The Mars Volta @ Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles (2)
May 13, 2004 – Wiltern; Los Angeles (again, “Take The Veil”)
I thought I would share some news with everyone since no one else said anything that I could see. Forgive my brevity I must be going soon.
He came out for the last number. Or rather the last half of the last number. After a long bass/conga solo on Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt.
It was fantastic. Beaten Strat through half of Omar’s double orange stack. I think he used A big Muff Pi pedal and maybe one other pedal. They played freely for a few minutes and then went into a worked out harmony section. Similar to what is on the record and then possibly into some new territory. The ending sequence of chords was amazing with both of them playing. They were altering the voicing and making very very good music out of that part. The crowd went completely insane when they saw him come out. He apparently had a little tuning trouble, but I think they sounded great. He left the stage very quickly, almost running. It seemed like he had a great time, but was probably annoyed by the tuning situation. I couldn’t guess on how long he was out there but it seemed like 12-15 minutes.
Overall except for the John part I think TMV played a lot better Wed night, they seemed a little tired last night. Although they did play for 2 and a half hours! I wish there were more bands like this , it seems like the sort of thing that went on all the time in the 60s. The chance that you could hear something no one’s ever heard before is the most exciting part of seeing music played live. It also felt great to see friends having such a good time playing together. And it sounded great too.
Looking forward to the 18th!!!!
