Friday, April 15, 2011 Coachella @ Coachella Indio, CA
Thursday, April 28, 2011 South Side Music Hall Dallas, TX
Friday, April 29, 2011 Austin PyschFest @ Seaholm West Power Plant Austin, TX 78701
Saturday, April 30, 2011 Neon Desert Music Festival @ Downtown El Paso El Paso, TX
THE MARS VOLTA – 2011 TOUR DATES
Fri, 07/01/2011 Hove Festival Tromøya, Arendal Norway
Wed, 07/06/2011 A2 Concert Hall Moscow Russia
Fri, 07/08/2011 Bilbao BBK Live Bilbao Spain
Sat, 07/09/2011 UK Sonisphere Knebworth United Kingdom
Sat, 08/13/2011 Summer Sonic Osaka and Tokyo Japan
Sun, 08/14/2011 Summer Sonic Osaka and Tokyo Japan
