The Mars Volta live in Toronto, May 12, 2008

This was one insane concert.

It was at The Sound Academy in Toronto, which is a very long and narrow venue. It was a zillion degrees inside and packed to the hilt. People keep pushing forward causing the crowding problem to worsen as the night wore on. At one point the security people had to gesture to the audience to start stepping back.


When you're watching the video, be sure to watch how entire sections of the audience move in a sudden lateral manner. That's how packed it was.

The male to female ratio was way out of whack. I'd say 10:1 in favour of the guys -- maybe even as bad as 15:1.


And the weed. Man, I have never seen so much pot smoked at a concert. And I go to a lot of concerts. When you watch the video you'll see an endless succession of smoke puffs.

Just after the concert started, the guy right next me smoked-up in a real hurry. He didn't make it through the show. At around the 2:30 point in the above video he completely passed out. He just dropped to the floor like a rock. He eventually got up, regained his senses, and then left.


Some people started throwing stuff at the stage. At one point lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala warned the audience that if they keep it up they would stop the show and "keep all the money."

Getting nervous, I eventually made my way to the back just to be safe. I endured a lot of physical abuse at the Messhuggah show during the previous week, so I was in no mood for more elbows to the face. Well, luck was not on my side last night as I ended up in the path of two guys in a fight and was nearly knocked to the ground.

What fun.


But the band was great. High energy, kinetic, and powerful. The neo-psychedelic aspect was really brought to the forefront, as was the unique and highly improvisational guitar playing of Omar Rodríguez-López. They had 8 guys on stage playing everything from wind instruments to bongo drums.

And as crazy as the experience was, I won't want to miss them the next time they come to town.