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The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom, NYC | Pics

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

I am eternally grateful to my friend for inviting me to The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom on Thursday May 5th, 2005 (Cinco de Mayo! & the first of two nights they were playing there to commemorate that very holiday). Did it hurt that I wasn’t going to New Order @ the nearby Hammerstein Ballroom (that I had tickets to)? At first. Am I happy with my decision? Very much so. The show rocked. I predict stadium-sized success for The Mars Volta. In fact, any venue smaller than a stadium is too small for the awesome (and very, very loud) sounds they manage to produce.

“No prog performance would be complete without some self-indulgent noodling, and unfortunately, the Mars Volta are all too fond of this practice.” – Amy Phillips for Newsday

Admittedly, their “noodling” did get boring at first (I wondered if I was going to like the show during the first 20 minutes), but I actually grew to like it more and more as time went on. What seemed a little boring at first, completely swept me away with it by the end. I definitely don’t agree with her statement that “The Mars Volta had become a reminder of why progressive rock died in the first place.” The sold-out-two-nights-in-a-row 3000-3500 person capacity crowd didn’t agree either. All I heard was loud applause.

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

“here we are with the only prog band that matters (Radiohead doesn’t count). The only band big enough for people to care if they make an album composed out of one song seventy-six minutes long (it’s actually broken up into, alternately, five suites on the record’s tracklisting and twelve tracks on the actual CD, but who’s counting when you’re sitting in your room with your buddies and sharing a joint and listening to this thing, eh?).” – Stylus on Frances the Mute

buy Mars Volta stuff @ Insound

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

“Unlike its ’70s forbearers, who were steamrollered under the onslaught of punk, the Mars Volta have been embraced by the Mohawks-and-skateboards set, which turned out in force for the second of two sold-out nights at the Roseland Ballroom on Friday.” – Amy Phillips

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom

The Mars Volta @ Roseland Ballroom