Saturday, September 14 – a memorable night as 30 Seconds to Mars (30STM) took the stage at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.
After waiting 11 years for the band’s return to an Australian stage, the expected demographic of older fans was in the audience, but it didn’t hold anyone back from getting into the zone and getting wild!
Shannon Leto’s drums reverberated through the crowd with the beginning of ‘Up in the Air’ and the confetti guns going off as front man Jared Leto stepped on the stage to set the scene for a big night.
The fire and steam columns, coupled with the graphics, balloons and light show, created a visually stimulating performance that captivated the crowd.
Every song hit the spot, with the crowd singing all the words back to Leto, to the point that he stopped to admire the audience for remembering their 20-year-old songs.
A standout highlight of the show was the vocals of 52-year-old Leto, who was still hitting the notes of the band’s biggest hits and filling the arena.
The vocal rest for Jared saw brother Shannon step out to perform ‘Remedy,’ which he did impeccably. It is impossible to deny the talent within this family. Jared returned to the stage to perform a cover of Stay (Mikky Ekko), his vocals adding a new twist to the sound and making it a new favourite version.
The latter half of the set was filled with classic 30STM, including ‘City of Angels’, ‘From Yesterday’, and ‘Attack’, before the encore songs, including ‘The Kill (Bury Me)’.
The finale song, ‘Closer to the Edge,’ saw Leto bring the ‘wildest’ fans on stage to help him belt out the closing anthem, sealing another great show’s ending.
Walking out of the show it is undoubtedly one that will sit in my top list of favourites for live performances with the hope they will return sooner than another 11 years time.
Photos by CK.
