Jared Leto flew through the air, brought Matthew McConaughey onstage at ACL Fest

It’s OK to go full Jesus.

We’re talking all-white regalia, bungee jumping onstage while singing a set opener called “Walk On Water.” And you sing most of it off-stage so people are like “Where is he?” Then bam you shock them at the end of the final chorus because you are up by the big Honda sign as you swoop in.

And later, summoning ghosts of rock stars past, it’s OK to use your Hollywood charisma to engineer fervent crowd participation — getting everyone to chant “whoa” on “Kings and Queens,” getting lots of people to hop on strangers’ shoulders and sing old jam “Attack,” getting everyone to raise an apolitical fist and chant “This Is War” for unclear reasons, getting Texas country artist Calder Allen to play acoustic guitar and sing on “Seasons.” Then you invite all the press photographers onstage during “The Kill” when you’re ready for a closeup. And then on “Stuck,” get your “Dallas Buyers Club” co-star to beat his chest to the drums, “Wolf Of Wall Street”-style.

“This is a surprise, we didn’t even plan it — good to see you brother,” Jared Leto told Matthew McConaughey onstage as he paraded fans up to sing final song, “Closer To the Edge.”

Talk about a cult following.

WATCH: Jared Leto performs 'Walk on Water' at a pop-up performance outside Jo's Coffee in Austin

Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto, 51, arrived on ACL’s Honda stage Saturday afternoon riding the highs of a new album, September’s “It’s the End Of the World But It’s a Beautiful Day.” You may diss his longtime L.A. band as a celebrity vanity project, but did you know his fans are so fervent they fly to Croatia to hang out with Leto at retreats where he leads them while wearing long, white robes?

And while the band’s sound has shifted from its original turn-of-the-century screamo — emotional and loud, guitar-first rock with guttural yelling parts that recall veteran bands such as Story Of the Year and Thrice, which enjoyed modest pop success in 2003 — to ponderous, uplifting rock built like modern genre hits by Imagine Dragons and Muse that incorporate electronic drums and keys, the band remains “completely serious about this music thing, Dad” six albums in.

“Do you believe that we can win this fight tonight?” Leto asked Zilker fans, wearing an all-red BMX biker suit. It’s a lyric from “Walk On Water” but it doubled as his mission statement. It’s great coaching, finding a common cause and enemy, real or imagined, and rallying.

More: 'Take it Shania!' Foo Fighters bring the other Saturday headliner on stage after her set

“Are you guys too old to mosh?” he later asked fans in self-effacing fashion. But also as an indirect acknowledgement that 20 years later, the youthful and often-derided emo bands you heard at Hot Topic still mean an awful lot to folks. And so the old stuff landed hardest the way Paramore’s reunion tour during ACL ‘22 proved to be actually hella resonant.

But Thirty Seconds to Mars? More like 3 Dudes With Canned Vocals Piped-In to Sound Bigger Onstage Back on Earth. Leto’s band employed artificial crowd noise and chanting that lended more weight and pathos to his set. Fake it till it sounds like everyone already knows these new songs.

“Be with us, I don’t care how bad your knees are,” Leto asked fans while getting them all to crouch before a big breakdown. Fine, I’ll bite.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Thirty Seconds to Mars' Jared Leto bungee jumps on stage at ACL Fest