If you went to the Eagle’s Ballroom to see the Mars Volta Sept. 23 with the hopes that the band would play some of its older material, you likely found yourself somewhat disappointed.

The Mars Volta played for more than two hours and touched its first release, “De-Loused in the Comatorium” (2003), only once.

The rest of the set mixed tracks from the band’s new album, “Amputechture,” and a few songs from the 2005 release “Frances the Mute.”

“Amputechture” represented a bulk of the set. In a set that spanned more than two hours, however, it’s strange that the earlier material didn’t get more play.

What the band lacked in variety, it made up for in intensity. The Mars Volta’s dynamic live shows are a rare spectacle. The band takes advantage of the improvisational capabilities of playing live and hardly stops between songs.

This is not to mention the band’s incredible stage presence. Frontman Cedric Bixler Zavala moves across the stage like a cross between Axl Rose and Scott Weiland. It sounds strange, but he can actually pull it off.

Lead guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez rips through song after song without missing a beat or slowing down. Then again, that could be said for the entire band. The Mars Volta’s shows are marathons.

The band opened with “Day of the Baphomets,” one of the stronger tracks from “Amputechture.” It turned the intro into a cacophony of blaring guitars, thunderous drums and powerful bass before jumping into the song’s more familiar territory.

The new material excited the audience, but the audience also wanted some of the old mixed in with the new.

After tearing through songs like “The Widow,” “Viscera Eyes” and “Tetragrammaton,” the Mars Volta closed the show with “Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)” from “De-Loused in the Comatorium.” This is what the audience had been waiting to hear.

Unfortunately, that was the end. Zavala said a quick “thank you,” and the band left the stage. Expecting an encore, the audience stuck around for a few awkward moments before the lights came up, and it was official that the show had concluded.

There was a palpable sense of disappointment that the band cut the evening short. Who doesn’t do encores?

Technically, the show could have been better. The excessive amplification of the instruments drowned out the vocals, making it difficult to hear Zavala sing, let alone sign off the night. Excessive reverb at times caused the instruments to blend together into an ear-shattering sound.

On one hand, it’s easy to be impressed by a spectacle like the Mars Volta. The band’s songs lend themselves to being played live and every member plays with an infectious level of energy. On the other hand, with the lack of earlier material, it was easy to be disappointed by this Mars Volta show.

The set seemed like it was crafted by the band, for the band; the fans were a secondary concern. That’s why the Mars Volta is only a good live band, not a great live band.

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