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Aiden & 30 Seconds to Mars As an introduction to the St. Louis music scene, the Pageant is probably the easiest venue to catch a band. At the same time it may be the lamest and most conflicted. Designed and created by the owner of Blueberry Hill, the Pageant is designed with one purpose in mind: to sell scores of alcohol. This is achieved by corralling the +21 crowd into the bar section with giant railings that reaches down to about 20 feet from the stage, which is enforced by about 100 security guards. So, the floor area is about 20 x 20 and the rest is small, increasing levels; not unlike a dinner theater. Regardless of the band or whatever, this design absolutely demolishes the atmosphere of a show. It is great if you want an easy place to drink and watch a band play, but it kills the electricity and immediately creates second-class citizens among the crowd. Ostensibly, the headliners for this evening were 30 Seconds to Mars – a band that I knew one thing about: actor Jared Leto is the lead singer (from such outlets as the 90s TV show My So Called Life, Requiem for a Dream, Panic Room, Lord of War…). Along with an absurdly large banner, the band slowly took the stage in a goth punk look, not unlike Aiden (see below), but the real ‘treat’ came from Leto’s ridiculous outfit. It was as if Leto was trying to channel Mikey Way with a black suit, a priest collar, red hanging suspenders, and red eye shadow smeared to the temples. With this look, potential hung in the air for 30 Seconds to offer something special; yet, they simply were a radio-hungry Creed obfuscating in punk clothes. I should have know this given the large number of late 20s, early 30s single women who didn’t appear to be the type to be rocking out on a Thursday and clearly were just stargazing. Three songs past before it was clear that 30 Seconds are awful. This makes it even stranger that Aiden was opening for them. Aiden is classic contemporary goth hardcore punk – the next generation of Misfits who were brought up with equal amounts of Slayer – and quite clashes against 30 Seconds. Besides Aiden is so much better than 30 Seconds that if Leto wasn’t an actor the role would have been reversed. Playing in front of a more modestly sized banner of their debut Victory album (fall 2005’s Nightmare Anatomy), the five-piece were very in goth character…which would have comical if they weren’t so fucking good. Save for a terrible sound mixing job where the two guitars were completely drowned out by the bass and bass drum, the energy of Aiden was awesome. Lead singer wiL came out in full cape and offered a shadowy figure before the whole outfit jumped, spun, and rocked out with exceptional tightness. One of the guitarists (don’t know which) did the full-body guitar throw like it was nothing – making Snapcase’s offerings look small. Playing roughly forty-five minutes, Aiden covered nearly all of Nightmare Anatomy and a bit from their first record, and to be reissued on Victory, Our Gangs Dark Oath – including “Knife Blood Nightmare,” “See You in Hell…,” “The Last Sunrise,” and the stunner “Die Romantic.” While wiL bantered too much to keep the energy high, from this single performance it is clear why Victory signed Aiden. Aiden is doing another US tour in late spring in support of HIM and you should be there.
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