Cardiff, United Kingdom – November 26, 2010
By Amanda Thomas 

I went to the Cardiff show, Wales, 26th November 2010.

This was the first and only time I have seen 30 Seconds To Mars live. My friends had been to their previous show in February. Cardiff, being our capital city, is really the only place to see live bands and big arena shows. Its an hour-long journey on a train or on the road. Snow fell both times! But we made sure it didn’t spoil our fun. We caught the train early that morning and stayed outside the venue for the rest of the day. We even made new friends. While drinking hot chocolate, other Echelon shared their blankets with us to keep us warm. Further proof that the Echelon are members of a large, caring family.

As for the show, my favourite songs to hear live were Hurricane, Search and Destroy, and L490. It is impossible to choose just one song. Every song performed was fantastic! While songs like Hurricane and Search and Destroy showcased Jared’s powerful voice, L490 was a beautiful instrumental performance from Shannon and Tomo.

My favourite aspect of the live performance was how involved the fans were. Whether they were sitting at the back or standing at the front, nobody was left out. 30 Seconds To Mars had us jumping, screaming, laughing, punching the air, raising our hands and singing along. With a mic, Jared always has perfect control of a crowd. It really is wonderful to see.

This brings me on to my most memorable moment of the show. Jared had us all raise our hands in the air and put our fingers together, before whispering ‘Welcome to the family’. It felt like an official introduction to a worldwide group – the Echelon and 30 Seconds To Mars. The whole show and this moment will stay with me for the rest of my life.

So a big thank you to Jared, Tomo, Shannon, and the Echelon. It was the best night of my life.

From Amanda Thomas, 21, South Wales

Share your MARS Tour Stories. Details HERE.

Japan – September 23, 2011
By Akii Ishikawa

I attended my first Thirty Seconds to Mars show on the 23rd of September, 2011 at a venue called Studio Coast in Tokyo. Even though it was months ago, I still remember it as if it were yesterday. I didn’t have to travel as much as I thought I would, only for about 2 hours on train.

I got to the venue at around 15:30 since I had a Golden Ticket and after waiting for about three hours, the show finally began. I was lucky enough to be at the front row of the concert and when the lights went out, I literally started screaming and jumping because I was so excited. First, Jared came on stage with his acoustic guitar and sang a couple of songs which was amazing. My favourite song to hear live was A Beautiful Lie, because Jared’s vocals were perfect and Tomo’s guitar riffs were fabulous and Shannon’s intense drumming was so powerful that I could feel myself being pulled in the force of their music. I just loved how they all try to entertain the audience and it moved me so much because you could tell that they are thinking about you when they are on that stage. Jared was jumping into the crowd so many times, it was incredible. Tomo was running from left to right and well, Shannon couldn’t move because he was up on the tower, but you could see that he was enjoying it, which made us feel fantastic.

One of my favourite moments of this whole experience was meeting the band. MARS’ music had saved my life- it made me able to go through the darkest times of my life, it gave me hope and without it, I most likely would not be here right now. So when the time came to meet my heroes, my mind went blank and I froze up completely. Tomo came around first, and I was so shocked that this was really happening and when we were talking, I forgot to give the poster so that he could sign it until he told me. By then, I was gradually de-frosting and I could talk to the guys properly, but because I was hyper, they probably thought that my words were like a full-speed roller coaster. Meeting Jared and Shannon was so surreal -in a good way of course- when they stood in front of me, I could really sense their aura and before I knew anything, I was crying tears of joy. Jared had noticed and he joked around, poking me, making sure that I was okay. This made me cry more because they were all so caring and I really did not think that I would be able to connect to them as much as I did.

This day was the best day of my life.
I cannot thank you enough for everything that you’ve done -music, giving me light, being so caring and being you.

Jared, Shannon, Tomo and the Echelon, you’re amazing.

Akii Ishikawa x

Share your MARS Tour Stories. Details HERE.