PRELIMINARIES

Remember when I said 30STM is not widely known in Spain? Well, the lines to access the stadium may have proven me wrong. Let’s say they’re not really mainstream, but they have a legion of loyal believers. Actually, I was almost out of place there, because I CONFESS I didn’t know their songs my heart, I was starting to be familiar with the most famous of them but like Hell would I recognize them by title and so on. However, in a strange way it was cool to be the “less geeky” person present. I can tell you that doesn’t happen very often.

It took an hour for us to enter San Jordi Stadium, almost another hour for the guest band to come out to the stage, but we managed to be fairly close to them. Thank God, because, flashing news, I’M SHORT. The supporting band was the Portuguese band More Than a Thousand, and they totally rocked. Much more hard-rock than 30STM, although less dark-metal in concert than they are in their Myspace. They got us jumping, dancing and screaming like crazy. The lead singer sure had power when he roared into the mic.

GREAT JOB, FOR MORE THAN A THOUSAND!

THE CONCERT

Another hour passed between the supporting band and 30STM and people was starting to get really excited. Unfortunately, excitement made the snooty group by our side chain-smoke for half an hour, ignoring the general glaring taking place pointedly around them.  By then we were already pressed into each other as canned sardines and we knew that the second something happened on the stage, we would pushed forward like a wave.

We did, but of course, we didn’t care. You can’t be bothered by much when Jared comes out wearing this trench coat (hell yeah, I learnt that word reading about Castiel :P) and sun glasses looking just as eccentric as he is :D. We screamed and jumped and mindlessly cheered any word he said.

You know, a concert.

He shed the coat and the glasses after a song or two. Of course, he had to be melting under those, the poor baby. He was wearing a loose sleeveless shirt with something written on it, although I didn’t get to read it clearly. Oh, for the record, his hair was blue.

I could just fill this entry with videos available all over youtube, but I’ll try to restrain myself. Let’s say that what I liked the most was the fact that they really GIVE a concert. I mean, they don’t sing the songs and that’s it, but adapt them to give a real concert -like performance. Jared talked to the audience, cheered us up, commanded up to jump and scream and go (and I quote) “fucking crazy” all the time. He would literally stop playing to make us sing the lyrics for him (which I, ahem, didn’t… since I kinda didn’t know them) to then resume the song in an even more explosive way.

Kudos for the rest of the band ;) They kept themselves in the background, but they make it all possible!

Well, so Jared asked us repeatedly to get closer, c’mon, closer… By the second time we were already about to die crushed, but still he pressed. By the fifth time people in the first row were literally waving “no way” with his fingers and shaking their heads no, we appreciate our lives, thank you very much. But fans are fans, right? He did manage to squeeze a few feet from us every time (as I said, I got to be quite close). And he friggin’ loved it, reaching out to the audience and bashing in the excitement. One thing is true, after managing to crush us more (pun intended) and then prompt us to jump, you realize it’s easier to obey when there’s no way you’ll lose your balance, being as you are sandwiched other human beings who act as virtual walls. The trick is just not bothering about what or who you step on on your way down. I actually stepped over this girl behind me and turned to apologize, but she grinned a “don’t wooooorry” without losing the sparkle of his eye. She was entranced. That was the magic.

Nobody stepped on me, though. That may have tested the power of the magic :P

Oh, the way Jared dances on stage? Adorable. He hops and jumps and spins like a spinning top. He was fun and attentive to the feedback he got from us, at least from the first rows, naturally. There was this moment in between songs where he walked to one corner of the stage and tsked to a group, saying “Some people are not doing what they’re supposed to do. I don’t see you going crazy”. We had him playing with these giant red balloons going around the stadium and congratulating himself for his ability, then teasing us with a “I might take your Soccer World Cup from you”.

Ha.

Oh, and he kept referring to Spanish as Castilian, which is the way we actually refer to it in Catalunya, so he had made his homework!

Structurally, they played several songs in a first part. Then he sat “alone” with the guitar in the middle and played several songs more in acoustic. He used to ask the audience what song we wanted. Since people screamed all kind of things, he could basically sing whatever he had in mind and in their schedule ;)

He let us sing From Yesterday, but it was hilarious how when people got to the verses “But he doesn’t wanna read the message / he doesn’t wanna read the message / he doesn’t wanna read the message here” (aka, the fastest paced part), the singing became rather mumbling. Jared stopped and awwwed a “That was sad… Let’s try again. Maybe you should sing in Spanish. Or Castilian, right?”

Ha ha.

Another funny moment was when someone threw some panties at him. A classic. There was something written on them, but I can’t remember.

J: What’s this? Ohh, you naughty naughty people. Who was it? They sure aren’t mine? What am I supposed to do with these? They are two big. Either they belong to a girl with something to hide or a guy who isn’t telling us everything…

He ended up wrapping them around the head of the camera guy on stage.

Also, while he was alone on the stage, some group in the left side screamed particularly loud. So he addressed them:

J: What’s up there? What are you screaming about now? What do you want? [obviously “YOUUUU!” could be heard] Oh, but I can only give you my music and my lyrics…

The Kill was the last song he sang “acoustically” and once more he let us sing, made the central part longer and encouraged us to yell more and more, until we were joined by the whole band again to sing the last chorus. Catalan flag included. In short: apotheosis

By iralo07

Again, the video is note mine. I was like… by the other side of the stage and a little bit further back. Sorry about the quality, but I think it’s a pretty good video all things considered. I didn’t even bring my camera; I admit I was THAT lazy. I knew I was going to be busy jumping!

They played all together some more, and then, to finalize, they invited More of a Thousand back to the stage and started picking people of the audience to climb to the stage with them. The last song they played was Kings and Queens, and it was very emotional with two dozens of people dancing on stage to the song. Ok, I need a video on that. Borrowed from youtube, as usual. It’s absolutely chaotic, but you’ll get the feeling. And it includes his final speech to us :D.

By cristinalaro

And this is it, folks. As I promised, shorter than SPN ;)

Thanks for reading!

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