What Makes A Good Album Cover (and what makes a bad one)

What makes a bad album cover? The answer is quite simple: a picture of the band. If you are in a band, don't put a picture of yourself on the album cover. Sure, it sounds like a good idea when your label pony's up thousands on a "professional" photographer and stylist, and you think it will be great to have your mug posted in every record store around the country, but then you up looking like this:



When I first saw this I thought it was the cover to the new Zelda game for nintendo wii.

Even worse...




Seriously..this band features Vinnie Paul on drums..a fucking LEGEND. And Tom Maxwell, guitarist of the almighty Nothingface, and yet, with one album cover they have both turned into some nu-metal cartoon sideshow.


So..what makes a good album cover? There are a few answers. Putting anything involving a mythological creature/realm, or a battle axe, is a sure way to guarantee an amazing cover. No band does this better than 3 Inches of Blood.

Behold, the perfect album cover:



Battle axe? check. Flaming arrows? check. Middle Earth-esque setting? check. Band no where to be seen? check.

Here is another great example of the album cover done right:


Battle axe? check. Middle Earth-esque setting? check. And, even better, the beast swinging the battle axe appears to be wearing chain mail (another big plus).

A new album coming this summer that I predict will be a huge success? Dekapitator's
"The Storm Before the Calm"




The name of the band in the battle axe? Now THAT is creativity.

However, sometimes, the whole mythological creature thing can be done wrong if put in the hands of a false metal band.




Seriously guys, you are trying waaaaaaaaay to hard here. What is this thing? A horse skull with horns, spine, rib cage hanging out, wearing shoulder pads, sitting in a pit of burnt shrubbery? And your band has the word "cowboy" in it? What exactly are you going for here?

Keep in mind, there are exceptions to every rule. Below is the greatest album cover of all time, and it features a pic of the artist and not a single battle axe.



Be warned: stick with the battle axes unless you are Hilary Duff...she manages to be the exception in just about every rule. She managed to make the unnecessary movie sequel amazing (Cheaper by the Dozen Two), the cash-in movie based off a TV series amazing ( The Lizzie McGuire Movie), the unnecessary blond to brunette hair dying amazing(still hot!), and the actress turned singer transition cliche amazing(keep them albums coming sugar tits...)

January Film Preview

Everyone knows but that January is the time when studios dump their worst movies into theaters. In retaliation, many people ignore new releases and use the month to compile "Best of Lists," catch up films getting Oscar buzz, cash those year-end bonus checks, and maybe shave or leave the basement. But not me.

January is my favorite movie month of the year. Keep in mind, I don't plan on shaving, leaving the basement (other than those 8 hours a day I need to spend in a cubicle), or actually seeing any movies. January isn't my favorite movie month because of the movies; it's my favorite movie month because of the movie commercials.

Usually, I hate being interrupted from watching Jimmy Woods talk creepily about sex with his teenage daughter on Shark so I can see a commercial telling me that Mel Gibson's Apocalypto is "Spellbinding" (what the fuck does that word even mean?! And why is allowed to be used outside of a Harry Potter movie?) or one saying Leo "gives a once-in-a-lifetime" performance in Blood Diamond (with dialogue like "in your country it is bling-bling, in my country it is bling-bang," let's hope so).

Usually, I hate having my emotional involvement in Jen from The Real World's confessions about how she "doesn't normally get drunk and have sex with people and not remember it" ruined by any commercial for "the most romantic movie of the holiday season."

Anyway, throughout the month of January, often times the movie commercials are even better than quality TV programs I regularly watch. So far this one month only, I gladly welcome commercial breaks to see an ad for one of the following movies.

Freedom Writers

Hilary Swank was looking for the best way to rebound from her divorce from the guy who played the lead in the made-for-TV classic "The John Denver Story." I'd have to say she's found it. Seriously, how come no one has ever thought of this concept before? White school teacher goes into a high school filled with minorities who don't pay attention and teaches them the meaning of life? And don't forget two-thirds of the way through the movie when the gang-banger who changes his ways gets shot anyway for dramatic ( i.e. hilarious) effect.

Line they are banking on to sell the movie: "You think your life would be so much better without the blacks, or the whites, or the Mexicans, or the Cambodians?" (Cambodians? Seriously? I didn't realize L.A. schools were filled with Cambodians.)

Line they SHOULD use to sell the movie: "Been spending most our lives, living in a gangsta's paradise."

Target audience: Cambodians?

Stomp The Yard

First we got Drumline, then You Got Served, then ATL, and now Stomp the Yard...but the big drawback to this is it doesn't star a rapper. What the hell were these producers thinking? This could have been the perfect role for Lil' Wayne.

Line they are banking on to sell the movie:"They've been national step chapmpions for seven years!"

Line they SHOULD use to sell the movie: "Nick Cannon is in this movie, we swear"

Target audience: Let's just say if your name is Mark, Donald, or Vern you are not the target audience. If your name is JeMarcus, Donnell, LaVernious, you are the target audience.

Alpha Dog

The casting director for this movie is a genius. Seriosuly, when trying to cast a thug, how could he not think of a former mousekateer and boy-band alumnus? Especially one whose last movie credit was in a straight to DVD flick called "Edison Force" with LL Cool J.

Line they are banking on to sell the movie: "Life?!"

Line they SHOULD use to sell the movie: "Hey Bruce Willis is in it!"

Target Audience: White boys who refer to each other as "dogs"

Codename: The Cleaner

You got to respect Cedric The Entertainer, or as I call him C to the E. Usually, comedic actors have a string of huge successes before they resort to no-budget, low-brow comedies that don't get screened for critics. But not CTE. He went straight to bottom. It even has a one-time "hot" actress desperate to be in a movie again: in this case, Lucy "Ecks vs. Sever" Liu and a recycled cliché plot: in this case the bumbling idiot spy amnesia thing.

Line they are banking on to sell the movie: "Wait a second, I'm married to a white woman!"

Line they SHOULD use to sell the movie: "It's better than Johnson Family Vacation..."

Target audience: People who saw "Black Kngiht," or are familiar with the work of Steve Harvey.

The Hitcher

Boromir stalks some really hot chick and her boyfriend with a bad emo haircut...actually this movie sounds pretty good.

Line they are banking on to sell the movie: "Rated R for strong violence, horror, and terror"

Line they SHOULD use to sell the movie: "This movie stars Boromir, brother of Faramir, heir to the throne of Gondor."

Target audience: 8th graders.

Dreamgirls

I’m sure by now you must have heard the hype behind “Dreamgirls,” after all; this movie has been getting more press than Britney Spear’s twat. But let me be the first to tell you, not only is “Dreamgirls” definitely not the best movie of the year; it is quite possibly one of the worst movies of the decade. The cast is awful, and the plot is so full of clichés its impossible not to predict every single thing that happens. Allow me to elaborate:

Please let me be first to dismiss all the raves surrounding Eddie Murphy’s performance as Jimmy Early. I seriously can’t even begin to make sense of all the accolades he’s getting. Bro barely has any lines, except for occasionally busting out a “Hey, it’s Jimmy baby!” or a “Jimmy’s got soul!” He pretty much just acts like Eddie Murphy with a bad haircut. Sure he does a great job of lip-singing to his own recordings, but if you could get an Oscar for that, my bride-to-be Hilary Duff would have mantles full of gold statues by now.

Second, let’s deal with Jennifer Hudson as Effie. Yes, she can sing, and girl’s got soul, I’ll giver her that. But Kelly Clarkson’s got soul too, and Mariah Carey is also a damn good singer, but I don’t seem to remember any Oscar talk for “From Justin to Kelly” or “Glitter.” Good voices in horrible movies doesn’t make them Oscar-worthy.

Now, on to Beyonce “I’m already a star. I have nine grammys.” Knowles. She plays Deena, who takes over as lead because she’s not as fat as Effie. Now, in case you didn’t already know Beyonce was a terrible actress from her work in “Austin Powers in Goldmember” she really goes out of her way to prove it here. It’s as if she’s reading cue cards the entire time – and her monotone doesn’t help either.

As for Jaime “Slow Jams” Foxx, I really don’t know why he even agreed to do this movie. Maybe “Stealth 2: More Stealth” got delayed or something. All his role calls for is him to scowl and talk shit to Danny Glover. He does have one cringe-inducing song. It was so awful the only way I could sit through it was by telling myself that at any moment Ludacris was going to appear and drop a guest verse.

Although I have to give Jaime some props for taking on a role that requires him to kiss a whale-like Jennifer Hudson.

However, the main problem with Jaime Foxx is that the role of Curtis was tailor made for Stephen A. Smith. Curtis is annoying, has a frown on the face at all times, thinks he knows it all and is better than anyone else, and quite frankly, I believe Stephen would have done a great job.

If there is someone that truly deserves recognition for their role in “Dreamgirls,” it’s Danny Glover. Although it pains me to see the star of “Predator 2” as a geriatric looking like he could croak at any minute, he gives a great, understated performance, and it’s always nice to see an actor age gracefully and not turn into a pathetic caricature of themselves (see: Mel Gibson, Al Pacino, Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone, etc.). Hopefully after people see him here he will start getting some more parts thrown his way.

Also, a shout out to Steve Urkel himself, Jaleel White, for delivering his two lines as “Talent Manager” flawlessly. Jaleel, in just two minutes, you were able to distract everyone in the entire theater, make them turn to the person sitting next to them, and say “Holy shit, is that Urkel?” Way to go buddy. See you at Denny’s.

As for the plot, there really isn’t much to discuss. You already know the entire movie from the previews. Girls get famous, girls are controlled by an evil manager, fat chick gets kicked out of the group, only to make a triumphant appearance at the end.

Stay away from this movie at all costs. If you are looking to see a good movie about the rise and fall of a talented music act, just wait until VH1 reruns their brilliant film “Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story.”

Who Cares If People Don't Care About Hockey?

Game one of the 2006 Stanley Cup finals between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers was one of the most exciting hockey games I have ever seen. It had all the makings of a classic: huge hits, breakaways, amazing saves, and a close score. Carolina came back from a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead, and ended up winning the game 5-4 on a goal that came with less than a minute left in the game.

I watched the game on the big screen at a local sports bar. Of course, I had to request that the game be put on since every other TV in the bar seemed to be tuned to a regular season baseball game. This makes sense, because regular season baseball is so much more exciting the championship hockey. After all, regular season baseball has it all: out-of-shape players, plays that last less than 10 seconds, no physical contact, guys standing around chewing gum, old men making weird hand signals at each other- not to mention half full stadiums. Who wouldn’t rather watch that than a game where play goes on uninterrupted for minutes at a time, players shoot 90 mile an hour shots at each other, try knocking each other unconscious, and are fighting for a league championship?

When I try to ask people why they think baseball is more exciting than hockey, somehow they always come up with the excuse that hockey is Canadian and baseball is “America’s past time.” Well, last time I checked, slavery was also an American past time. So was segregation. So were New Coke and Crystal Clear Pepsi. If anything, the fact that it’s “America’s past time” is another reason to hate baseball.

Apparently, not only would people rather watch baseball…but they would even rather watch girl’s softball. Wednesday the ratings came out for game one, and it turns out, a girl’s softball game on ESPN 2 averaged more viewers than the Stanley Cup did on OLN.

So why is it that no one cares about hockey? There are many theories floating around out there. The first and most popular seems to be because of cancelled 2004-2005 season. Due to a dispute between owners and players over a salary cap, there was NHL season and the theory is that people forgot about it or lost interest in it.

I find this hard to believe, and the notion that a cancelled season has hurt the NHL’s popularity seems laughable to me. If anything, it only increased my love of the sport and desire to watch it. Without a hockey season, I was forced to suffer through the NBA playoffs in an attempt to quench my thirst for watching competitive sports, and it nearly killed me.

While basketball is not quite as bad as baseball, it still cannot even compare to the thrill of watching hockey. Every time basketball players touch each other, a foul is called and play stops. Not to mention every time they fall down, or get slapped on the wrist by another player, they act like they just got shot. In hockey, players are not only skating at full speed and crushing each other, but they literally punching each other in the face; basketball cannot compare to hockey at all. NBA players are about as tough as schoolgirls, while hockey players are as tough as the cavemen that they resemble.

Another theory as to hockey’s low popularity and TV ratings is that fact that this season was broadcast on OLN, the Outdoor Life Network, which is known for such quality programming as “Cabela’s Master Walleye Circuit” and “Expedition Safari.” Well, I don’t buy this theory either. “The Sopranos” is on a network that is not is most homes, and is still known as one of the greatest shows on television and is considered widely popular. So just because OLN isn’t in as many homes as the major sports networks or get as many viewers doesn’t mean its product isn’t as good.

But I say, who cares if no ones cares about hockey? I have come to the conclusion that low ratings and low popularity actually proves just how great hockey is. People shouldn’t judge how good of a sport hockey is based on its ratings or so called “popularity.” Being a hockey fan is like being in that cool “no girls allowed” club that you had in fourth grade or having a sweet “members only” jacket. Sure, you may be few in numbers, but by being a member you are clearly proving that you are better than everyone else.

Think about it: most everything that is currently popular in American is God-awful. Kelly Clarkson sells five million records. That doesn’t make her a good singer; it proves that 5 million Americans have a horrible taste in music. The last Rob Schneider movie made almost 60 million dollars. That doesn’t make it quality cinema. “The George Lopez Show” is watched by millions of people every week. You get the point.

The most clear example of America’s poor taste in everything, especially sports, is NASCAR. Yes, NASCAR dominates TV ratings and is much more popular than hockey. NASCAR TV ratings are somewhere around a 4.8 while hockey struggles to get a 2.3 rating on a good day. Just because more Americans would rather watch cars take a constant left turn for 4 hours doesn’t mean it is a better sport.

George W. Bush has a 37% approval rating, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is the most powerful person in the free world. Hockey may have the lowest ratings of any major sport in America, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is the best, most exciting sport on the face of the earth. I am proud to be in the club of hockey fans, and I am happy to know that most other people will never get to experience the joy and thrill of watching a hockey game because they are too busy downing Busch Lights at the race track or watching some steroid freak play in a baseball game. People need to stop talking about hockey like it is a bad sport, or it’s a failure just because it’s not as popular as other sports. They will never know what they are missing, and I am perfectly fine with that, and other hockey fans should be to.

Ugly Photos of Ugly People

Chad Kroeger, Lead Singer, Nickleback
This is probably the funniest picture I have ever seen. Look at this clown. He looks like either a reject from "American Idol" or the illegitimate love child of Michael Bolton and Jesus Christ.

Here he is belting his heart out. I wonder what he's saying right now. It's probably something like "The arena didn't give me enough aroma therapy candles and is out of diet pepsi! Nooooo!"

And what the hell is he wearing? A leftover costume from "Dances With Wolves?" Kevin Federline has more talent than this guy.


It's bad enough he thinks he's Jesus, and it's bad enough he's the lead singer in the worst band in the history the human race, but what's even worse that he apparently feels the need to "flash the horns" during his concerts. Come on now Chad, is that really necessary?

I can only imagine what he was saying here. "Hello Tennessee! What the fuck is up! I wanna see a circle pit right now! I want you guys to really fuck shit up! This song's called Photograph!"

This guy flashing the horns is like the head of the NAACP waving a confederate flag. It just makes no sense.

This band writes safe, cheesy, formulaic pop songs for people to listen to in elevators and on the way to Nascar races. Seriously, I think my Bar Mitzvah was more metal than this guy.



Tyson Ritter, Lead Singer, All-American Rejects
Now, I was torn about putting this up, becuase I don't like to make it a habit of making fun of retarded people. I mean judging from these pictures, it's obvious this guy suffers from a serious case of down syndrome.

All I really have to say is that in this picture he looks like a 3rd grader who just heard the bell for recess.

For some reason, everytime I see this guy I imagine he's about to yell
"Hey bro! Did you hear? They're serving tacos for lunch!"


David Draiman, Lead Singer, Disturbed
The Commish, Keyboardist, Mae

Now, in looking for pictures of ugly people I have also managed to uncover one of the biggest secrets in the music world. When this story breaks, the nu-metal and emo worlds will never be the same. You see, David Draiman, singer of Disturbed, was an obvious choice for this list. And of course, so was the keyboard player from Mae, who has already been targeted in this blog before.

And that's when it hit me: they are either identical twins or they are actually the same person. Think about it. I always thought that the lame chin piercing was just a failed attempt at starting a nu-metal fashion trend, but in reality, it was a clever disguise. I mean, people who listen to Mae and people who listen to Disturbed usually don't cross paths
so he doesn't need much. This way, he gets both nu-metal and emo groupies. One week he's seducing tiny girls with thick glasses and "I heart Hawthorne Heights" T-shirts, the next week he's porking security guards after a Co-Headlining run with Drowning Pool.

However, I think such a double life would be hard to keep up so I think it's more likely they are identical twins. What happened was, their parents got divorced. Chin-pierced boy moved in with his father, a trucker and card-carrying NRA member; The Commish moved in with his mother, a therapist and devout vegan.

Commish grew up talking about his feelings, "having a good cry" at least twice a day, and listening to the Indigo Girls. Disturbed grew up listening to Ozzy's "Bark at the Moon" even though still to this day he's never heard Black Sabbath. Since Draiman lived in Chicago and Commish was down in Florida, they grew apart...eventually both becoming prominent in the music scene. Draiman, making monkey noises and acting as the voice of pissed off seventh graders everywhere, and The Commish playing keyboards on the emo masterpiece that is "The Everglow."

ATL - The Greatest Movie of All Time

Hanging out at the Waffle house

With big budget, star-driven movies like "V for Vendetta" and "Inside Man" playing in theaters along with blockbuster franchises like "Ice Age" and "Scary Movie" it's easy for a small, character driven drama to go unnoticed by moviegoers. Such is the case with "ATL" a powerful film starring Tip "T.I." Harris and that one kid from "Drumline" and "Smart Guy."

This movie has already dropped out of the top ten, and that is a shame, because it should be required viewing for all Americans. The movie can be best described as a cross between "Roll Bounce" and "Monkeybone" with a dash of the old Nickelodeon series "My Brother and Me" thrown in. Let me explain.

Alfie and Dee Dee...They paved the way for T.I. and his lil' bro

T.I. lives in the hood of ATL with his younger brother Ant. He watches out for his younger brother (much like Alfie from "My Brother and Me") even saving up his money from being a janitor by putting it in gangster rolls and hiding it the back of a stereo.

Him and his posse spend their weekends at Cascade, a local skating rink where they drink soda and roll around in choreographed routines (kind of like "Roll Bounce" but sadly without Nick Cannon). It is also where the one and only Jazze Phizzle spins records.

T.I....Platnium Rapper, Platnium Roller Skater

However, though T.I. may look tough, with his hardcore vacuuming of office buildings and his mad skills on the roller rink, he is really soft at heart. T.I. says, in a heartbreaking monologue, that "my dad used to show me the comics every weekend. When I grew up I wanted to be the one drawing the comics." Hence we have our "Monkeybone" connection.

Cartoonin' it up

Now, it's hard for me to describe the plot, since there are about 12 plotlines running though the movie and none of them start until about halfway through the movie. But I'll do my best.

Plot 1:
T.I. and his posse, Teddy, Esquire, and Brooklyn, are a 4 man roller skating machine. Their moves are the illest but the competition is fierce. They only have a few weeks to prepare for Skate Wars, where they will battle it out with other posses "You Got Served" style on the roller rink.

Plot 2:
Ant becomes a drug dealer working for Big Boi and gets arrested. T.I. attempts to keep him out of trouble but Ant wants to make money, even though T.I. advises him that "you don't have to be a dope boy to make money."

Plot 3:
T.I. falls in love with a girl named New New, who is hiding a secret from him. No, she's not a man, not pregnant, doesn't have AIDs, or anything like that. It's much worse. She's rich and lives in a mansion and is actually just pretending to be ghetto. Even worse...she has a white name and a white mom! New New is really just a rich bitch named Erin!

Plot 4:
Esquire needs to get a letter of recommendation to get into college, because the evil white dean doesn't think his 4.0 GPA and test scores are enough. So, he meets a rich black CEO at the country club he works at, who turns out to be New New's dad.

Plot 5:
T.I. and Ant live with their angry uncle, who shows them no love because he is an angry janitor, and because his career didn't exactly take off after his breakthrough role as Bubba in "Forrest Gump." He has to learn to let go of his anger and start acting like a father.

Plot 6:

The Twins, two random girls, like to have nice stuff so they have to steal designer purses and try to hide them from their mom, who ends up catching them.

She's not ghetto...She's secretly rich!

For the sake of space, I'll stop there and go into my review of the movie. What makes it special is that its really more of an overlong music video. Every five minutes, like clockwork, a banging rap tune comes on and out of nowhere comes a slow motion montage of hot black girls in booty shorts rollerskating. This helps keep the movie from ever getting boring.

However, its not all just about showing sexy women and cool roller skating. The movie also has an underlying politcal edge. After T.I. gets in a fight with his uncle, the camera cuts to a painting of Jesus at the last supper. Also, check out this photo of Esquire and the CEO dude at the all white country club. In this scene there is a close up shot of a painting of Stonewall Jackson or something. You can see the kind of bold political statement this makes.

Um...

The ending of this movie is awesome. They skip skate wars and Ant is in debt 2 G's to Big Boi. he doesn't know what to do so he goes to the store and buys some chocolate milk. Then Big Boi pulls up and draws a gun, and a scared Ant spills chocolate milk all over his oversized white T. Then, Big Boi corners him and is about to kill him when T.I. shows up with the money. But instead of just giving it to him, he throws it in his face as a sign of disrespect and then Ant gets shot.

However, I don't want to give away the endings to all the other plotlines because you should all go out and see this movie for yourself. This movie is full of great performances, a great soundtrack, and great roller skating. It is a coming of age tale, a romantic drama, a gangster film, and a friendship drama all wrapped up in one. Plus, Bone Crusher plays a body guard.

The best part of this movie, is that it taught me a new word that I have now incorporated into my everyday vocabulary: Cutty. You can infer what it means by the scene in the movie where T.I. and Ant talk about how they "both got cutty last night" and their uncle says "I'm supposed to be the only one gettin' cutty around here."

Guess who got some cutty last night?

The other reason you should see this movie is because of the talent behind the camera. The story is credited to Antwone Fisher, who apparently can write movies that aren't about himself. It was also produced by T-Boz from TLC and Will "Big Willie Style" Smith. It was directed by Chris Robinson. No not the hippie from the Black Crowes, but a guy who has directed a lot of Nas videos and not a lot of movies.

Needless to say, this is the 3rd film that I am inducting into my movie hall of fame.

Forever Night, Never Day Concert Review

30 Seconds to Mars, Aiden, Emanuel
The Avalon, New York City
March 23, 2006

Emanuel hit the stage first, opening their set with "The Willing." It was the only song of theirs that I had heard before the show, and figured it would be the highlight of their set. I couldn't have been more wrong. Each song they played seemed to be better than the last.

The band moved great on stage and seemed to win over more and more of the audience as the set went on. After getting their debut, "Soundtrack to a Headrush" at the show and giving it many spins, I can definitely give it an endorsement. Watch out for these guys, you'll be hearing more about them - I guarantee it.

9/10.

Next up were the boys in all black, My Chemical Romance Junior, or as they are better known, Aiden. I'm not going to lie, I'm a huge fan of Aiden's Victory Records debut "Nightmare Anatomy," but I still couldn't help laughing at them as soon as they hit the stage. It was like the band had just been given two to minutes to run through Hot Topic "Supermarket Sweep" style before the show, and made sure to take as much ridiculous Goth apparel and eyeliner as they could.Aiden's frontman, who goes by the name"wiL" had the fat high school girls screaming as soon as he hit the stage. However, he seemed more like Casper the Friendly Ghost than a sex symbol if you ask me. Seriously, this guy probably worked for an hour on his makeup to make sure his face was as pale as a corpse. But even so, his voice was spot on, and the whole band brought their record to life with ease. They played favorites like "Breathless," "The Last Sunrise," and "Unbreakable," and really got the crowd into a frenzy with an older tune, "I Set my Friends on Fire."

Since it seems the band's image is just as important to them as their music, I feel it is only fair that I critique them on that as well. That being said, this band was made up of the ugliest dudes I have ever seen. The dueling guitar players in particular really need to lay off the after-show twinkie binges. They both looked nearly the same, and I can best describe them as "Lost Boys" era Keifer Sutherland mixed with the fat Madden twin from Good Charlotte, mixed with the Pillsbury dough boy. As for the bassist and drummer, they looked like the bash brothers from the "Mighty Ducks" movies after getting a Cyclops haircut from Stevie Wonder.

Aiden gets an 7/10 for performance, and a 1/10 for looks.

Things didn't get off to a great start for Leto and the boys of 30 Seconds to Mars. Strike one - taking 40 minutes to get on stage. Strike two - "Lord of War." Luckily, there was no strike three and 30 Seconds to Mars hit the stage and wasted no time getting into the title track from their latest, "A Beautiful Lie."There really is no other band out there that sounds like 30 Seconds to Mars. Since their self-titled debut came out a few years back, the band haven't changed to fit into any trends and seem to be content to just do their own thing, and wait for people to catch on. And it looks like people finally are. The crowd was really into it, singing along to most of the songs. The band never missed a beat and you could really tell they were enjoying the performance.

The band played all of its best songs, including "Capricorn ( A Brand New Name)," "Attack," "The Fantasy," "Oblivion," and even attempted to get a circle pit going with "Battle of One". Obviously, the circle pit was a failure, because there really is no way to mosh to their music, but it was a valient effort.

I give them a 7/10 as well, and really reccomend if you haven't heard these guys yet, get your hands on their new album or see them live. They got a lot of shit due to the fact that Jared Leto is their singer, but they have a unique sound and deserve a chance.