Photo Credits: Randall Michelson

When Jared Leto took the stage, immediately you knew the otherwise somewhat dull night was about to change. Right before then, Shiny Toy Guns attempt to entertain the crowd was dull and uneventful, some songs that would otherwise be very recognizable and enjoyable sounded more like screaming then singing. Sisely Treasure was there, and was rocking out dancing from beginning to end but there was something off about her singing that just didn’t cut it for me. In fact, you could hear others in the audience talking about the same thing. Shiny Toy Guns however wasn’t all that bad, when Sisely was doing backup vocals only is when the band really shined.

But we weren’t here for Shiny Toy Guns were we?

During intermission before 30 Seconds To Mars, KROQ’s own Nicole Alvarez went on stage (and yes guys, she is sexy in real life), to introduce the band and asked that we show the band what the "best crowd" sounds like. Sure their earlier show at Santa Barbara was probably sold out and a lot of fun also, but common – you can’t compare that to the crowd today at the world famous Greek Theatre. I mean, seriously? You think that the LA crowd at the Greek Tonight isn’t going to show 30 Seconds to Mars some love?? Sure, the Santa Barbara bowl is a great venue.. But there isn’t about to be movie about it! We are at the Greek!

And so the party starts.

When the "its not fucking pink its pomegranate" Jared Letto came on the stage with, what appeared like a pink (but apparently it wasn't pink), Mohawk, immediately you could feel the excitement in the sold out arena.  However, even this energy couldn’t' prepare the audience for the fun they were about to experience. From before the white curtain dropped, the band started "Escape" and "Night of the Hunter", being played by just their silhouettes for the intro before dropping the curtain to expose the band, and Jared, who at this point was spinning around on stage going 100mph. Who would have guessed he would have as much energy throughout the entire set.

The band got help with "Attack", their third song, with the entire audience singing the hit - but apparently that wasn't enough for Letto who demanded everybody stand up, and we did. For the rest of the entire night everybody was on their feet, jumping, screaming, singing, and just having a good time. The set continued with “Vox Populi” and "From Yesterday" before starting "Seek and Destroy" but, they decided to stop halfway before setting some new ground rules. Jared explained, "My mission is to make sure you have the best fucking time of your life" and also commenting about the venue itself, "People say if you are a rock band you don’t play the Greek, i say fuck you this place is beautiful!" before explaining "we are doing this 30 seconds to mars style" and getting everybody to jump up and down to the rest of the song.

In the middle of the set, Jared came up to the center of the crowd, near the sound booth to play an acoustic version of "The Story" and "Bad Romance" and the beginning of "The Kill" before continuing the rest of the song with the band in its full non acoustic version. As he was about to run down to the stage, a rather large guy ran from the side of the stadium to give Jared Leto a huge bear hug, and, for a second, i thought he knocked him out when he jumped on him for the hug!

The last song of the rather short but extremely fun set was “Kings and Queens”, sang with some 30 people from the audience whom were invited onto the stage to sing along with the band.

After seeing them live for myself, i must say there is really no reason going to a 30 Seconds show shouldn't be a high priority for any concert-goer. I was surprised at how much fun these guys were from the beginning of the set. The one complaint, it should have included a few more songs.

till next time.