I got started in photography shooting concerts. I have been to over 500 easily. I've seen 311 75+ times and Incubus 45+ times...so, it must be well over 500 concerts total....anyhow, At The Drive-In was the best concert I have ever seen.
The energy and musicianship was outta control. This was right after Relationship of Command came out. The next time I saw them was the month they broke up. That show was just as insane but, more of a downer because you could tell they didn't want to be there at that point.
Just the same, most intense energy band.
Other bands that have come real close with bringing that energy live: Incubus in 1998 (S.C.I.E.N.C.E. tour), These Arms Are Snakes (the last two years before they split), and Thursday (Full Collapse tour). Just balls out all over the stage and in the fans' faces craziness.
Mars Volta just needs to work with Rick Rubin more. Omar doesn't know how to edit down the songs for album play right. All those parts are fun live but, it gets tiresome listening to it live. They need Rick to tell them which parts to leave off the album to keep the songs from losing their cohesion.
The newest album is pretty great. Omar has come a long way since their second album. But, it still needs some work. The first track should not take ****ing two minutes for the music to start up. That's just obnoxious. It's not artistic and suspense building or whatever he was going for.
