The Mars Volta at Troxy

The Mars Volta

Teri Gender Bender

Troxy, 18 June 2023

It's crazy to think I haven't seen The Mars Volta live since 2009, when I went absolutely crazy for them and saw them three times in one year including a super intimate gig (only 300 people!) at the ICA. Even though they released two more albums after that, I didn't venture to see them in the couple of years before they split up but I have continued to support the band's two members Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez in their other projects, At The Drive-In and Antemasque, seeing them live numerous times (as I've written about on this blog) so the last 14 years haven't been completely Volta-free at least.

But there was something about finally seeing the reunited Mars Volta again after all this time which has brought up a lot of emotions for me and I'm still trying to process it all. There was happiness of course: this was a truly thrilling show with lots of nostalgia (a huge chunk of the gig was given over to their first album, De-Loused In The Comatorium) and a very sweetly appreciative Cedric and Omar (both walking along the edge of the stage at the end of the show saying "thank you" to the crowd). It's left me feeling moved in a way that I haven't felt after a gig in a long time and completely reminded me of why music has been such a massive part of my life (as it has sadly had to take a backseat in recent years).

First though, before the Volta came and made such an emotional impact on me, one of their musical comrades, Teri Gender Bender, set things up nicely with her opening set. Teresa Suárez has made a couple of appearances on this blog before as her band Le Butcherettes supported both Antemasque and At The Drive-In in the past. She's also been in a couple of bands with Omar (Crystal Fairy and Bosnian Rainbows) and apparently they are a couple too so I'm not surprised she is supporting tonight but also musically it makes complete sense, as they are definitely on a same experimental, genre-meshing wavelength musically.

Since the early days of Le Butcherettes shes always been known as Teri Gender Bender, but since going solo she seems to have really embraced the name and now sports a fetching moustache. For the longest time I couldn't work out if it was real and if she was going through transition, but as far as I can tell it seems to just be make-up, as she appears to be playing with gender stereotypes and beauty expectations for a female performer. Tonight she is wearing an oversized hot pink t-shirt, matching trousers and a super-hero cape that after the first song is illuminated with what looks like fairy lights.

Musically, Teri Gender Bender is a more electronic-pop, than her previous projects. Everything she has released up until now seems to be EPs and singles, rather than albums, which I think probably allows her to try a lot of different things. Tonight she has a band which features two of Omar's brothers on guitar and bass, and a drummer, while she leaps and twists and also has a fine Stevie Nicks-time twirling with her glowing cape, to excellent visual effect.

She starts with a quite 80s-sounding track, Syria Ignore, in which she appropriately sings "you are so vintage." There was another electro track sung in Spanish, Coratate El Pelo and a more rock track, Misery And Us, with an cool menacing vocal. Probably the best moment through came with the new single, You Won The Man, that saw Teri jump into the audience and perform most of the song in the middle of the crowd. I was straining to see her as I was down at the front so admittedly I ended up watching her band during most of the song, but it got a big reaction. Teri Gender Bender is definitely an interesting and inventive performe,  and I'm glad I got the chance to see her live again.

The stage-set up tonight was definitely the most elaborate I've ever seen for The Mars Volta, but then The Troxy may be the biggest venue I've seen them at. There was a backdrop of rows of mirrors lit up with green lights and a full band that included a keyboard player and a percussionist. A long way from when I first saw them at the ULU in 2002, then a five-piece crammed on a tiny stage, yet this show brought back so many memories of that gig (their first ever London show after their debut release, the Tremulant EP).

Despite the full band, it started with just Omar and Cedric, finally reunited as The Mars Volta, after years of ups and downs, turns in other bands and At The Drive-In reunions, the band that seems to me to be most fully them: the perfect expression of their musical friendship. Omar and Cedric without each other just seems wrong and I am always happy to see them together and seemingly enjoying being together.

Vicarious Atonement provided a beautiful, low-key, unflashy introduction to the show luring us in before the rapid-fire of Roulette Dares, a song I never get tired of hearing live. It sounds incredible tonight, full of urgent energy and renewed passion. It immediately takes me back to why I first fell in love with them. Omar looks more energetic than I've seen him in years, jumping around the stage, not quite old ATDI-level but not too far off. Cedric looks great, his head back to full punk rock afro, a newly grey beard and sporting a snazzy shirt and waistcoast. He is admittedly not as rail thin as he once was but definitely looks a lot trimmer and while he is not quite the jumping, dancing maniac he once was (the energy it must have taken to maintain that and to sing!) he still shows off some Latin-tingued moves and microphone swings. It's an absolute joy to watch them both.

Given they have a new self-titled album out I'm surprised that so much of the show is given over to the first two albums, particularly Deloused (six in all and three from Frances The Mute, the last three albums before they briefly split up are completely ignored).

L'Via L'Viaquez immediately and surprisingly has the crowd singing along, I'm actually taken aback by the roar of voices and Cedric's voice sounds spectacular. Anyone fearing they would avoid their epic, labyrinth-style, twisting song epics, need not have feared as the band don't shy away from playing all fifteen minutes of this, while another Frances The Mute song, Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus stretches to over 20 minutes. But even with mammoth songs like these, they manage to groove and sound spontaneous and, yes, even inspire singalongs! Even during the quieter instrumental parts, it's never boring as evidenced by the fact that even Cedric himself when not singing appears to be in some kind of state of reverie before jumping back in with gusto when the riffs and groove blast back in.

It was an absolute pleasure to hear all the old De-Loused tracks but I was slightly disappointed that so little was given over to the new album. It's true the new record is a different sound for them (one "fan" online complained it was "boring") but I think it's as interesting as previous releases, once again exploring new territories and, really, I don't think it's million miles from their last release Noctourniquet from 2012, which was definitely a more stripped down, less complicated album but still utterly brilliant. Plus to me the new record makes sense, because Omar and Cedric are in their late 40s now and so much has happened to them over the last ten years (Omar losing his mother, Cedric becoming a dad and the whole well documented ordeal involving the harassment he and his wife have endured from the Church of Scientology plus a much publicised trial, thankfully won). I can see why the twisting sci-fi riddles and concepts of previous albums, is unappealing to them right now. Plus, maybe it's because I'm the same age as them, it just sounds right, with really strong, creative songs. It's no surprise they have released a version of it as a fully acoustic album because in a way this is probably the first record that is fully about the songs and so it completely lends itself to performing it acoustically as well.

Despite this, there are only two tracks performed from the new record tonight, Graveyard Love and Shore Story, and nicely, they manage to flawlessly fit right in among the more grandiose material.

The gig ends on a triumph Inertiatic Esp, with once again the crowd singing along and Cedric jumping on one of the platforms in front of the stage to get close to the audience. At the end (no encore of course, I'm glad some punk rock things don't change) he made a rather heartfelt speech about how much it meant to them that everyone came out tonight and thanked us all for loving the band. It's such a change from the old bratty Cedric of old, and don't get me wrong I absolutely loved the old attitude-filled pissed off Cedric, it often made for electrifying performances, but there is something really heart-warming to see how much they appreciate their audience and not have disdain for them, as some rock stars seem to. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, at the end of the show, both made a point of walking along the stage and looking at the audience and saying thank you, thank you, thank you. Well, I feel the exact same way. Cedric and Omar, thank you, thank you, thank you!