I saw the average of my generation, an undistinguished grouping of bodies clamoring for souls in a big, empty hollow, splayed out across the floor in the void of the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
The Mars Volta occupied the San Francisco auditorium, which has also been home to countless New Year’s Eve concerts hosted by the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix and others, and continued the annual tradition with their first New Year’s Eve extravaganza. The party, as promised, was unlike any other.
The night began surprisingly only a few minutes late, at around 8:45 p.m., with the three members of The Mars Volta ““ Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Paul Hinojos ““ who were part of the post-punk outfit At The Drive-In, performing their first-ever live acoustic set.
While a treat for the fans, the short, five-song expose was unorganized, and made all of their sloppiness, usually buried under the wall of noise coming from the stage during their electric set, unfortunately evident.
As the night persisted and other bands and DJs came and went from the stage before the headliner’s performance, the crowd grew and the steady barrage of music seemed only to get louder.
Though the crowd, costumed per the band’s Internet request, seemed lost without its beloved on stage. While the band leaders claim to be musical ambassadors, the fans seemed to be nothing more than our TV generation, our generation wholly diagnosed with some sort of ADD.
At about 11:45, The Mars Volta finally took the stage, and the crowd once again gained the focus it so desperately needed. The band launched into their typical repeated assault, a confusing auditory experience unlike any other.
I saw the idolization of supposed higher beings while they exploited the minds of young people, the gods on stage performing with much err and a precision tainted with carelessness.
The show dragged on for more than two hours. Although the set contained some moments that sparkled with brilliance ““ including a new track, Metatron ““ the diamond divas seemed to be lost in a vat of their own powers.
A different New Year’s Eve party, that’s for sure. I’ve now seen the depths of my generation, the idolizing and star-crazed children wide-eyed with adoration for what? For the music? For the hip clothes and retro afros? For the free reign of mind-altering drugs?
Whether or not these New Year’s Eve celebrations once represented something that is now corrupted by short attention spans, The Mars Volta’s turn was more lost in numbness than meaning.
““ Scott Lerner
E-mail Lerner at slerner@media.ucla.edu.