Concert Review: 30 Seconds to Mars 2010

30 Seconds to Mars live at the Logan Campbell Centre August 2010

At the last minute my friend had a spare ticket to 30 Seconds to Mars. I threw him a very reasonable $65 without much thought and jumped in the car to see the Mars invasion for myself. 30 Seconds to Mars had been all over the radio with their rocking tracks and C4 was repeating their outrageously expensive music videos daily. 30 Seconds to Mars seemed like a sweet mash up of rockers and political glamour so it was without a doubt I wanted to see them live.

The night kicked off with Computer Want Me Dead ... which really did leave me feeling a tad dead. Even when the crowd started throwing glow sticks at the duo, there was no spark in their performance. Overall, it was a bit lacklustre, even though on the radio Computers Want Me Dead seemed like a kicking Kiwi duo.

My big mistake was not checking out their most recent album thoroughly before I headed along to the concert. I loved their second album and still play the hits today, but their third album sort of slipped by me. However, even though I didn’t know all the words to the opening track Escape, the rocking intent from 30 Seconds to Mars was there, and I found myself cheering along with the crowd regardless of my lack of knowing the lyrics. Lead singer, Jared Leto, was sporting a large blonde mohawk and sunglasses, and looked every bit a rock star.

For me, the concert really started when Attack was played – this is one of the songs I knew best. This was followed closely by older hits such as A Beautiful Lie and their new smash hit, This Means War a new song I did know all the words to). A nice touch to the night was when Leto disappeared off the stage during a drum solo and reappeared at the sound desk, situated at the back of the venue. This is where he bought out his acoustic guitar and played three songs, including From Yesterday solo. It was a beautiful rendition which the crowd obviously loved, judging from the vast amount of cheering and applauding.

30 Seconds to Mars rounded off their set with their smash hits Closer to the Edge and, my personal favourite, The Kill. I lost my voice somewhere in these two songs and I had to croakily ask my friend how they would encore. It was their recent hit Kings and Queens which did it, complete with around 20 school kids who had won the opportunity to go on stage with the boys.

Overall, it was one rocking night confined within the small space of the Logan Campbell Centre. The biggest disappointment was the acoustic version of From Yesterday; despite it being beautiful, it was the hit which catapulted 30 Seconds to Mars into fame and I would have loved to see the full version as the final song played on the night. Other than this, 30 Seconds to Mars gave me a fantastic night fully worth my money.