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The word had been spreading through the dorms like a brush fire in late August: The Mars Volta, a new band deriving from the remains of the ever so popular At the Drive-In, had arrived. After missing their first concert in San Diego only months earlier, I thought my next glimpse of the acclaimed tandem of Cedric and Omar would be at least a year later. Contrary to my beliefs, The Mars Volta came back, and back they came with a vengeance.

A late fill-in at a lesser-known area of town, I was extremely lucky to even hear about the show. Although the turnout wasn’t so great, the positive vibe and excitement I felt walking into San Diego’s cutting edge venue Brick By Brick established the fact that the gathering consisted of a very hard core following. But when I saw Cedric for the first time, I was partially disappointed. For you see, his butt-tight red corduroy pants, black-rimmed glasses, and platform shoes conveyed to me a false impression: the dreaded Emo-core. Since I had only heard a few of their songs, I still wasn’t sure what to expect out of this group from El Paso, Texas. I sincerely hoped that some whiny acoustic was not in store, since that was not what I came for. I came for the violent beats and echoey vocals that once pervaded the sounds of their previous band At the Drive-In. Besides, I could just flick on the television or the radio to get my fair share of the emo craze. But what I was about to witness did not disappoint.

The Mars Volta played a relatively short six-song set. With a smaller crowd in attendance, I expected a less energized performance than what I’d been hearing of over the Internet. But the energy did not fluctuate from its opening crescendo for even one second. The antics of Cedric and Omar captivated the crowd. Singer Omar proceeded to strangle himself with the microphone cord while jousting the other band members with the mic stand. This did not take away from his emotionally charged lyrics. His words echoed violently throughout the building, creating an excitingly chaotic rhythm. While he sang, Omar would contort his bodies to the extreme, his feet at times failing to support his gyrating convulsions. His movements were unpredictable to say the least, giving one the impression of a drugged-out epileptic. On Omar’s right hand side stood the other half of the excitement in Cedric, the guitarist. His mess of an afro bounced rhythmically to the enchanting melodies that throbbed forth from the speakers. Moving his feet like a breakdancer, Cedric would proceed to aptly throw his guitar around his back only to catch it and continue playing seconds later after a full rotation. This was truly entertainment! To back up these two performers was an animated Ikey Owens on the piano from Long Beach Dub All-Stars, an intense drummer named Jon from the band Golden, and a relatively unknown chic named Eva playing bass.

The unique cast of musicians created a new, interesting sound that was incomparable to any genre of music that I knew of. Undermining all the chaos onstage was a complicated melody that combined punk, some Latin salsa beats, and modern electric rock. Their songs constantly ascended and descended in volume and tempo, seemingly flowing into one another in a psychedelic manner. The distorted and convoluted rhythms distinguished a new sound, and the crowd was at times confused, not knowing how to react to the unanticipated melodies that the band produced. With only a few songs out on a new EP entitled "Tremulant", their sound and vision is still emerging. The Mars Volta was not on any political crusade, their message throughout the show conveyed simply a love for music and their nonstop energy certainly reinforced that notion. They were literally spilling out their sweat and tears to the small audience and the people loved it. The final cut of the night, Roulette Dares, was truly amazing. The song integrated a wide variety of amazing beats, and Omar continued to hypnotize the audience with his enchanting voice while Ikey went off on the piano, allowing his emphatic chords to provide the emotional foundation for the piece. Even when the song ended, an air of excitement throughout the crowd still remained.

The Mars Volta had not failed to excite the crowd and expose their musical talents. In a day of age when a new cutting edge sound has become more and more rare, The Mars Volta’s raw tunes and emotional performance provided an unparalleled escape to something new and fresh for a steadily growing audience of hard core followers.