30 Seconds to Mars at Wembley Arena
30 Seconds to Mars – Wembley Arena – 23 Feb 2010
Words by Jason Moriarty / Photos by Marcus Maschwitz
PRETTY AS PUNCH, BUT BLAND AS A SCONE
After an intro with powerful visual and lighting effects in 30 Seconds To Mars’ set last night, they truly were the King’s of promise.
The scene was set for a rocking show.
…… and then the first song started. All around me, the star struck looks on adoring young girls’ faces, turned to bewilderment and confusion as their fantasy was slayed before their eyes. The sound was not great (I was standing 6 feet in front of the sound engineers desks) and Jared sounded more like a Karaoke singer than a rock god.
After one or two songs the band was a bit tighter, but by then the majority of the singing was replaced by a mic held out towards the crowd. Full props must go to the band for pulling the show back into order enough to get people to sing along to the emotive anthems off their latest album. Which is a great album.
Never a band to shy away from making a massive effort to entertain, Jared and the lads had a few changes of costume and cunningly appeared in the middle of the standing area midway through the show. (Jared met his 3 cronies on the impromptu stage from a spot in the stands, running through the crowd and climbing down the railings to meet his band buddies down below).
Whilst the effort was great, there just seemed to be something lacking. There was no flow or climax. Way too many lulls and theatrics. If anything, it all seemed a bit too rehearsed and routine, even the interactions with the crowd were a bit put on. The low point was Jared spending a few minutes debating his latest hairdo with 12000 people while the rest of the band looked on sheepishly. Not very rock n roll.
Ever the optimist, I was hoping that “Search and Destroy” would at least get my pulse rate up a bit and it did at least do that, albeit less than I’d hoped.
Maybe I’m just too old, lame and bitter to be part of the “Mars army” (I might have to join the Street Drum Corps supporters posse instead ‘cos they rocked). Or maybe it was just a bad night at the office for an otherwise great band?
Time will tell, as they have a long tour ahead of them. If they are to do justice to the tour title “This is War”, they’d better turn up with more than just new hairdo’s at the next gun fight.
February 23rd, 2010
I was disappointed but I love Jared and would watch them over and over again. <3
February 24th, 2010
Completely agree. Amazing recorded material. Boring show unless you’re 14 and horny. Spot on review.
February 25th, 2010
I was right next to Jared when he came out into the crowd. I wanted to grab him and never let go. Next time. BEEEAAAAUUUUTIFULLLLLLLLLLLLL
February 25th, 2010
I’ve seen 30STM three times before and this was my least favourite show. Pity
February 25th, 2010
haha “Seek and Deastroy” FAIL!!!!! its Search and Destroy, i think you must have been at the wrong gig cause this one was epic
February 26th, 2010
i completely disagree, you guys are picking up on such petty things.
just enjoy it, so what if he held the mic out to the croud you cant expect him to sing everything seeing as he is jumping around the stage. Sound quality was immense not rubbish!!! ok the banter with the croud wasnt the best but at least he made an effort rather than just going from song to song.
Great Show!!!
February 27th, 2010
Being a long-time 30STM fan, I hate to have to agree with this review. It’s pretty spot on actually. The sound was pretty poor and Jared unfortunately did at times sound like a karoake singer (at least he’s the hottest one on the planet). It’s almost as if he doesn’t have the vocal power to finish off the lyrics and that’s why he points the mic towards the crowd. Really disappointed 30STM!
February 28th, 2010
I think this review is all wrong. I honestly thought this show was amazing, maybe towards the end Jared’s vocals were wearing out but he did it in style, after that show I’m definately up for seeing them again. It made me realize that 30STM are awesome!
March 5th, 2010
This is typical of a lot of reviews I have read, and to be honest I just don’t get it. After all the big bands I have seen over the years, The Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Rush, Yes, Metallica, Muse…the list is endless, that put on huge flawless shows I was pretty impressed by 30STM actually. I can see this getting bigger and bigger. They have never, corrct me if I am wrong, played an Arena show before so it must be all pretty new to them. As for the criticism of the show seeming too rehearsed, EVERY show you see in such places IS rehearsed! You only have to go to some night after night to understand that. Not very much of any show is spontaineous. He mentioned his hair once, so why this keeps getting mentioned is beyond me. I found out after the show that Jared had a bad throat that night, which may explain a lot of the not singing, it’s also called audience participation! I know that may be new to a lot of you but it is pretty standard you know?! I think that a lot of people don’t understand what “live” means. It means wart’n'all which is how it should be! If you want it to sound like the cd then stay at home and listen to the cd….or go and watch one of the ever growing list of people and bands that MIME on stage!!! All in all a VERY good night.
March 7th, 2010
Excuse me people but I really enjoyed this gig and I was with people of all ages that had an extremely good time also. By encouraging the audience to sing Jared allowed the crowd to join in more than singing in the background. It was an amazing night.
June 7th, 2010
OMG!!! it was only the second concert i’ve been to, and man it was amazing
when he was walking down the stand and came to the front of the stand i was right behind him :O haha if there are any photos it would be pretty epic if you could upload them, because i really wanna see if i’m in any 
it was an amazing night x