Under normal circumstances I’d simply say Muse and 30 Seconds to Mars brought their tour to Nashville, but these weren’t normal circumstances and the sold out crowd at Ascend Amphitheater wasn’t in for a normal rock show.
Jared Leto, Academy Award winning actor and frontman of 30 Seconds to Mars, certainly won the hearts of Nashville, or I should say “Smashville” the term used to describe the hockey town Nashville has become with the Predators recent success. He came onto the stage waving a huge Predators flag as Game Three of the Stanley Cup Final was taking place just a few blocks away at Bridgestone Arena. Leto gave score updates throughout the set, announcing to the audience as the Predators started leading the game – which ended at 5-1 in favor of the Preds.
At first I was skeptical of what his show would be like judging from his intricate, weird jacket and floral pants. However, once the jacket came off and a gold Stanley Cup final t-shirt was underneath I realized he’s an amazing frontman. He’s playing a city, supporting their team, and oh yeah bringing people on stage. Several times in the set he asked, “Who wants to come up on stage?” And he wasn’t joking. He brought over a dozen people on stage to just jump around and have fun. He also did a mini acoustic set midway through which consisted of him coming into the audience with his guitar and singing surrounded by fans from the lawn.
Muse came out with spacey lighting and a futuristic theme. They put on an impressive set and Matt Bellamy, the vocalist was great at guitar too. His solos and riffs were heavy in distortion but clearly complicated. Another group that seems to love their fans, for this tour Muse has been putting a super fan in the pit to get to photograph their shows. They clearly draw a loyal following. One woman in the front row came all the way from Australia for this tour.
Rock band PVRIS opened the show. The Muse tour continues with another nearby stop in Atlanta on June 6.