WARFARE & RIOTS featuring 30 Seconds To Mars & Placebo

 To celebrate 125 years of the automobile Mercedes Benz sponsored an open air concert in Stuttgart, Germany, yesterday with modern rock giants 30 Seconds To Mars and Placebo performing. With ticket prices of only 15€(about 20$) I couldn't resist and so I waited 1,5 hours earlier in line to get a good spot in front of the stage before ultimately being joined by a crowd of 35 000 people.

I didn’t want to risk bringing my DSLR, so a small, somewhat-effed-up cam had to suffice to document the evening. I had little to no control over the outcome of the pictures so I’m glad that some are worth showing.


Click on the pictures to get full view.

 After another good hour of waiting under the burning sun The Words (a band from one of the biggest music city’s of the world, Manchester) started the concert with their guitar-driven indie rock. With a very down to earth attitude and the singer’s hat, that probably everybody in the audience envied him for, the band made the crowd root for them even though they had the difficult job of a supporting act. Lots  of “fuck thank you very much”s later they left the stage to a big round of applause. (Check out their music on Myspace.)

 The stage got remodeled, time passed, a couple of people fainted and Boris Becker accepted a check for a good cause before finally 30 Seconds To Mars entered the stage to the drumming of Shannon and another guy. I started to feel my sixteen year old self rear its ugly head because back than I’d heard their music for the first time and it was the stuff I’d listened to. When Jared entered the stage ghostface from the scream movies came to my mind but later on in an almost pop diva-esque move he showcased a karate-pants-almost-wife-beater-combo underneath his cloak.

Another thing he showcased was his ability to control the crowd, make it “jump, jump, jump” and sing or scream whatever he tells it to. For the most part it was an incredible experience to be part of, to sing those lyrics with thousands of others, yet it was a bewildering, almost shocking, moment for me to hear everyone around me chant “This is war!” with their arms in the air. Made me think it’s a good thing he’s a rock star and not an aspiring dictator. Apart from that it was a very enjoyable show with many great moments.

One of those moments was when during the acoustic set Jared saw a child in the audience and wanted it to join him on stage. “Are you a boy or a girl?”, he asked as it was still in the crowd. After some fake outrage from the mass, he explained, “I am old and I don’t have glasses.” Turned out it was not just a girl, but a girl that couldn’t speak a word English. “Fuck, I forgot I’m in a different country.” So he looked in the audience for someone who could translate and he got another kid on stage, this time a boy. Apparently he was able to answer what his name was, Steven, but apart from that not much. “This turns into a comedy show.” After that he gave up on whatever his plan was, the children sat on the stairs and he finished The Kill alone.

The band posted a huge picture of Jared with the audience on their blog today and I found myself on it. If you want to see the whole picture click here.

 By the time Placebo entered the stage I had been 4,5 hours in the crowd(not counting the time in front of the entrance), had drank about three sips of water that sporadically got passed around and was pretty sure I’d got a sun burn on my neck. I was between a rock and a hard place. Actually it was a pretty big and soft arm that was constantly pressed against my back, but for me it got a little too cozy. After the first three or four songs from Placebo I needed something to drink and some fresh air otherwise I knew I wouldn’t be able to get much pleasure from the show. So after I took care of that I put myself to the left of the crowd and got a pretty good view of the stage and a big screen right in front of me.

As with 30 Seconds To Mars I am not an uberfan of Placebo either, but I do have my favorite songs and was very pleased with the set list. Bitter End, Meds, Infra-Red, Song To Say Goodbye, Every Me Every You and the great Kate Bush cover Running Up That Hill were all played during the show. There even was a song dedicated to Amy Winehouse. I can’t remember Brian‘s exact words but I think he referred to her as “the woman with the unfortunate name”. He also shortly addressed the riots (“London is burning.”). A lot of fans in the first rows held signs in the air that said “We miss you” and the whole band seemed to be very humble, Brian even bowed down a couple of times.

During the end of 30 Second To Mars’ performance my camera informed me about its low battery. I stopped and saved the rest for Placebo but it wasn’t much left and long before the end of their performance the battery died. I would have loved to take more pictures because their show had visually stunning moments, but I didn’t have much fun with the camera anyway and so I got to enjoy the performance without worrying to miss the right second to take a picture.

Overall I had a great day with good live performances by two of the biggest rock bands at the moment.