Weather Forecast: Heavy snow with chances of a ‘Hurricane’
The US rockers 30 Seconds to Mars cause a storm at the Birmingham NIA, 1st December 2010.
The band has had a mammoth year with two world tours, a Download festival performance, winning a MTV EMA award for Best Rock Band and a MTV VMA award for Best Rock Video. Nothing could have stopped 30 Seconds to Mars in their attempt to make 2010 year of the Echelon, and the biggest year of their musical career. Was it just one step too far?
The US rockers 30 Seconds to Mars cause a storm at the Birmingham NIA, 1st December 2010.
The band has had a mammoth year with two world tours, a Download festival performance, winning a MTV EMA award for Best Rock Band and a MTV VMA award for Best Rock Video. Nothing could have stopped 30 Seconds to Mars in their attempt to make 2010 year of the Echelon, and the biggest year of their musical career. Was it just one step too far?
First band of the evening was a trio from California, Funeral Party. The indie/ rock band were not originally on the bill to support 30 Seconds to Mars; therefore a surprise to most of the audience. Funeral Party had a similar sound to 30 Seconds to Mars but lacked in on-stage personality affecting the reception they received from the still spectators. Being an unknown and unexpected addition to the line-up, the band did not receive the positive response they were hoping for.
The next band was the announced support which, by the greeting they received, was very popular with the Birmingham crowd. Enter Shikari (ΣΠΤΣR SHΦΚΔRΦ), post-Hardcore rock ravers from St Albans took the NIA stage, strobe lighting and techno beats at the ready. Stirring mosh-pits as they played tracks such as, ‘Sorry You’re Not a Winner’ and their newest single, ‘Destabilise’. Vocalist, Roughton 'Rou' Reynolds, climbed up the lighting stand at the side of the stage and ran around like a man possessed as the band truly warmed the crowd which, he himself claimed, was their job. Enter Shikari played earlier this year at the Reading and Leeds festivals managing to fill the NME tents; therefore they were certainly able to play before an arena sized crowd, keeping their charisma whilst performing. With adrenaline pumping through their veins, the audience was now ready for 30 Seconds to Mars.
After the long interval the ‘cult’ were ready for their leaders to arrive on stage. Intense drumming could be heard from behind the white curtain complemented by flashing lights darting around the hidden stage. This wait seemed to drag on longer than needed; the anticipation in the arena was already high without this added delay. Finally the curtain was pulled down, revealing an electric blue haired Jared Leto to the hungry crowd. ‘Escape’ opened the set followed by ‘Night of the Hunter’ two tracks off their most recent album ‘This is War’. Those who had not seen the band tour earlier this year would perhaps not have noticed that Jared’s vocals were slightly off when it came to the next song, ‘A Beautiful Lie’, the title track of their second album. It was clear, however, to those who had seen them previously, that a year of none stop touring has affected Leto’s voice; the normally hair-raising notes were not being reached. It also seemed that the audience were asked to do the bulk of the singing, giving Leto time to recover. Jared’s voice had either been temporarily damaged by illness or touring fatigue, nevertheless he turned up and performed to his fans which some lead singers would not have done.
For what he lacked, that night, in vocal ability he made up for in onstage personality; acting as a true leader, commanding the seated to stand and the standing to go crazy. As part of Jared’s get fit scheme he made the entire audience jump to every song, adding in the occasional pumping of fists to work the arms.
The drumming from Shannon Leto was as impressive as it always has been; his passion visible through his art. Shannon was able to give the ordered audience something to jump to. Tomo Miličević gave a great performance on lead guitar, sometimes joined by Jared to produce the classic and new riffs of 30 Seconds to Mars.
Later in the set Jared took to the stage solo, playing some of the older 30 Seconds to Mars tunes acoustically, ‘Echelon’ and ‘Capricorn (A Brand New Name)’ both tracks from their self-titled album. He then went off on a tangent playing Lady GaGa’s ‘Bad Romance’ acoustically, encouraging all to join in with the cover; Jared achieved inspiring vocal diversity when singing this chart hit.
A patchy ‘The Fantasy’ ended the set before the encore; Leto stopping many times to tell the crowd to go crazy, whilst sounding slightly out of breath when performing the track. At the end he stood center stage under a spotlight, acting as a volume switch to the audience’s screams. Raising his arms made them louder and lowering his arms made them quieter. Leto then had fun with this power rapidly waving his arms up and down, screams distorted as he exited the stage.
The band returned to perform two songs for their encore, the first was ‘Hurricane’, before which Jared mentioned the banning of the highly controversial new video for the song, comparing it to the news which shows explicit scenes every day. The last song of the evening was the popular ‘Kings and Queens’. Jared invited several members of the audience to join the band onstage to create the unity the song reflects.
Although this gig seemed like a puddle reflection of the tour earlier this year, the band did well with creating an exceptional atmosphere. The lighting effects used added to the dramatic appearance of the set, which also included a giant model of their triangle ‘This is War’ symbol. Nothing has changed Leto’s charisma and audience interaction; however a break for the band is well overdue.
The next band was the announced support which, by the greeting they received, was very popular with the Birmingham crowd. Enter Shikari (ΣΠΤΣR SHΦΚΔRΦ), post-Hardcore rock ravers from St Albans took the NIA stage, strobe lighting and techno beats at the ready. Stirring mosh-pits as they played tracks such as, ‘Sorry You’re Not a Winner’ and their newest single, ‘Destabilise’. Vocalist, Roughton 'Rou' Reynolds, climbed up the lighting stand at the side of the stage and ran around like a man possessed as the band truly warmed the crowd which, he himself claimed, was their job. Enter Shikari played earlier this year at the Reading and Leeds festivals managing to fill the NME tents; therefore they were certainly able to play before an arena sized crowd, keeping their charisma whilst performing. With adrenaline pumping through their veins, the audience was now ready for 30 Seconds to Mars.
After the long interval the ‘cult’ were ready for their leaders to arrive on stage. Intense drumming could be heard from behind the white curtain complemented by flashing lights darting around the hidden stage. This wait seemed to drag on longer than needed; the anticipation in the arena was already high without this added delay. Finally the curtain was pulled down, revealing an electric blue haired Jared Leto to the hungry crowd. ‘Escape’ opened the set followed by ‘Night of the Hunter’ two tracks off their most recent album ‘This is War’. Those who had not seen the band tour earlier this year would perhaps not have noticed that Jared’s vocals were slightly off when it came to the next song, ‘A Beautiful Lie’, the title track of their second album. It was clear, however, to those who had seen them previously, that a year of none stop touring has affected Leto’s voice; the normally hair-raising notes were not being reached. It also seemed that the audience were asked to do the bulk of the singing, giving Leto time to recover. Jared’s voice had either been temporarily damaged by illness or touring fatigue, nevertheless he turned up and performed to his fans which some lead singers would not have done.
For what he lacked, that night, in vocal ability he made up for in onstage personality; acting as a true leader, commanding the seated to stand and the standing to go crazy. As part of Jared’s get fit scheme he made the entire audience jump to every song, adding in the occasional pumping of fists to work the arms.
The drumming from Shannon Leto was as impressive as it always has been; his passion visible through his art. Shannon was able to give the ordered audience something to jump to. Tomo Miličević gave a great performance on lead guitar, sometimes joined by Jared to produce the classic and new riffs of 30 Seconds to Mars.
Later in the set Jared took to the stage solo, playing some of the older 30 Seconds to Mars tunes acoustically, ‘Echelon’ and ‘Capricorn (A Brand New Name)’ both tracks from their self-titled album. He then went off on a tangent playing Lady GaGa’s ‘Bad Romance’ acoustically, encouraging all to join in with the cover; Jared achieved inspiring vocal diversity when singing this chart hit.
A patchy ‘The Fantasy’ ended the set before the encore; Leto stopping many times to tell the crowd to go crazy, whilst sounding slightly out of breath when performing the track. At the end he stood center stage under a spotlight, acting as a volume switch to the audience’s screams. Raising his arms made them louder and lowering his arms made them quieter. Leto then had fun with this power rapidly waving his arms up and down, screams distorted as he exited the stage.
The band returned to perform two songs for their encore, the first was ‘Hurricane’, before which Jared mentioned the banning of the highly controversial new video for the song, comparing it to the news which shows explicit scenes every day. The last song of the evening was the popular ‘Kings and Queens’. Jared invited several members of the audience to join the band onstage to create the unity the song reflects.
Although this gig seemed like a puddle reflection of the tour earlier this year, the band did well with creating an exceptional atmosphere. The lighting effects used added to the dramatic appearance of the set, which also included a giant model of their triangle ‘This is War’ symbol. Nothing has changed Leto’s charisma and audience interaction; however a break for the band is well overdue.
Words By: Gemma Harling Photographs by: The NIA Birmingham
Photos available from the NIA Birmingham's Official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/niabirmingham
Photos available from the NIA Birmingham's Official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/niabirmingham
