Jared shines a light through the gloom

30 Seconds To Mars

Birmingham NIA

words and pictures by James Watkins

Stadium rocker and current heart throb rock star Jared Leto brought his band to the West Midlands to unleash a greatest hits show before a packed NIA arena.

On a night that saw revellers brave the elements of snow, ice and arctic conditions, fans arrived with great expectations that they'd witness a red hot performance.

The lights duly dimmed and out came 30STM to a spine-tingling furore of screams from a predominantly female crowd.

Opening with the rocked up Escape and Night Of The Hunter, Jared Leto pranced around the stage like a caged lion. His king of the jungle act didn't always convince, however, and at times he seemed more a little lost - more like X Factor's Storm Lee than Muse rock god Matt Bellamy.

There were other elements of the show that failed to bring warmth to the dark winter night. While the sound was pin-sharp as they rocked through Search And Destroy, Vox Populi and a particularly upbeat Closer To The Edge, the lighting failed to impress.

Lights were turned down so low that fans could hardly pick out the faces of band members - especially Leto - through the pervading gloom.

Leto and co. soldiered on, however, producing a solid performance of their biggest hits with A Beautiful Lie and This Is War both well received.

Dropping the pace and playing stunning acoustic versions of Capricorn (A Brand New Name), From Yesterday and an awesome acoustic cover of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance, 30STM hit their stride late on.

All that was left to pull-off was an explosive encore, which came with the hip-hop rock of Hurricane and a final anthemic offering of the immense Kings And Queens, during which Leto offered lifelong memories to several fans as he dragged them onstage for the chorus.