Fifty students joined Thirty Seconds to Mars on stage at their concert for their hit song “Kings and Queens” in the M.A.C. Center Friday.

Michelle Witek, a sophomore exploratory major, was one of the lucky ones that joined Jared Leto and his bandmates to rock out the last song of the fun-filled night.

“I was on my friend’s shoulders,” Witek said, “and he shined his flashlight on me and I went running.”

Many of the fans that were lucky enough to grace the stage with the band were snapping photos and jumping around with their hands in the air while Leto belted out his award-winning lyrics.

“I almost got to touch him,” Witek said. “It was awesome!”

Frontman Jared Leto, drummer Shannon Leto and lead guitarist Tomo Milicevic had been awake all morning shooting video for a short film for their song “Hurricane.”

Leto told the fans that he didn’t feel well and sounded like a “sick cow,” but that didn’t stop the band from showing up for the 1,921 people that attended. Leto even let the crowd make requests for songs they wanted to hear and let the audience sing the words to give his voice and bandmates a break.

Alexander Tucker, Undergraduate Student Government and Rathskeller programmer, was one of the first to show up Friday morning to oversee final preparations for the show and noticed people were already there waiting to get in.

“I got here at 11 this afternoon,” Tucker said, “there were about 5 to 10 people already waiting for the doors to open.”

The line continued to grow all day going all the way back into Risman Plaza. It took security about 40 minutes to get the massive line through the doors and into the main area.

Jeffery Hammond, director of programming for USG, came out during the break between the performances of New Politics and Thirty Seconds to Mars to remind the audience of the ground rules for show.

“No moshing, no crowd surfing and no video cameras,” Hammond said. The crowd was booing and awing in response to his disclaimer, but that didn’t stop Jared Leto from breaking the rules.

From the beginning of the concert, Leto was urging the audience to break the rules that were set for the concert.

Leto kept telling the crowd to get on their feet and “Jump, Jump” while he hopped and twirled around on stage.

During the song “Search and Destroy,” Leto stopped the song four times to yell at various people in the audience. There was even a girl in the front row he kept calling a “spoiled brat.”

“I’m going to keep stopping this concert,” Leto said, “until everyone is having a good fucking time!”

He also kept telling the people on the floor to keep moving closer to stage at various points during the concert.

By the end of the concert, Leto was insisting his antics were all in good fun.

“I’m going to take a photo and put it on Twitter,” Leto said. “That’s why I wanted you to come closer to the stage.”

He titled it “Kent Fucking State” and sent it right then and there.

Leto also did some crowd-surfing himself on top of the fans in front of the stage. He wanted to make sure every one in the auditorium was having a good Homecoming.

“This is your show,” Leto said. “You can do whatever the fuck you want.”

Contact Katie Moore at [email protected].