The Mars Volta
The return of Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez – singer and guitarist respectively of the dear departed At The Drive-In – in new incarnation The Mars Volta is absolutely one of the most ravenously anticipated sets of Witnness ’03, as the ATD-I T-shirts dotted around this (absolutely rammed) tent and intermittent chants of "VOLTA! VOLTA! VOLTA!" for 20 minutes before they go onstage attest. And they don’t. Fucking. Disappoint. This is monumental, earth-shattering, soul-shredding, life-or-death motherfucker blues rock. They start the first phrase of their first song with the kind of dissonant, apocalyptic, howling noise and relentless physicality that most bands, on a good night, would kill to finish their set with – and they keep it at that pitch or higher throughout: Cedric shrieking like Robert Plant, Janis Joplin and Trail Of Dead’s Conrad Keely fused into one, mic stands and mics and limbs and Afros flying for a straight half hour. Jesus fucking lord.