does your temperature ache? is your glass about to break?

Alright let's start with the setlist:

1) Son Et Lumiere

2) Inertiatic ESP

3) Goliath

4) Cotopaxi

5) Roulette Dares

6) Viscera Eyes

7) Halo of Nembutals

8) Eunuch Provocateur

9) Ilyena

10) Teflon

11) Drunkship of Lanterns

12) Luciforms

13) The Widow

14) Wax Simulacra

I won't even try to expound on how great this concert was so I'll just talk about the impressions that I had overall. Lately I haven't really been excited by going to concerts (even Tool) so I was pleasantly surprised by the bubble I felt in the pit of my belly when I woke up this afternoon. My concert going partner and I were just barely on time and had a few minutes to grab some merch and drinks before heading over to the stage. We decided to stand on the right side (and now my right ear is abuzz) which turned out to be fortunate as that's where Cedric spent most of his time, and we still had a very clear view. There was an interesting mix of old and new songs that all complimented each other in the order above - the shock of the night was the performance of Eunuch Provocateur - off of the Tremulant EP which came out before De Loused in the Comatorium - I have never heard the Mars Volta play any of their songs written prior to their debut album - so this was a treat. The execution was incredibly energetic - Cedric's dancing was alluring, gorgeous, sexual, hypnotizing, and many other similar adjectives that I could throw out. The man is mesmerizing in his articulation of feeling and music through his body.

The one image that will be seared into my memory ever more is of Cedric jumping in the air, and flinging his head as such that all the beads of sweat flew off of his curly El Paso Afro in the green backlight of the stage during Eunuch Provocateur. It was completely in the moment and incredibly cinematic and gorgeous. I hope someone captured it. Other stray thoughts - Teflon was heartbreakingly and beautifully delivered - the guys were really on top of everything tonight, everything was really tight, despite the fact that Juan (the bassist) had a broken hand! I noticed that this time around (as opposed to the Spring 2008 concert at the Docks) the guys decided to concentrate on more straight forward rock songs instead of the meandering psychedelic rock operas of yore. I mean, not that it wasn't anything it should have been, or that any aspect of their expressive selves was negated, but I noticed that this time around there were no trumpets/saxophones, where as last year one of the biggest parts of the concert was Ikey and the shit he could do, it really stood out. This time around there was more of a focus on Omar's brother Marcel playing bongoes and congas and Ikey playing keyboard instead of the brass instruments. It was perfect, and I feel incredibly satisfied, largely in part due to the fact that the set list was so diverse in terms of where they pulled content from.

It was achingly perfect.