Bonnaroo 2024 Artist Spotlight: The Mars Volta

Like we’ve been doing for many years now, we’re making it our mission to help you get acquainted with many of our favorite acts from Bonnaroo‘s 2024 lineup. After roaring back to life in 2022, after two years off due to Covid and weather, and feeling fully like its old self again with a great fest last summer, this year marks Bonnaroo’s 21st installment (and 23rd anniversary), boasting not only another great and varied lineup, but also a continuation of some of the big changes and improvements rolled out over the last couple of years, with more flexibility in ticketing and camping, a reimagined “Outeroo” campground area, new activations, and further new ways to Roo. Back once again in its usual June 13-16 timeframe, we’re counting down the days until another great weekend on the farm.

As we dig through the entire schedule, we’ll highlight a spread of performers spanning across genres and stages, big and small, new and old, to bring you some of the most interesting, lesser-known, and most highly-recommended among this year’s crop of artists. And as our time at ‘Roo approaches, we’ll also be bringing you some special features and full list-style daily lineup guides, to help you plan your weekend ahead of the fest. While these previews won’t span every artist, and might omit some more obvious must-see acts, we hope they’ll serve as a way to help you navigate Bonnaroo’s gargantuan lineup, and to make the most of your busy weekend at the fest!

Grab your tickets right here if you haven’t already, and read on for our Bonnaroo Artist Spotlight!

LEARN

Formed in 2001, out of the ashes of seminal El Paso post-hardcore band At the Drive-In, iconic, progressive outfit The Mars Volta near-instantly became one of the most renowned rock groups of the early 2000s upon the release of debut album De-Loused in the Comatorium, celebrated for their conceptual, expansive, frenetic, and mesmerizing style as well as their intense, chaotic, and dazzling live show. Helmed by powerhouse vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Omar Rodríguez-López, who’ve remained the band’s constants amidst a rotating lineup of collaborators and backing players over the decades, The Mars Volta began as a more experimental and progressive outlet for the pair (evolving from a prior dub reggae side project, De Facto), as At the Drive-In- despite being on the cusp of widespread commercial success (and becoming a cult favorite band in the years since)- had begun to feel creatively stagnant. Their 2002 debut EP, Tremulant, along with wild, intimate early shows, immediately drew an initial fanbase, but it was the following year’s Rick Rubin-produced De-Loused which shot them superstardom, boasting conceptual, sci-fi and heady and philosophical themes, and intense, layered, hard-hitting and technically impressive arrangements. Never a jam band in the sonic sense, TMV brought that jam ethos for punk and prog fans to their live shows, and by 2005 sophomore LP Frances the Mute, they were landing on the Billboard charts, headlining major tours and fests, and being name-checked alongside some of the greatest rock groups of all time. Over the next several years, the band would remain hugely and fervently beloved, even if those first couple of records marked their commercial mainstream peak, with 2006’s Amputechture, 2008’s The Bedlam in Goliath, and 2009’s Octahedron, all continuing to push forward their conceptual, progressive, jazz and math rock infused stylings. with Rodríguez-López serving as the primary composer and producer, while also branching out with some solo endeavors. Slowing their pace a bit, and continuing to experience lineup changes and disagreements within the band, The Mars Volta would release a sixth album, Noctourniquet, around which time they also briefly brought back At the Drive-In, before a rift between Cedric and Omar caused both projects to disband by late 2012. Thankfully, the pair patched things up, and embarked on a lengthier ATDI reunion for a few years, even recording their first album in 17 years, 2017’s in•ter a•li•a, before relegating the group to nostalgia once again the following year. Between the reunion and other projects (Omar’s Bosnian Rainbows and Cedric’s Zavalaz), The Mars Volta remained dormant for a decade, but finally, in 2022, the pair revealed that they’d secretly begun working on a new album in 2019, simply called The Mars Volta and released in late 2022, with an acoustic reworking, Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazón, dropping the following year. Since their return, the band have embarked on a few short tours, opting to play theaters rather than the arenas of their heyday (which, honesty, sounds like the perfect way to experience them). They can absolutely crank things up to epic, huge stages when they want to though, and that’s exactly what we expect from their return to Bonnaroo- their first time at the fest in 15 years.