The Mars Volta Play Mexico City, and This Time the Whole Catalogue
Key Facts
- What happened. The Mars Volta play the Pepsi Center WTC in Mexico City on Sunday November 29.
- Why it matters. The 2025 shows played one album start to finish. This run draws on everything.
- What it costs. General admission is about 1,290 pesos (about US$76), rising to 2,827 (about US$167).
- The catch. Buy from abroad and the cardholder must collect in person, with matching ID.
- The other date. They play Puebla the night before, alongside Caifanes and The Flaming Lips.
- Who opens. The Puerto Rican artist Kianí Medina is the announced special guest.
The Mars Volta return to Mexico City on November 29 for a career-spanning set. That is not what they were doing a year ago, and buying from outside Mexico is the hard part.
Omar Rodríguez-López calls Mexico his magic place, and the band treats it as a second home market. This is the show where they finally play the old songs again.
The Show
The Mars Volta play the Pepsi Center WTC on Sunday November 29, starting at 20:00. The venue is inside the World Trade Center complex in Colonia Nápoles, in the Benito Juárez borough.
The show time comes from the venue’s own event page and the band’s official tour feed, which agree exactly. No doors time has been published anywhere.
The promoter is OCESA. Tickets are sold through Ticketmaster México and at the venue box office.
The Puerto Rican artist Kianí Medina is the announced special guest. This is a single headline show rather than a festival slot.
The Set Is the Story
Their 2025 shows played the album Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos del Vacío in full, and nothing else. That is unusual even by their standards.
The 2026 run is explicitly career-spanning and draws on the whole catalogue. For anyone who waited out the 2025 tour, that is the difference that matters.
The album itself came out in April 2025, eighteen tracks of prog, jazz, electronics and psychedelia. A fan-voted live album was announced in July.
The band last played this same venue in May 2023. Mexico is reported to be their second-largest market.
Prices, and Where They Come From
General admission is listed at about 1,290 pesos, roughly US$76. Sección C is about 1,513 pesos, or US$89.
Box Superior runs to 1,686 pesos (about US$100), and the Corona Lounge tier reaches 2,827 pesos (about US$167).
Accessible seating is priced with Sección C, at about 1,512 pesos. Conversions use 16.91 pesos to the US dollar, the interbank close for September 8, 2026.
One caveat we will not hide. Ticketmaster México blocks automated access, so these figures come from Mexican press rather than from the seller.
Sources also differ by a few centavos, and none establishes clearly whether the published prices include service charges. Check the seller before you commit.
A Citibanamex presale ran on September 1 and the general sale opened on September 2. The band’s own tour feed still showed tickets available today.
The Box-Office Trap for Foreign Buyers
The venue requires the cardholder in person, with matching photo identification, for card purchases at the box office. A passport, residency card, national ID or driving licence is accepted.
Will Call pickup works the same way and needs the physical card. Tickets not collected within the stated window are cancelled outright.
That catches visitors who buy from abroad and expect to collect on arrival with someone else’s card. It does not work.
Buying at the box office in person has one real advantage. The venue charges no service fee there, unlike the online seller.
Digital tickets need mobile data at the gate, because the barcode refreshes. The choice between print and digital cannot be undone once made.
Who They Are
The Mars Volta formed in El Paso, Texas in 2001, around the singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and the guitarist and producer Omar Rodríguez-López.
Both came out of At the Drive-In, the post-hardcore band that broke up in 2001 on the edge of a commercial breakthrough. The pair explored dub first, in a side project, before starting this one.
The sound fuses progressive rock, free jazz, salsa and Latin percussion with punk aggression, and the song titles are frequently Spanish. They became the most commercially successful openly experimental rock band of the 2000s.
Get the split right, because it is often reported loosely. They went on hiatus in September 2012 and formally broke up in January 2013, after a falling-out between the two principals.
They reconvened privately in 2019 and announced the reunion in June 2022, with a self-titled album that September.
The Puebla Date, and Getting There
They also play Tecate Comuna at Foro Cholula in San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, on November 28. That is the night before, on a bill with Caifanes and The Flaming Lips.
Puebla is about two hours from the capital and needs a separate ticket. Anyone doing both should book the road time deliberately.
For the Mexico City show, the Pepsi Center WTC sits sixty metres from Avenida Insurgentes with more than 3,000 parking spaces.
Public transport is Metrobús Line 1 to Poliforum, or Metro Line 7 to San Pedro de los Pinos. The box office opens 11:00 to 19:00 on weekdays and 11:00 to 16:00 at weekends.
The hall takes roughly 6,500 to 8,000 people in concert format. Most events admit all ages, and no age restriction has been published for this one.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where do The Mars Volta play in Mexico City?
Sunday November 29 at the Pepsi Center WTC in Colonia Nápoles, starting at 20:00. No doors time has been published.
How much are tickets?
General admission is about 1,290 pesos (about US$76), rising to 2,827 pesos (about US$167) for the Corona Lounge tier. Those figures come from Mexican press, not the seller.
Will they play the old songs?
Yes. The 2025 shows played one album in full, but the 2026 run is career-spanning and draws on the whole catalogue.
Can I buy a ticket from outside Mexico?
You can pay online, but the box office requires the cardholder in person with matching identification. Uncollected tickets are cancelled, so plan the pickup before you travel.
Sources: Pepsi Center WTC, official event page, Pepsi Center WTC, box office and entry rules, Pepsi Center WTC, capacity and transport, Indie Rocks, prices and sale dates, Infobae, presale details and special guest, Sopitas, the announcement and the Puebla link, El CEO, Mexican peso reference rate
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