On the Saturday morning of five weekends ago, excitement slowly bubbled up inside me as I counted the seconds, minutes, and excruciating hours until it was time for me to hop on the underground, and go and see my favourite-tist (is that a word?) band in the ENTIRE universe. Surrey serenaders (again, is that a word?), You Me at Six.
Even though the front-liners were 30 Seconds to Mars, You Me at Six are releasing an album in January and were bound to be playing some new material. I bought two tickets on my mum’s credit card (with permission) and a few months later, found myself in a concert hall absolutely packed with (surprisingly) a variety of age ranges. There was even an elderly couple a few rows in front of me!
It was granted that I would love every second of You Me at Six’s set, but I wasn’t expecting to utterly enjoy 30STM as much as I did.
The first songs of theirs that I heard were pre-makeover. The front man, Jared Leto, was still wearing black eyeliner, his black mop of hair a startling contrast against the ghastly pallor of his skin; and the band had a more ‘metal’ or ‘soft rock’ sound overall. It first became evident to me that the band had undergone a ‘spruce up’ in the music video of ‘Kings and Queens’, the lead single from their 2009 album ‘This is War’. The change wasn’t so much in the music, but in Jared’s make-up free face, his emo locks had been ditched for a sort of ‘bed head’ look. Pretty drastic if you ask me. My faith in them had diminished quite a lot when I listened to their newest album . It seemed that their killing guitar had been swapped for techno beats and random Indian singing (if you’ve heard Pyres of Varanasi you’ll know what I’m talking about). I felt like they’d become too worldly; peaceful for me, and had sold out at the same time.
However, when the trio to hopped up on stage, I gave them another chance. Partly because it was my (mother’s) money that was ‘frittered away so foolishly’ to come and watch them, and, I’m a strong believer that a live performance can improve any song. When the intro of their first track started, I rolled my eyes as Jared Leto came skipping out in a fur cape. I mean, come on! YOU’RE SOPHISTICATED ROCKERS, WE KNOW. But then… I melted. There was everything I look for in a band. Showmanship, powerful live vocals and the ability to have fun with the audience. Mr. Leto was cracking jokes, having conversations with people in the front row, and inviting people up on stage. By the second song, I was up on my feet, obediently following his instructions to ‘Jump! Jump! Jump!’.
Once I was in the moment, the music was so empowering. The vocals were electric, and shouting at me, saying ‘we will rise again! All we need is faith’. Like we could start a revolution all by ourselves, in that very hall. And the best thing was, I didn’t feel like I’d somehow cheated myself and strayed over to the side I’d verbally battered only hours before. I had so much fun, and next time 30STM are in town, I might buy a ticket closer to the stage. Hell, I might even get myself invited up there!
Below are two of the band’s songs. The first ‘The Kill’ is pre-makeover, whilst the second, ‘Kings and Queens’ is at the start of their change up.
‘The Kill’ is pre-makeover, from their second album, ‘A Beautiful Lie’
‘Bright Lights’ is from their latest album, ‘Love, Lust, Faith + Dreams’ and was released after their change up.
Roseby.
juvenile hearing 