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The Mars Volta rocked out for 90 minutes at Roseland ballroom in NYC this evening. Playing an array of tracks from all five of their albums, they had the crowd energized. Cedric Bixler-Zavala was at his best; dancing, singing and flat out performing for, and conversing with the crowd.

With a limited number of band members (only 6 on stage tonight), TMV moved away slightly from their jam-band tendencies to play a fantastic set, albeit a relatively short one.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening with the kids from El Paso.

The Mars Volta wanted to limit themselves on Octahedron to inspire creativity. They did this by scaling back on the number of instruments (sounds like recession music) that played together on the album. The result is a beautiful album in Octahedron. This may be the best Mars Volta album since De-Loused in the Comatorium. For the first time in a long time, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s guitar play takes a back seat to Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s powerful voice, and Cedric shines.

Check Out: “Copernicus,” ” With Twilight as my Guide & “Since We’ve Been Wrong”