30 Seconds To Mars at the Ambassador, Dublin

Whatever your take on 30 Seconds To Mars, their fame is certainly not built on the movie success of their frontman, Jared Leto. They obviously have a strong grass roots alternative appeal: there is a positively enormous queue of gothic/rocker-type teenagers stretching around the block, prior to kick-off time. These kids wouldn’t give a toss about their hero’s nifty Hollywood career, and probably never even heard of Requiem For A Dream. In other words 30 Seconds To Mars is no mere vanity project. With sales of over a million copies of the band’s second album A Beautiful Lie already racked up, the time may well come soon when Leto is making more money out of music than movies. As if by confirmation, a late start notwithstanding, the crowd reaction throughout the evening is rabidly enthusiastic. But there is a caveat: on this occasion the band’s gleaming goth-rock hooks are somehow getting buried in the mix.
Judged against their peers, 30 Second To Mars seem less concerned with the slick, almost boyband-y quality that teen-emo-gloom-rock acts frequently exude. They’ve got big choruses (check ‘Fantasy’ for proof) and there’s even touches of U2 on occasion, suggesting that they have it in them to cross over to major mainstream success.
Jared’s onstage persona is unabashedly intense and earnest but what’s telling is that he can sing – look no further than the album’s title track (and fourth single) ‘A Beautiful Lie’ for evidence. Is he in the throes of a dark night of the soul, or merely using his flair for dramatic performance? And does it matter either way? The Ambassador wasn’t the place to hazard a definitive judgement, but make no mistake the 30 Seconds To Mars juggernaut is rolling and they’re picking up momentum by the minute. They’ll be back.