Breathtaking.
I actually could not find a word that would succinctly describe what I felt the moment Jared Leto walked out onto the stage. I was simply stunned...then I started screaming my lungs out. I never imagined that one day, I would be able to watch 30 Seconds to Mars perform here in the Philippines. It was one of those things that you fantasize about, and then after a while you start to forget about it since the possibility of it coming true is practically zero to none. Well I guess sometimes dreams do come true! (I just have to get the drama out of the way.)
My friends and I entered the concert grounds 15 mins before 8pm. The rain wasn't showing any signs of stopping and I was starting to get soaked even under an umbrella. About 9-ish, when the rain showed signs of slowing down, Kjwan entered the stage and sang 4 songs to open for 30 Seconds to Mars. I like Kjwan; I think they are great. But when you’re soaking wet and standing for about an hour or so and you have nowhere else to sit down, you wouldn't be able to appreciate an opening act as much as you would want to; you would want to see your favorite band start the show instead. In all fairness, Kjw
an performed well. As they stepped out, the local production crew, together with the foreign crew, started to get everything ready onstage for 30 Seconds to Mars.
By then, the excitement was already building up and you could see it from the faces of everyone in the crowd. I was, at that point, praying, wishing, and hoping that 30 Seconds to Mars would match the excitement and hype of their fans, and boy, they didn't disappoint!
The lights went off and Shannon Leto went onstage followed by Tomo Millicevic. The crowd was already jumping up and down wildly by then, and when Jared Leto sang the first line of “Escape”, it went into an uproar! First song and I was already in a daze. (I think my 2 friends actually took a couple of steps away from me, because I was already acting like a total lunatic by that time). We started singing with Jared, much like a live videoke show. “Escape” was followed by one of their popular hits, “A Beautiful Lie” much to our delight.
30 Seconds to Mars's energy was unmatched that night. Jared and the rest of the band showed their fans what PERFORMANCE should really be like. Jared asked us to inch forward, jump up and down, scream loudly, raise our hands up in the air and sing like crazy the entire night. He went on further by humoring us with stories, like it’s good that we came to his show considering that Incubus played the day before (I’ll choose you, Jared, any time over Brandon Boyd!) and how much he likes Filipino food, and that he ate noodles for breakfast. He dished out a few Tagalog words he learned. "IKAW NA!", said Jared. Yes, Jared, ikaw na talaga!
What made it even more perfect for me was Jared stepping out onto the ledge in the rain with the fans. That was amazing. He sang a couple songs on his acoustic guitar (btw, he's a superb guitarist). He asked us to fill in the second vocals for “Hurricane” and "The Kill", while he sang the lead, of which he adorably expressed "That was fucking amazing!".
Afterwards, he told us to shout out loudly for Tomo and Shannon to come back out and rock the rest of the night with us. Shannon and Tomo went out finally to perform “Night of the Hunter”, after whichwe were asked to pump our fist up in the air, while the opening notes of “Closer to the Edge” boom out of the speakers. That was my favorite song out of their latest album “This Is War”, so you can just imagine how crazy I must have looked, jumping up and down, pumping my fist in the air and singing "NO! NO! NO!". Well at least the people around looked as demented as I was. They closed the concert by picking out people (mostly kids, actually) from the crowd and brought them onstage as they sang their encore, “Kings and Queens”.
Each member of the band gave us a different kind of chill that night, from jaw-dropping guitar solos by Tomo, headbang- inducing drumbeats by Shannon and orgasmic vocals from Jared. (He's got an incredible voice; really, I'm not biased here).
In Tagalog, “sobrang linis ng tugtugan nila, parang hindi live!”
It was probably as surreal as stepping into Alice's Wonderland. For me, it was an experience that, “I would never forget, NO NO, I would never regret.” 30 Seconds to Mars made every drop of rain worth it.
*Pictures courtesy of Kris Rocha http://mocharocha.tumblr.com/
