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‘Really something incredible’: Local guitarist recounts contest win, 30 Seconds to Mars performance

Jerod Broadbooks (R), a college student from Wildwood, won a contest to perform with 30 Seconds to Mars.
Carrie Zukoski
Jerod Broadbooks (R), a college student from Wildwood, won a contest to perform with 30 Seconds to Mars.
Jerod Broadbooks (R), a college student from Wildwood, won a contest to perform with 30 Seconds to Mars.
Credit Carrie Zukoski
Jerod Broadbooks (R), a college student from Wildwood, won a contest to perform with 30 Seconds to Mars.

By day Jerod Broadbooks is a student-athlete at Lindenwood University. He studies music education and is on the track team. On Monday night, however, Broadbooks, who is also a guitarist, got the chance of a lifetime to perform onstage at Hollywood Casino Amphitheater with the rock band 30 Seconds to Mars.

Broadbooks said the experience started when he heard an advertisement on 105.7 The Point while at his summer job as a lifeguard in Wildwood.

“Do you want to be a guitar god and play with 30 Seconds to Mars?” the radio ad started, he said. “Enter this contest and it could be you playing in front of 20,000 fans.”

“I practiced for about a week and came up with my own original arrangement [of ‘Walk on Water’],” Broadbooks said. He submitted his entry via YouTube.

On Friday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh talked with the young guitarist about what it was like to perform in front of thousands of people.

“Just seeing that amphitheater from that perspective was just incredible,” he said. “I’ve been to Hollywood Casino Amphitheater five or six times to see concerts, but you never really realize how big the entire venue is until you’re on the stage looking out. And seeing that sea of people, it was really something incredible.”

St. Louis on the Air brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh and producers Mary EdwardsAlex Heuer, Evie Hemphill and Caitlin Lallygive you the information you need to make informed decisions and stay in touch with our diverse and vibrant St. Louis region.

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Alex Heuer joined St. Louis Public Radio in 2012 and is the executive producer of St. Louis on the Air. Alex grew up in the St. Louis area. He began his public radio career as a student reporter at Tri States Public Radio in Macomb, Illinois and worked for a few years at Iowa Public Radio. Alex graduated summa cum laude from Western Illinois University with a degree in history and earned a teaching certificate in 6 - 12th grade social studies. In 2016, he earned a Master of Public Policy Administration with a focus in nonprofit organization management and leadership from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He has won local and national awards for reporting and producing and his stories have been featured nationally on Morning Edition and All Things Considered.