Thirty Seconds to Mars: mission accomplished

Lead+singer+Jared+Leto+encourages+the+audience+to+sing+along+while+the+band+plays+Search+and+Destroy.

Catherine Hathaway

Lead singer Jared Leto encourages the audience to sing along while the band plays “Search and Destroy.”

Catherine Hathaway, A&E Editor

The crowd squints through the fog to get a better glimpse of the dark figures emerging on to the stage. The signature neon triangle blinks in the darkness until the lights come up on the band members of Thirty

Drummer Shannon Leto takes a break in between songs after relentless playing.
Drummer Shannon Leto takes a break in between songs after relentless playing.

Seconds to Mars. As Jared Leto utters the first few lines of “Night of the Hunter”, the entire audience is in an uproar of delight.

Thirty Seconds to Mars, a popular Los Angeles rock band known for its theatrical performances and world renown tours, came to Dallas to play atHow The Edge Stole Christmas at The Verizon Wireless Center in Grand Prairie. After word spread that the band might miss the show due to traffic and icy road conditions, the audience was wild with delight when they saw the members arrive on the stage.

Thirty Seconds to Mars brought an entirely different energy than any of the other bands playing at How The Edge Stole Christmas. With tons of confetti, inflatable balloons and strobe lights in tow, the band gave a performance audience members couldn’t forget if they tried. Jared Leto, the band’s lead singer and frontman, only added to the energy asking his audience to jump, climb on each other’s shoulders and get onstage with him. You could hear the gasps from the crowd when Leto actually jumped into the audience to rock out with his fans. Even if you had no clue who Thirty Seconds to Mars is, a fantastic time would be had partying to them at this concert. Though the arena was small, and only the most fortunate fans got to be close to the action on stage, Thirty Seconds to Mars made sure no one left unsatisfied. The band pull every trick, stunt and effect they could to give their audience a perfect evening.

Singer Jared Leto performs "Night of the Hunters" from the 2009 album "This is War."
Singer Jared Leto performs “Night of the Hunters” from the 2009 album “This is War.”

The setlist for this concert was a well-known mix of music that everyone could sing along to. Leto’s voice seemed to be giving out for a good portion of the concert as he kept reaching for his water, played his more milder songs, asked the audience to sing with him.

Shannon Leto, the band’s drummer and Jared Leto’s brother, was set in a very prominent position on the stage that gave us a very nice view of the intensity he exudes while he works. Shannon was constantly moving, sweating and playing to a point of exhaustion. Exhaustion that was lovely to listen to. With Jared’s

voice giving out, his brother covered nicely with a decent number of drum solos, but getting to hear Shannon’s incredible abilities even more left nobody complaining.

Jared Leto’s stunning bright blue eyes sparkled at the crowd as he reached out to his “Mar Army” and interacted with fans like he has known them forever. Glancing around the arena at all the fans holding up their phone lights, and singing along to “City of Angel” could give anyone chills. Hearing the richness of Jared’s voice as he did an acoustic to the song “Hurricane”, a slower song off their 2009 album “This Is War” could melt even the

Singer Jared Leto plays an acoustic version of Hurricane off the album "This is War."
Singer Jared Leto plays an acoustic version of Hurricane off the album “This is War.”

coldest ice on the road that Thursday night. If that didn’t do the trick, Jared Leto whipped out his guitar again as his signature crystal blue eyes gazed into the spotlight while he performed an enchanting cover of “Stay” by

Rihanna that had every female in the audience in the palm of his hand.

Overall Thirty Seconds to Mars did its best to meet the high expectations of its avid, demanding followers and certainly did not disappoint. With every epic drum solo, flake of snow like confetti, and note their bassist Tomo Miličević played, Thirty Seconds to Mars made sure to give their fans a lot of remarkable memories they

won’t forget.