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| 30 Seconds to Mars headlines tour with Middle Class Rut |
It was 7:30pm as the line of people wrapped around the entire Fox Theater in Pomona. Fans have been waiting since 12:00pm and were ready to go inside and see both Middle Class Rut and 30 Seconds to Mars. Around 8pm people started pouring into the venue. Many went to the merch table but most headed to get wristbands for the pit.
At around 9:00pm the lights dimmed and everyone started cheering. There played the intro to the Linkin Park song “Wretches and Kings” as Zack Lopez and Sean Stockham of the two man band, Middle Class Rut, came onto the stage and started the set with, “Alive or Dead”. Starting off sounding like an intro song after only a minute it went into a punk rock song. Without stopping they alternated song to song. Around the middle of their 4th song Sean Stockham the drummer kept knocking his microphone stand down and at the end of the song explained why.
“The TelePrompTer told me to do it so I had to you know and the ping pong ball was bouncing on the words so that’s why” as the crowd laughed the singer, Zack Lopez, introduced their new album “No Name no Color” and asked the crowd to hang out with them at the merch table after the show. Before going into their last song Lopez tells the audience, “You know you guys, we love San Diego but, you guys are so much better!” As the crowd cheers Stockham rains on the parade saying “No, San Diego was way better then you guys!” The crowd boos and he tells them he was joking. They finish up their set and make their way off stage, throwing guitar pics and drum sticks into the crowd.
It was close to 10- 10:30pm when the lights dimmed and “Escape” started to play, the three sided triangle logo lit up into a white color and 30 Seconds to Mars came out one by one, singer- Jared Leto being last. There was a short pause as the lights became a bit brighter and Jared stood in front of the three sided triangle and the band went into “Night of the Hunter” with Leto spinning and demanding to see the crowd jumping.
Toward the middle of their 5th song Search and Destory”, Leto in the middle of a verse stopped the song. He wasn’t pleased with the crowd’s energy. He asked to shine some light on the mosh pit.
“Hey you, photographer, this place isn’t for taking pictures. If you want to take pictures go up there! The pit is for jumping and moshing.” Leto said to one of the fans in the front row.
“Can I get some lights on the people up top? What do you think you’re doing up there? There’s plenty of room down here!” When the lights failed to shine on the people on the balcony Leto was glad. “Good thing the lights aren’t shining on you right now! I am not happy. I won’t be happy until everyone jumps so high we touch the ceiling and knock this building down! Now everyone go crazy!” They resumed the song from where they left off and the both the pit and the balcony fans were jumping and singing along. 6 high energy songs went by and Leto got his acoustic guitar.
“Right now, I want everyone to take out your phones. That includes your Ipod, Ipad, and Ibrain.I wanna hear all my brothers make some noise.”
As the guys in the audience shout with their low voices Leto makes a scared face.
“Now that was scary. Now lemme hear all my women!”
As the women finish screaming in their high voices Jared says,
“Jesus Christ, you women are controlling. Now you know let’s just do a quick experiment right now, just turn to the guy or girl standing next to you and say hello just introduce yourself. If you already know each other, don’t do it, that’s very annoying. It’s a great time right now to get that girls number the one you’ve been staring at all night.”
Leto goes into Alibi and mid song stops singing to let the crowd finish. At the end he tells them,
“You guys sound like drunken sick cows.”
Leto plays “From Yesterday” and halfway starts to cover “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga
“I want to a play a new song for you guys tonight! Is that okay? We just wrote it today in our dressing room.”
As everyone takes out their phones to record, the band goes into the well known song “The Kill” A quarter into the song Leto jumped into the crowd which got everyone more excited and pushing even more. The song was followed by “The Fantasy” The band thanks the crowd and leaves the stage. The crowd starts to chant “We want more, we want more!” In only a minute the band is back on stage.
“How many of you have seen our “Hurricane” music video?” As the crowd cheered Leto shakes his head.
“Well I am going to have to ground you all for 3 weeks. Let me see the hand of the people who saw it so I can see who the perverts are. Ya, I know now. Do you guys wanna hear it?” The crowd screams as they start Hurricane.
The band leaves the stage again. The crowd once again starts chanting but this time for a specific song. “Kings and Queens, Kings and Queens”
The lights are still dimmed when the silhouettes of the band members are seen coming back on stage. As the lights shine bright for the first time in the show. Leto once again lets the balcony know there is room in the pit. He asks who wants to be on stage and everyone starts jumping, shouting and raising hands. He shows security who he wants from the pit and balcony. After 20 or so people Leto says no more, but couldn’t help picking at least 5 more people. Drummer, Shannon Leto got a boy around 10 years old to get up on the drums with him to help him out.
When half the song goes by, Leto stops the song.
“This is the last half of the last song for the rest of the night, I wanna see you go crazy. Everyone get down real low, get down real low. Are you ready, are you ready Pomona?”
On 3 everyone jumps up and they finish the song with Leto saying
“Thank you so much, for a night I will never forget”
They ended the set playing 4 songs from their 2005 album “Beautiful Lie” and 10 out of 12 songs from their 2009 album “This is War”
Though during the 30 Seconds to Mars set, the lighting was usually very dark where you couldn’t see the band members, both performances pleased the crowd with good vocals, good songs and interactions with fans.
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About the Author
Nicole Lemberg is a teen concert photographer, reviewer, and band interviewer. She recently started her own website Soundcheck411.com and her work has been published on numerous music related sites. She is a point and shooting guard on her high school basketball team. In her free time Nicole goes to concerts and hangs out with friends.
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