Early Tuesday (June 21), The Mars Volta unveiled their first new song in a decade, “Blacklight Shine,” after the once-disbanded post-hardcore prog-rockers teased their return over the preceding two days with an audio-visual art installation.
Now, The Mars Volta’s first live shows in the same span have been announced. See the dates down toward the bottom of this post. Tickets go on sale this Thursday (June 23).
“Blacklight Shine” is The Mars Volta’s first studio material since 2012’s Noctourniquet album and the band’s subsequent breakup. The new song is a poppy, Latin-influenced, percussion-heavy number that finds singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala dipping into Spanish. It has an accompanying short film as a music video — watch it below.
Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez formed The Mars Volta after the 2001 breakup of their band At the Drive-In. At the Drive-In’s Jim Ward formed Sparta. The Mars Volta thereafter released six studio albums, starting with 2003’s De-Loused in the Comatorium, which features Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Flea on bass. At the Drive-In briefly reunited in 2011 and 2016. Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez moonlighted as the garage rockers Antemasque in 2014.
Find The Mars Volta concert tickets from 10AM local time Thursday via themarsvoltaofficial.com.
The Mars Volta 2022 Tour Dates
Sept. 23 – Dallas, Texas @ The Factory
Sept. 25 – Atlanta, Ga. @ The Tabernacle
Sept. 27 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Opera House
Sept. 29 – New York, N.Y. @ Terminal 5
Oct. 1 – Boston, Mass. @ MGM Music Hall
Oct. 3 – Washington, D.C. @ The Anthem
Oct. 5 – Toronto, Ontario @ Massey Hall
Oct. 6 – Detroit, Mich. @ The Royal Oak
Oct. 8 – Chicago, Ill. @ Aragon Ballroom
Oct. 11 – Denver, Colo. @ Mission Ballroom
Oct. 14 – Seattle, Wash. @ Moore Theatre
Oct. 18 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Warfield
Oct. 21 – Los Angeles, Calf. @ The Palladium
The Mars Volta, “Blacklight Shine” Video
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