Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group
Bijou Theatre
Knoxville, Tenn.
March 22

It may have been the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group in name, but the proceedings at The Bijou Theatre were dominated by Cedric Bixler-Zavala, one of rock’s most dynamic (and unpredictable) singers and Lopez’s bandmate in prog-rock gods The Mars Volta. Zavala’s appearance – in which he generally did his polarizing thing, twirling the microphone, prancing around like a demented disco freak, and assaulting the diverse crowd with a barrage of F-bombs – came as a shock to many fans who, quite frankly, had no idea what to expect out of this show, which was high in energy but occasionally aimless.

And the confusion was understandable – there are no easy labels when it comes to Lopez’s solo career. The man has achieved what might be some kind of indulgent world record for musical prolificacy, releasing nearly 30 albums outside of his main band, dating back to 2004 (including a whopping 10 in 2010), with basically each one managing to be a completely new animal – from the fairly standard Latin-tinged prog (at least by Lopez’s standards) of 2009’s Old Money to the following year’s dub-heavy Tychozorente, a mainly ambient electronic collection with guest vocals from his girlfriend, Ximena Sariñana.

Without a setlist (and with absolutely no introductions from the band), it was hard to tell what songs the group (which was rounded out by several current Mars Volta members) was playing – or even if they were planned songs at all. The night saw Zavala twitching around like a salsa dancer with fire ants in his pants, boosted the energy level with his long-winded vocal tirades (a mix of Baptist preacher zeal and slam poetry), but the kineticism gradually morphed into drone, the band cycling through the same thick, repetitive riffs with little in the way of melody or movement.
“When you walk the plank, tell me what you see!” Zavala screamed during the band’s last song. At various points, the show did feel a mental death march. It was sensory overload in Knoxville – which is typically Lopez’s specialty – but on this occasion, the songs just weren’t there.