Thirty Seconds to Mars at Irving Plaza

Jared Leto

Jared Leto was born in Bossier City, Louisiana, but his family relocated frequently in accordance with his grandfather's assignments in the military. Leto started playing music with his older brother, Shannon Leto, at an early age. As a young adult, he developed an interest in filmmaking and enrolled in the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he wrote and starred in his own short film. In 1992, Leto moved to Los Angeles, California,  pursuing a career in directing and intending to accept acting roles on the side. He first achieved recognition as an actor in television in 1994 and in film in 1995. Reuniting with his brother Shannon, Leto formed the rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars in 1998. When the group first started, Leto prohibited his vocation of Hollywood actor to be used in the promotion of the band. Thirty Seconds to Mars has sold over 15 million albums worldwide and is listed in the Guinness World Records for most live shows during a single album cycle, with 300 shows; the 300th show took place at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom. The band presently consists of Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards), Shannon Leto (drums, percussion) and Tomo Miličević (lead guitar, bass, violin, keyboards, other instruments). Thirty Seconds to Mars' fourth and most recent album is 2013's Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams, released shortly before Leto won an Oscar, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Thirty Seconds to Mars launched the Citi Sound Vault concert series at Irving Plaza in the week leading to the Grammy Awards. Leto explained that his brother Shannon was sick and would not perform, so he and Miličević performed mostly as a duo with the aid of several layers of pre-programmed music. The band's touring bassist, Steve Aiello, stood in the sidelines, hardly visible as he assisted on a few songs. As such, this was a fundamentally variant concert for the group, lacking the live band interaction yet thoroughly showcasing that Leto was a very accomplished singer and front person. He encouraged the audience to jump to the techno-inspired opener and to sing the hooks on most of the subsequent songs. The set included surprises as well; the band's most recent radio song, "Walk On Water," was performed acoustically, for instance. Leto said "we're going to get a little sexy" and sang Rihanna's "Stay." He followed with a medley of songs honoring fallen music giants: Prince's "Purple Rain," John Lennon's "Imagine," David Bowie's "Heroes," SoundGarden's "Black Hole Sun," and Linkin Park's "Crawling." Perhaps the biggest surprise is that the band did not perform "Dangerous Night," the single being released the next day. For the finale, Leto invited the fans on stage with the band and two cannons released confetti for the second time during an anthemic "Closer to the Edge." This might not have been Thirty Seconds to Mars' most defining concert, but it was the band's most curious.

Visit Thirty Seconds to Mars at www.thirtysecondstomars.com.

Setlist:

1. Up in the Air
2. Kings and Queens
3. Conquistador
4. This Is War
5. Walk on Water > Teardrop (acoustic)
6. Capricorn (A Brand New Name) (a few lines only, a cappella)
7. Stay (Rihanna cover)
8. The Tribute Song
9. The Kill (Bury Me) (Acoustic)
10. Do or Die
11. Closer to the Edge