I say better late than never...On March 31st I attended the Mars Volta show at the Berkeley Community Center and hands down it was THE BEST SHOW THAT I HAVE EVER. I should note that I go to A LOT of shows and have seen MANY bands, some of them multiple times (Interpol, 6 times). The venue was a theater and there were seats, but the security was lenient so we hung out part of the show in the front left, right near the stage. The sound was great and the band rocked out. Cedric was very dramatic, which means that he was always doing something (screaming out to the audience, dancing, swinging the microphone around, picking the microphone pole with his teeth, climbing the amps, and so on). One of the things that he did was to go into the aisles. I happened to be standing right by the center aisle towards the back of the theater at that particular time, and was lucky enough to shake hands with him. Of course I went totally mad because he totally reeks cool. He probably had the best time during the show because he jumped in and played Marcel's drums. Omar rocked out throughout the whole performance and my love for his guitar style grew even more that night. There is something very reminiscent of Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix when he plays the guitar that I can't get enough of. I thought that the Santa Cruz show was superb, but this show took the cake. Because the venue was relatively larger than the Catalyst, the band was able to display some cool artsy backgrounds, which were totally psychedelic. Combine that with killer lights and an all-talented band and you got yourself the ultimate show. Oh how I love this band!

In other news, I am happy to report that the White Stripes' new album, Icky Thump will be coming out June 19th and this is the art work for the cover: