Thirty Seconds to Mars make debut VMA performance with “Walk On Water”

On Sunday, August 27 the 34th annual MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) took place at The Forum in Inglewood (Los Angeles), California. As dedicated music video promoters, we’re always thrilled to see deserving artists winning awards, and we’re especially proud to see former clients take the stage. This year, our former clients Thirty Seconds to Mars took the stage for their debut VMA performance- and ever the musical innovators, they delivered an unforgettable show.

Following their 2013 album Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams, Thirty Seconds to Mars released their first new song in four years, “Walk On Water”, last week. It’s an anthemic, empowering song with a larger-than-life call to arms and message of unity; for long-time fans, this is Jared Leto and co. doing what they do best, though with a more electronic sound. On the red carpet earlier that evening, Leto hinted that their performance would feature a piece of technology that hadn’t been seen before. We can only wonder what it looked like for those in the audience, but viewers at home saw a performance captured by FLIR Systems’ thermal imaging cameras- rather than real-life colors, the band were depicted in color maps based on on infrared heat detection. As if that wasn’t enough to draw you in, the band were joined in the bridge of the song by special surprise guest Travis Scott, who added an unforgettable interlude.

While this was the group’s first time actually performing at the VMAs, they’re no stranger to the awards show. Since we promoted their first music video for “Capricorn (A Brand New Name)” in 2002, they’ve consistently put out stellar clips. As we told you in a recent blog post, they now have three VMAs under their belt: the 2006 MTV2 Award for “The Kill”, the 2010 Best Rock Video award for “Kings and Queens”, and the 2013 Best Rock Video award for “Up in the Air.”

Did you watch the VMAs last night? Let us on know on Facebook or Twitter what your favorite moments were!