Place: Byblos – Lebanon
Date: 15-07-11
Event: 30 Seconds to Mars Concert
I got dressed and put on red lipstick. For such events, one needs to. I took the bus with my friend and headed to Byblos. A band whose name I cannot be bothered to remember was playing songs that sounded identical. At 9:30pm, the lights went out, the crowd went quiet, we collectively drew our breath and screamed! The drummer of 30 Seconds to Mars came up, took his place and started playing. In a rush of colors, lights, screams and camera flashes, Jared Leto appeared. He was wearing a jacket with broad, decorated shoulders and sun glasses and a white guitar was between his hands.
He screamed: ‘Let’s go crazy tonight!” and screams filled the air, mostly those of teenage girls.
After the first song, he took off his jacket.
Indeed, he made a very good wardrobe choice
Jared shouted: “I want this to be the best night of your lives!” And it’s definitely in the top 5.
He alternated between singing, jumping and dancing, speaking to the audience and interacting with us all. We were all there, we were entirely there, listening to his every words, watching his every move.
In a typical teenage moment, I told my friend: “He’s SOOOOOO gorgeous!”
But it’s not about the looks, it’s about his ability to make you feel like you’re the only one that matters in a SOLD OUT concert. You can definitely feel his background in acting emerge, he knew how to captivate his audience.
He ordered: "Raise your hands in the air!"
He ordered us: SHOUT! JUMP! DOWN LOW! PUT YOUR HANDS UP! And we listened. Even when he told us to be quiet, we listened. Thousands of people stopped talking.
He said: “Let’s see if we can sing so loud that the rest of the world wishes they were right here in Lebanon!”
At this point, my friend and I agreed: This man is very quotable.
And this is what he said:
“We went swimming in your beautiful ocean and (a band member) got stung by a jelly fish, I was sleeping, Shannon got bit by a shark, and Tim was masturbating in his room.
I have to admit, I think I love your food even more than you. Yes, I’ve been eating… I’ve already had 3 bowls of hummus *audience screams, thinking “he knows the names of the dishes!”*, 2 bowls of tabboule *audience screams, thinking “he has such a cute accent in Arabic!”* and one bowl of baba ghannush *audience screams, women swoon*, whatever that guy’s name is.
Hold on, I just wanna talk to you one second *approaches the edge of the stage*. There are a lot of people around the world that think that Lebanon is this very distant land, it’s too far away, it’s much too dangerous. I gotta say, this is one of the greatest pleasures of my entire life, and I promise you, I am going to tell everybody all over the world what an amazing place this is, and if they are too scared to come and visit you, then we’re gonna come back and see you again!”
Pure Awesomeness
At this point, he had us all eating tabboule right out of his hand.
Singing at the top of his lungs
Towards the end of the concert, he picked people to go up on stage. I was not one of them. Some people caught pics and drum sticks. I was not one of them. I just caught some confetti. But it’s ok, it was still pretty awesome!
Jared Leto and his "chosen crowd"
On our way back home, I was discussing tomorrow’s plans with my friend. She interrupts me: “Is there life after tonight?”
Metaphorology 