30 Seconds to Mars Entertainment Art Metro Chicago, Ill. April 1, 2006

The first thing the sell out crowd notices as the band takes to the stage is their all white uniforms. All white clothes, guitars and drums. Guitarist Tomo Milicevic was even sporting an all white boiler suit, reminiscent of Pete Townsend in the Isle of Wight days. Though the Who are cited as an influence to 30 Seconds to Mars, their opening song of the set, "Beautiful Lie" was pretty far removed from their forefather's material, and definitely lacked the power and bombast associated with the rock giants. The crowd was a little slow to get into things right away. It almost seemed like they were more interested in getting a glimpse of a film star than of participating in an actual rock concert.

After a short break to tune their guitars, they launch into "Capricorn". The crowd is slowly coming their way, though at this point it seems mostly comprised of 15-year-old girls. But it doesn't seem to affect Jared much as he emotionally delivers his lyrics, his guitar either stoically clutched in his hands, or hanging behind his back as a stage prop, leaving Tomo to hold down the guitar fort. It isn't until "The Kill" that the show really starts to take shape. Before it starts Jared berates the crowd, yelling, "Stop falling asleep in the f***ing back! Lemme hear ya make some f***ing noise! Put your fists in the air or you can suck my f***ing dick!". Followed up with, "This song is for the hardcore. It’s called 'The Kill'". The guitars immediately come in, right on cue, with the slow, clean and emotional intro riff.

"If you guys know the words you can sing along. If you don't, you can shut the f*** up!" By now the crowd has woken up a bit and are paying more attention to what is happening onstage, as opposed to who is onstage. Halfway through the song Jared takes a noble stage dive and continues singing without missing a verse. Capitalizing on their newfound crowd respect, they immediately tear into "Buddha". At this point the songs are all sounding very similar. Most start off with an emotional guitar riff that builds into a verse. The middle always has a breakdown that mostly features bassist Matt Wachter backing up Jared as he soulfully cries into the microphone. The lights even seem to have preset settings. Blue and slow to change during the emotional parts and fast reds during the more up-tempo segments.

It’s more of the same through the rest of the set. Singer berates crowd, crowd eats it up. It isn't until the encore that the band delivers a truly unique song that was very well executed with "Was it a Dream".

Although much of the audience had already headed downstairs to line up for a promised post-show meet and greet by the merch table, those that remained were treated to a high octane delivery that was actually very impressive. If 30 Seconds to Mars had more ammo like this in their arsenal, the crowd would have been assaulted, rather than insulted for much more of the show. They even sang the entire chorus when prompted by Jared's classic "mic pointed into the crowd" pose. They really ate it up. It just goes to prove that not only do 15-year-old girls help movies sell out at the box office, but they sell records too.

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