Philly’s Electric Factory was packed, but that was before 30 Seconds To Mars came on stage. This was only the beginning; the calm before the incredible thrashing storm of the Into The Wild tour.
Ticketbuyers sat through 3 opening acts that each played several songs. Let’s face it; most people aren’t excited for anyone but the headliner. However, the whole show was solid from the first act to the last.
Street Drum Corps was up first with their amazing, you guessed it, drumming abilities and catchy songs like their newly released single “Knock Me Out”. Next was Neon Trees, who are already a StarShine favorite, performing their hit single “Animal” as well as “1983” and the title track off their album, Habits. This band is bound to blow up big soon.
MUTEMATH was the last of the openers. The band performed several songs off their album, Armstice, including “Chaos”, “Typical” and Twilight famed “Spotlight”, which got the crowd–well, the girls anyhow–singing along. Front man Paul Meany is fun to watch as he spazzes out on stage and jumps on top of his keyboard rambunctiously.
After MUTEMATH left the stage, a tarp was thrown up in order for 30 Seconds To Mars to make a big entrance. Minutes passed and the anticipation built. It was eleven now, and several hours earlier, it was announced on Twitter that the show the next night in Charlotte would be postponed due to Jared Leto’s illness. Slight worry filled the crowd wondering if the band would have to cancel that night at the last minute as well.
Then the lights dimmed and a shadow of a mohawk appeared behind the tarp. Worry vanished and the packed crowd compressed closer to the stage. Shannon Leto took to his drumset and lead guitarist Tomo Miličević took his post.
“Night of the Hunter” was a perfect opening song for the band. Although, Jared’s scratchy vocals were obvious at times, the pink-hawked, blue-eyed frontman still amazed the crowd with his insanely phoneomenal vocals.
Leto was lucky enough to have such a devout cult following who picked up where he left off on vocals when he couldn’t
Jared Leto / Photo by: Sandy Lo
carry out a scream–though he still managed to carry out most of them!
30 Seconds to Mars performed for almost two hours and managed to pack as much fan-interaction as possible. Leto appeared in the crowd at one point, where he accoustically sang a rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and 30STM’s biggest hit “The Kill”. He then began to take requests from the audience as he bantered with them.
Leto was backed again by the band to perform the full version of “The Kill” while he crowd surfed his way back to the stage. 30 Seconds to Mars is all about fan participation and interaction. For the recording of their latest album, This Is War, the band had fans chanting, singing, stomping and clapping throughout the album. They also released the album featuring over 2, 000 different covers with fans’ faces on them, which they call the “Faces of Mars”.
Jared organizes the crowd on stage.
During the band’s latest hit, “Kings and Queens”, Jared handpicked people out of the crowd to come onstage, and not just two or three or ten people–there had to be at least twenty! Now, that experience is worth every dollar.
That is what’s so amazing about this band. It’s not just the music, full of depth and true artistry, but it’s about how the band chooses to share that music–so openly and generously.
Jared, Shannon and Tomo aren’t rock star snobs with “leave me the f*ck alone” attitudes, but a great band with a big heart, who really care about the art of it all. Now, that’s something you don’t see out there anymore.
Back to the setlist…every song pulled the audience member in, whether they were familar with it or not. “A Beautiful Lie”, “From Yesterday”, and “This Is War” had everyone singing along. There was such harmony in the diversely-aged audience–from twelve-year-olds to fifty-somethings. Just about everyone knew every note to be sang–which, as mentioned before, came in handy for the, as he put it, “sick as a dog” Jared Leto.
Photo by: Sandy Lo
He was full of complements and gratitude for the Philly crowd who did everything he asked them to from dancing spastically to forming a mosh pit and screaming loud enough so everyone had a sore throat just as bad as his.
Even though the concert didn’t end until almost 1am, there was not a dull moment. The Into The Wild tour had about four hours of great music, and afterward, 30 Seconds to Mars hung around to sign autographs. With a sick frontman and five straight shows in a row, that’s devotion.
After seeing 30 Seconds to Mars live, other bands should feel ashamed; this is how all bands should treat their audience. Major kudos to Jared and the boys for pulling off that show sickness and all!
For more on 30 Seconds to Mars: www.thirtysecondstomars.com
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