30 Seconds To Mars / Kids In Glasshouses

Moved from the smaller Academy 3 due to demand, there are many eager young faces around the University tonight. 30 Seconds To Mars have never played in the UK before, and a lot of people have travelled a long way to see one of only two shows on these shores, the other tomorrow at London’s Electric Ballroom. Although it won’t be long before they are back, as they are touring again in April.

First up though is Kids In Glasshouses, said to have the Welsh brashness of their fellow countrymen GLC. I can not see it; they have the energy (but they are only young) but the songs are still in the emo vain, and hardly the post-hardcore they advertise to be. The guitars just are not distorted enough, too clean sounding, though at the correct volume level of hardcore.

	"There is a tendency to want to slam this band; the well known singer, same old mascara/slick hairdos/motions on stage, but this is what appeals to a vast amount of people"

The crowd like it however, and the loud lads can be heard downstairs in the student bar. ‘Easy Tiger’ has a lot of “Doo do doo” in the chorus, and ‘Me Me Me’ has the best chorus of them all (“Give me what I want”); you have to admit they are catchy, poppy songs, but hardly original.

Tension mounts for the American rarities and their much-anticipated appearance. It might take them 30 Seconds to get to Mars but it sure does take them a while to get on stage. In a big, overblown build up the stage is darkened and the odd Mac light creates a contrasting beam into the now very anxious crowd (“Thirty, thirty!”).

As the familiar sound of Carl Orff's ‘Carmina Burana’ builds up to it’s crescendo, a few figures appear on stage in the form of Tomo Milicevic (guitar), Matt Wachter (keyboard, bass), and Shannon Leto (drums). From the last guy’s surname you can probably guess who’s coming on to perform vocal duties; yes it’s Jared Leto (the one from the films. You know, Fight Club and Requiem For A Dream.). Though I don’t like to admit it, the guy can sing (when he removes the white bandana covering his handsome looks), and the years of acting have worked wonders for his role as frontman. At first I figured this sell out crowd was here to see a Hollywood actor in the flesh, nothing else. But it turns out the kids have known about this band for a while, and the whole place is singing along to ‘Beautiful Lie’, ‘The Stories’ ‘The Fantasy’, ‘Edge Of The Earth’ and ‘From Yesterday’.

‘The Kill’ has the loudest reception of all, due to the MTV influence. Leto (the younger, more famous one) demands the crowd’s attention the whole time, diving into the pit many times stood upright, screaming down the mic and spinning dizzily on stage. Talk about wasting water; he would drink one gulp from a bottle and throw the rest at the crowd; this happened several times (wouldn’t have got away with it in the South West last year!).

The endless repeat of “thank yous” becomes tiring after the second time, but this band does know how to treat it’s fans, or rather, as they put it, the other members of the band (listening to some of the singing behind me I doubt some would have passed the audition!).

Jared is left alone to sing ‘Capricorn (A Brand New Name)’, which he cocks up on the guitar but accepts and just sings without the instrument. No one else gives a monkeys either.

There is a tendency to want to slam this band; the well known singer, same old mascara/slick hairdos/motions on stage, but this is what appeals to a vast amount of people and while there’s a demand bands like this are gonna form. I think the guys look and sound the part, and how can I say they are rubbish with a following like this? Although the niggling question of what if Jared wasn’t in the band keeps springing up. Ah, forget it and just jump with the kids of today. Encore track and new single ‘Attack’ is an easy song to remember anyway, so even if you don’t like ‘em you won’t get this simplistic song out of your head.

FUTURE GIGS