At The Drive-In at Brixton Academy

At The Drive-In
Brixton Academy, 28 August 2012

"We consider this the last show of the Relationship Of Command tour,” guitarist Jim Ward, who has been silent for much of the show, tells us near the end. “It’s taken us 12 years to get here, but I love these guys more than life itself."

It's said with such sweaty sincerity that I actually do believe him tonight even though when At The Drive-In announced back in January that, after years of mouthing off about each other, they were getting back together for some shows (primarily the huge US festival Coachella), I was sure it was a big cash-grab and even said so on this blog. But Ward and singer Cedric Bixler Zavala were quick to tell the press it was a way of healing old wounds and finally finishing what they had started on a better note.
Seeing them live tonight, 11 years after I saw them for the first and only time, I feel this is true for pretty much all the band. Well, that is except for guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. It was obvious right from the start that he was only there because he had to be, presumably for the money but perhaps also to stop his Mars Volta bandmate, Cedric, from nagging him, and because of this acted completely disinterested the whole time and put little or no heart or soul into any of the proceedings, standing bored at the side of the stage showing no energy or enthusiasm while his bandmates jumped and danced and threw themselves around as he used to do. I can understand why Omar might not be enthused to rejoin ATDI all these years later given he is the lord and master of The Mars Volta and his numerous solo projects but the pouting child act on a 36 year old man who is getting paid a shit-load of money for the reunion and only has to play 11 shows in all is pretty tiresome to put it lightly. I do wonder if things are just as bad off-stage as on.

For the rest of ATDI though the chemistry was still very much there. Perhaps not so surprising in the case of Ward, bassist Paul Hinojos and drummer Tony Hajjar, since they had all continued to play together in Sparta  but definitely wonderful to see between Cedric and Ward in particular, since they had formed the band together back in 1993 (Ward even mentioned that backstage he had told Cedric it was 18 years since they played their first show) and it's great to hear Jim Ward's guitar-playing and backing vocals, which I had forgotten added so much to ATDI's sound. But most of the credit here has to go to Cedric, who appears to have really thrown himself into being At The Drive-In's frontman again. His hair is back to its old afro-style curls, he's wearing his old retro-tee and skinny jeans uniform and more importantly, is jumping around like a crazed lunatic, making nifty dance moves and jumping off of drumkits and amps like it's 2001 and appearing to be really enjoying himself.
From the first song, Arcarsenal, when he starts shaking his maracas and then throws them far into the audience, you can tell he's in a good mood, barking out the lyrics and leaning into the audience before jumping to the other side of the stage. He's riveting to watch, as always, and makes the show exciting. That said, I do miss his interaction with Omar, which is always the highlight of The Mars Volta shows and made seeing ATDI all those years ago so incredible, but instead we have to make do with Omar's sulky, invisible act.

The majority of the set, not surprisingly, is from their breakthrough album Relationship Of Command, and many of the songs have the crowd singing, well, shouting along to the lyrics, encouraged by Cedric himself and mostly get the best reaction. There's no doubt that tracks like Pattern Against User and Enfilade are raw and exciting to hear live, despite the muddy sound that you always seem to get in Brixton Academy (for such a beautiful venue it's one of my least favourites because of the sound), I must admit it was the In/Casino/Out and Vaya tracks that sounded best to me in particular an excellent and heart-wrenching Napoleon Solo, a  strangely beautiful 198d (with Cedric's new vocal strength showing through when he actually had to sing rather than shout) and a very cool-sounding Metronome Arthritis.

The band sounded on good form but there were definite differences from when I saw them all those years ago that may well be due to the fact that they are 11 years older. While energy-wise they were as youthful as ever, aside from Omar's obvious reluctance, gone were many punk rock touches such as setting up their own equipment and their no-encore policy. There were even flashing lights on the stage. I guess after so many years of playing they have finally succumbed to certain accepted rock band practices that they may have sneered at before, even Cedric's bratty attitude is gone, with him being generally nice and thankful to the crowd and even chatting on stage to the crowd (bizarrely mentioning a bunch of British TV soaps, as well as becoming excited when someone held up his old Nites t-shirt he used to always wear). It wasn't a big deal but it was definitely strange to see them arrive back on stage (almost straight away) to play an encore of Catacombs and their best known tune, the still very fast and furious, One Armed Scissor, which naturally got a very enthusiastic response. 

When Jim Ward told the crowd this was the last show, certainly of the short reunion tour, but implying their last show ever, it was no surprise given Omar's behaviour (he was the first to leave the stage and never uttered a word into the microphone the whole time). And while it was definitely fun to see them together again and hear (most of) the band getting a kick out of playing their old songs, I hate to say it, it definitely wasn't as thrilling and life-changing as that show I saw back in 2001, when they were young, angry and full of passion. Tonight was fun but didn't have that spark, that fire even, that made them so compelling back in the day and still remains one of the most mind-blowing, brilliant gigs I've ever attended. Plus, I must admit these days I prefer The Mars Volta over At The Drive-In so I'm actually eager for them to resume. So I'm glad I got to catch ATDI live once again for sure and it's nice to see the band get a happier ending but I'm also glad that it's only a short-lived thing that is over now and I'm sure Omar, bless his sulky little soul, is even more glad. Let's hope he's stopped pouting by now.