Dangling over NYC, the Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman finds himself “Closer to the Edge” than ever
As dawn broke on Thursday morning, actor and rock singer Jared Leto clung to the outer walls of the Empire State Building in a historic ascent.
Scaling the building’s 86th to 104th floors, the House of Gucci star has been declared the first person in history to climb the architectural icon, which was constructed nearly a century ago.
The feat was undertaken by Leto to announce that his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, are set to embark on a world tour from March to September of next year.
Spanning four continents, the Seasons world tour will be the band’s first since 2019, supporting their recent sixth studio album It’s the End of the World but It’s a Beautiful Day.
To have been suspended 1,250 feet (381 metres) above the concrete slabs of Manhattan was not just a promotional stunt for Leto, but a lifelong ambition. “It’s incredible to watch the sun rise overlooking the city that’s meant so much to me,” he says, “ever since I was a kid, New York stood for the place that you went to make your dreams come true. And as a young kid, I wanted to be an artist, and New York was the place that you came to be an artist. And the Empire State Building was always that symbol for me.”
As passionate about rock climbing as he is rock music, Jared Leto’s love of heights is well-documented. In 2016, the Requiem for a Dream star directed five short films in celebration of America’s national parks and their adventurers, titled Great Wide Open.
While a fervent mountaineer, Leto is – evidently – equally enthusiastic about urban climbing; just a few months ago, he was seen scaling a five-star hotel in Berlin without a harness – much to the astonishment of passers by.
Of his recent achievement, Leto said that “the [Empire State] building is a testament to of all the things that can be done in the world if we put our minds to it, which is largely the inspiration behind our most recent album.”
Thirty Seconds to Mars will be playing over sixty shows on their 2024 Seasons tour, featuring support from AFI, Poppy, and KennyHoopla.
Check out the full list of dates here.
Words By Harrison Jones.
