First gig of 2011

Thirty Seconds to Mars/Middle Class Rut
When: Friday, January 14, 2011
Venue: Fox Theater, Pomona
Accompanied by: Solo gig
Genre: Alt Rock


So, Friday I took myself out to see my first music concert of 2011. Well actually, that's not entirely true. I did go out last week to Largo in LA to see Tim Minchin perform and while it was a "comedy" show,  his musical talent was mesmerizing. In fact, I should add that to my blog entries and I definitely will. But the show I caught this past Friday was pieces of good and bits of bad. 

As for Thirty Seconds to Mars, I've liked their radio play for quite some time. I picked up the 3rd album This is War back in December based off two songs "Kings and Queens" and the title song. But had also downloaded a few songs from the 2nd album A Beautiful Lie. But I couldn't say I was a big fan. I knew just enough of their music to know I wanted to see them in concert. Glad I did but most likely would not do it again.


The gist of it is that when I showed up at the Fox Theater I was skeptical at what sort of night it was going to be. I'm 42 years old and the average age at this show had to be under 20. This isn't to say it's a bad thing, but it felt about as close to what I imagine it must be like to go to a Jonas Brothers or that Beiber boob show...okay, so maybe the crowd wasn't THAT young.


Within the first few minutes of the opening song, I thought maybe I really had made a mistake in attending this show. But I kept an open mind and reminded myself that there were a handful of songs that I did want to hear. I'm glad I didn't bail because by the end of it all, I was impressed. Impressed with the band but more so with the fans. The energy never wavered and the dedication to knowing the music and lyrics was obvious. Granted, part of that energy lent to some of the "bad" but that's just me being old and not wanting to get pushed around or have screaming vocals in my ear.  What's ironic is that it used to be me who was the screaming fan annoying the crap out of whoever got stuck in front of me.  What goes around comes around.


Jared Leto took it upon himself to call out anyone he thought was not exuding enough energy. At one point, he stopped the show and had the lights turned on in the balcony to single out specific individuals. I'm not sure how effective it was but it certainly got the crowd in a frenzy. And I thought it was funny...as long as he didn't call me out, we were golden. Looking at the set list, I knew 5 out of 17 songs. Chances are, that is probably all I will ever know. And I'm okay with that.

TSTM encore of "Kings and Queens" was fantastic. And when 30+ fans were pulled out of the crowd to join the band on stage, I could only imagine the excitement going on down on the floor. It was pretty cool to witness.

The upside, as far as I was concerned, fell at the first part of the evening with the opening band, Middle Class Rut. I had the opportunity to see these 2 guys a few times when they opened for Them Crooked Vultures in LA and Las Vegas last year. And they did not disappoint with opening for TSTM. When I listen to MCR, I hear a tinge of Jane's Addiction. Some may not agree. But it's my opinion and I'll stick to it. All in all, making the drive out to Pomona on a Friday night was justified based on MCR alone. But at the end of the night, I was glad that I stuck around for the entire show.