Concert Review: 30 Seconds To Mars
By Chad DuPriest
November 14, 2006
Texas Gigs

30 Seconds To Mars performed to a sold-out crowd this past Saturday at Fort Worth’s Ridglea Theatre. Also in attendance were the bands Head Automatica, Cobra Starship and Rock Kills Kid. The event was part of MTV2’s $2 Bill Tour. In addition to these bands, a percussion ensemble performed twice: once right before 30STM and again as a sort of intermission, this time including drummer Shannon Leto (the latter being a great improvement from the first 15 minute performance that was obviously synched to pre-recorded drums.)

30STM kicked-off the performance with their loudest songs, elevating the audience’s excitement. After the first two songs, lead singer Jared Leto began dialogue with the audience. Leto took every opportunity between songs to show his appreciation for the “believers” who have supported the band since their beginning (and expressing an explicit two-word phrase to those non-believers.) This band represented itself as fully devoted to their fans, pledging to give autographs to every single attendee that wanted one. Leto’s outspoken devotion to his fans was borderline laughable – though I would much rather see that in a performer than unappreciative arrogance.

There were a few moments where Leto seemed to avoid hitting the high notes, but those moments were well compensated by his unrelenting belching of violent screams, vocalizing the emotions embedded in the lyrics. Most impressive were the phenomenal lighting effects – able to present the stage as everything from a strobe-lit nightmare to a peaceful realm of lucidity for the light guitar solos. Ranking the audience’s overall chaos on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being a Yanni concert, 10 being Woodstock ’99), this audience ranked at about a 6 – a couple of notches lower than Leto was wanting. Still, that does not indicate any lack of “rock on” hand gestures, crowd surfing and moshing.

Upon introduction for their most popular song, "The Kill", Leto proudly announced their recent MTV Video Music award for the hit single – milking their success for all it’s worth. The song was executed in a fashion that would meet the expectations of any die-hard fan. Audience involvement was at its peak when the house lights were brought up for half the song, encouraging the audience to sing along. That’s what really makes this band stand out. They don’t merely go to a concert to perform and get it over with, they aim to grow their cult (which Leto notes as “a family that grows stronger every day”) and seek recognition – and they do this by putting on a badass concert. What more could any alternative/indie rock fan ask for?