"TIME TO GO TO (COLOUR) WAR!"
18.2.2014 - Paris, France
I woke up on February 18th and pulled out all of the white clothes I had in my suitcase and laid them out on the bed. MARS’ Night Of The White Shadow/Colour War show was tonight and I was hoping I could get heavily involved in the colour stakes. I pulled on a pair of white jeans, a white MARS t-shirt and a white sweat-shirt. MARS had announced the theme night about 10 hours before my flight out of Australia, so I had time to quickly throw in my white wig, white gloves and a few other white accessories. Now donned head-to-toe in white, we stepped out for lunch before heading up to Le Zenith for the show.
This was the first MARS show I had ever been to with a General Admission ticket so I was pretty sure we’d be way up the back, not able to see anything and not really involved in any kind of ‘colour war’ that might occur. I noticed as we were waiting that hardly anyone had worn white which was kind of disappointing... and I seemed to be getting quite a lot of strange looks in my fully-white ensemble, now also including white face paint. I couldn't of cared less though... If MARS are doing a theme night, I'm going all out!
As we filtered through the gates I realised how wrong I was about the being involved in the colour war part… A table was set up outside with about 3 people staffing it, armed with bags of coloured paint dust. I couldn’t really see many people getting involved, so I took of my huge black jacket and as soon as I did, one of the staff yelled “OH MY GOD! YOU! COME OVER HERE!” I laughed and happily obliged not quite realising what I was getting myself in for as 2 of the staff hurled entire bags of paint dust straight at me. I was now a gorgeous mix of pink and turquoise. I squealed loudly at the sudden impact and coughed blue dust for a minute LOL. I wish I had of been warned to hold my breath/keep my mouth closed!! My friend had also just been hit with a handful of paint so we turned to get someone to take a photo of us and as we did, the staff came and dumped another bag straight over our heads. I squealed again. I now had bright blue all down the back of me. Nice. As we finished taking our photo, the staff came back and told us to get in a line and they threw a bag of orange across all of us. I was now a walking rainbow, my white clothes and wig transformed into a surprisingly gorgeous ombre of pink, blue and aqua. We went into the venue and headed to Shannon’s side of the stage and waited for the show to begin.
As the lights eventually went down and I heard the music start, I screamed louder than I had ever screamed in my life. MARS were opening with ESCAPE! All the memories of the shows I went to 2 years ago flooding in. I almost died of happiness! As the curtain suddenly dropped about 10 people in white cover-alls stood motionless in a line across the stage. It was completely mind-blowing… and a complete sensory overload as the crowd screamed ‘THIS IS WAR’!
Night Of The Hunter was the next song, followed by Search & Destroy. During Search & Destroy we made our way out of the pit and to the back of the stage with a group of about 20 people, each picking up 1 or 2 of the big inflated balloons that are thrown into the crowd during ‘This Is War’. As ‘This Is War’ began, we snaked our way into the space between the barrier and the stage and waited for the cue to set them off into the crowd. I crouched there watching Jared who was right in front of me in a little bit of disbelief as to where I was. At the last chorus I volleyball-smacked my balloon upwards and outwards then just enjoyed the moment – smacking the balls as they came back toward me and jumping around like crazy. We left the area at the end of the song and re-joined the pit area for the rest of the show.
Jared performed a long acoustic set including ‘Capricorn’, ‘Echelon’ and ‘Attack’ as well as the usual songs and danced around with the French flag during ‘Do or Die’ (something he’s done at all shows I’ve seen so far - obviously with the corresponding countries flag). The guys decided when they took the ‘crowd photo’ that they would start their own colour war on stage. Shannon and Tomo faced Jared, who suddenly looked a little bit concerned about what was about to happen to him, but all 3 of the guys with grins from ear to ear at the same time. "Ohh my brother's going to enjoy this!" Jared said with a laugh. They hesitated a bunch of times, Shannon at one point seeming to say “I don’t have enough paint!” then on the count of three, the guys all hurled paint powder; Jared throwing his at Shannon and Tomo, Shannon trowing this at Tomo then throwing a handful straight into Jared’s face and Tomo throwing his at Jared. Shannon ran off stage and Tomo threw more powder at Jared before Shannon came back and dumped a whole cup of blue down the back of Jared then threw more and more at Tomo and Jared. Shannon was absolutely hilarious! It was an explosion of coloured paint dust and the guys were now multi-coloured. Shannon tipped powder down his chest and Jared threw powder into his own face and patted green into his hair like it was face powder before blowing green into the air. Shannon and Tomo even threw some over the crowd. The guys took the crowd photo then ran off to start ‘Closer To The Edge’. As always, one of my favourite songs to see live. MARSfetti. Say no more ;)
As a reward for helping with the balloons, we were also offered a position on stage for a colour war during ‘Up In The Air’. We gathered at the end of ‘Closer To The Edge’ and half way through ‘Bright Lights’ we lined up behind the stage and were given bags of paint dust. As the song ended, we ran up onto the stage and I ended up in the front row near Tomo. I had forgotten how much I love being up on the stage for the last song! Jared stopped half way through the song saying “Wait, wait, what’s going on here?” and then dragged a couple out to the end of his catwalk… a guy was proposing to his girlfriend! Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen at a MARS show! Jared took a photo with the couple and the song got back underway, Jared humping the air as we sang. As the song approached the final chorus, the lights went out and Jared did his ‘get down real low’ thing where everyone is told to bend/duck down and then when the line ‘Take No More’ comes on, you leap to your feet and go crazy. We waited in the darkness and Tomo came up and crouched down right next to me, playing basically right to me which was pretty incredible – I was sitting behind the neck of his guitar! I stopped paying attention to Jared and just watched Tomo right next to me in amazement and awe.
That 'explosion' moment eventually came and as Jared screamed “TAKE NO MORE!” I leapt to my feet with Tomo, the lights went crazy and I threw my paint dust forward and outward as did everyone else… all I could see was a cloud of colour in front of me as Jared danced around on his catwalk. I screamed and then tried to sing as I sucked in (what I’m sure was an unhealthy amount) of the paint dust. I felt like I was going to be sick! I’m sure my lungs were purple at that stage as well :P I also copped a whole handful in my left eye and was now jumping around with one eye closed shut – I’m sure I just looked fantastic at that point hahaha. When the song finished, we took a tonne of photos on stage before heading off, even MORE colourful than I had walked in. I laughed so hard when I saw myself in the mirror – I honestly looked like a smurf or something! When I said goodbye to friends outside, they looked at me like they didn’t even know who I was – apparently I was almost unrecognisable hahahaha.
The Colour War show was the best MARS show I have been to, and it just goes to show that you don’t need to be on the barrier, or have a M&G to enjoy it. I do have some people to thank for making the things I experienced this time possible… to be part of that Colour War on stage was a once in a lifetime experience that very few people have had the chance to do and it made the night for me. Thankyou again to those people – you know who you are :)
As a last note about the Colour War, It is now 2 weeks later and I *still* have pink-stained skin on my chest, turquoise and blue in my hair and a multi-colour stained bag, clothes and shoes…. But you know what? I wouldn’t change it for the world :D
#WeWantMoreColorWars