30 Seconds to Mars set to invade

Popular rock band 30 Seconds to Mars is coming to campus on Sept. 25 as part of MTV University (mtvU)’s “2010 Campus Invasion Tour.” The band will be headlining the tour and will be joined by Neon Trees and New Politics.

30 Seconds to Mars derives most of their noteriety from their lead singer, Jared Leto, who also moonlights as an actor. Some may remember his role back in 1994 as the dreamy Jordan Catalano in ABC’s short lived television drama My So-Called Life. He has also been in such movies as Fight Club, Panic Room and Alexander.

Leto founded 30 Seconds to Mars in 1998, with his drummer brother, Shannon. Since then, the band has released three albums. Their latest effort, titled This Is War, was released late last year and had achieved success with the singles “Kings and Queens” and “This Is War.”

Neon Trees is a relatively new group that actually originated in Provo. Lead singer Tyler Glenn and his neighbor, Chris Allen, decided to form the band. Other members eventually joined.  They named their band Neon Trees after noticing a neon palm tree light outside of an In-N-Out Burger. Their first single, “Animal,” is gaining momentum and can be frequently heard on many radio stations.

A 24-hour network, mtvU is aimed specifically at college students. According to their website, the Campus Invasion Tour is something that they do each year to bring the “hottest artists directly onto college campuses across the country.” mtvU refers to the tour as a festival where students can enjoy mtvU and MTV sponsored activities and win great prizes, as well as enjoy great music.

The concert will be held at the Brent Brown Ballpark at 5 p.m. Tickets are now on sale for $26 at the Events Center and also at all Smith’s Tix locations. Students who present a student ID can get a discount at the box office.

More information available at:
www.SmithTix.com
www.MTVU.com

Some fun 30 Seconds to Mars facts

Their 2006 single “The Kill” was on the charts for fifty straight weeks. No other song in history has done this.

Since they began in 1998, they have released three albums, have sold over 3.5 million albums across the world and have over 100 million views on YouTube.

They have traveled to exotic locations for video shoots like the Arctic Circle (“A Beautiful Lie”) and the People’s Republic of China (“From Yesterday”).

Won multiple awards, including many MTV music and video awards all across the world.

The band created the environmental awareness website www.ABeautifulLife.org to educate their fans about where and how to take action.

As of publication, they have 1,363,680 fans on Facebook and 51,181,538 total plays on their MySpace page.

(According to 30SecondsToMars.com)