Show Review: 30 Seconds to Mars with New Politics at SJSU Event Center, 10/11/2013

J Leto: "I'm no Jesus.  Neither are you, my friend..."
J Leto: “I’m no Jesus. Neither are you, my friend…”

In the years since I became a 30 Seconds to Mars fan, it’s been a bittersweet ride. The first time I ever saw them live was two and a half years ago, at this very same venue. As you can see from that review, I was ready to let Jared Leto himself baptize me into the “cult of Mars.” I also said regularly that I’d be happy to inject the band’s music into my veins if I could just figure out how. And then I took my best friend to see them, where we had a little issue with front man Leto, and ever since, I haven’t quite felt the same about the band. Frankly, I’m not made of whatever that stuff is that allows a person to be a fan of someone they dislike as a person. I’m just not. For two years, I’ve tried to convince myself that maybe that was just a bad moment, and Jared really is who I want him to be: a fantastic actor with an amazing voice and musical talent, and hopefully even a decent human being to boot. So yes: I couldn’t wait to see Mars again Friday night when they came back to SJSU’s Event Center, and try to make up my mind once and for all. (And it has to be said that the band’s most recent album, LOVE LUST FAITH + DREAMS, is nearly as good as the one before it, the epic This is War. It certainly couldn’t hurt my chances of enjoying my evening that I had several new favorite songs I expected to hear…)

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Show Review: 30 Seconds to Mars with CB7 at SJSU Events Center, 4/8/2011

30 Seconds to Mars, a few days prior. Thanks to Flickr user danford for sharing!

To their fans, 30 Seconds to Mars are as much a religion as they are a band. If you’d have said this to me a week ago, I wouldn’t have known enough about other fans to agree or disagree. Though the band released their eponymous first album in 2002, it wasn’t until late 2009 that I wised up enough to pay them some attention. In retrospect, I can only wish I’d have gotten on board years ago.

In 1994, like most other fifteen-year-old girls, I was swooning over the baby blues of My So-Called Life‘s “Jordan Catalano,” as most of us first knew Jared Leto. After the show was canceled, I followed his film career sporadically. I heard he was in a band, and yet because I knew him first and foremost to be an actor, I never even thought to give them a listen. In 2005, a friend and I randomly bumped into Mr. Leto wandering from tent to tent at Warped tour in Long Beach, but even then I was more interested in not drooling over his long blond hair than in checking out his band. It wasn’t until the adamant recommendation of a virtual stranger in late 2009 that I turned my ears toward the album that would quickly lead me to call 30 Seconds to Mars my favorite band (This is War). After finally getting to see them live for the first time Friday night at SJSU’s Events Center, I’m starting to understand why I saw licensed t-shirts printed with the words “yes this is a cult.” Continue reading “Show Review: 30 Seconds to Mars with CB7 at SJSU Events Center, 4/8/2011”