Maroon 5 Tour Review

The first time I saw Maroon 5 was in August 2011 at Jones Beach Theater while they were on tour with Train. Their entire set was amazing, but after the crowd sing-a-long to ‘She Will Be Loved’ I knew I had to see them again. The next time I planned to go was a flop because I waited to long to get tickets and the prices were just outrageous. This time around when the tour was announced I knew I had to be there. Four years from my first time seeing them, I have to see them for a third.

This time around it was at the Izod Center and it’s one of the last concerts to be played at the venue. Getting there and finding a parking spot was no problem, thanks for the $25 parking fee (it could be worse), and getting in was a semi-breeze. The first thing my friend and I did was get the overprice T-shirt. I mean how could you pass that up? They weren’t that bad, priced at $40 a pop. Sweatshirts were like $50+.

Enough rambling, on to the show. I had decent seats sitting in the 100 section directly in front of the stage. First up was Adam’s artist, Rozzi Crane. She had a very powerful voice and even merged in Beyonce’s ‘Flawless’ and Jay-Z’s ‘Can I Get A’, but the music drowned her out and it was hard for me to comprehend what the hell she was singing. The last song she performed, ‘Psycho’ she said was off her EP, Space, and I enjoyed that one. Once she left the stage there was like a 15-20min. gap before Magic! came out.

Another reason I jumped on this concert, aside from Maroon 5, was because I knew Magic! would be opening for them and I loved their album. Luckily I had great seats because for some reason they decided not to put the band on the screen. The screens obviously worked as they did for the previous set and there were advertisements during the set changes. They performed: ‘Don’t Kill the Magic’, covered ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ and mashed in ‘Message in a Bottle’. My night was made as they performed one of my favs from the album, ‘Mama Didn’t Raise No Fool’. Their set ended with ‘Rude’, obviously. I got a very Bruno Mars vibe from the group, especially with their red suits. Only thing that would’ve mad the set better was to actually see them clearly. I enjoyed the music regardless.

Now on to the main attraction, Maroon 5. They opened up their set with ‘Animal’ and the energy kept going from there. The set list included: ‘One more night’, ‘Stereo Hearts’,
‘Harder to breathe’, ‘My Lucky Strike’, ‘Wake Up Call’, ‘Love Somebody’, ‘Maps’, ‘This Love’, ‘Sunday Morning’, ‘Makes Me Wonder’, ‘Payphone’, ‘Daylight’, ‘It Was Always You’, ‘She Will Be Loved’, ‘Moves Like Jagger’, and ‘Sugar’.

The best thing about their set was the constant interaction and wanting the energy from the crowd. It’s nothing like going to a show and feeling a part of it the entire time. The best moment was during ‘She Will Be Loved’ when Adam asked everyone to put their cell phones away and enjoy the f*cking moment (his words). That’s by far my favorite Maroon 5 song  and to have everyone in synch singing their hearts out was amazing.

The show was mixed with the old and the new music which I loved. I mean I enjoyed their new stuff, but it’s nothing like vintage Maroon 5. What was surprising was how many families were there. Kudos to Adam’s coaching job on The Voice for that crowd. Great show, great energy, and I can’t wait to see them again.

Then & Now Thursday (V. 12): Maroon 5

First, let me just give a round of applause to one of my favorite bands of all time, Maroon 5. I remember the first time I heard Maroon 5. I was listening to it on a CD which for the life of my I can’t remember. I do remember that I kept switching between ‘Harder to Breathe’ and Jet, ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl. Still I wasn’t sure who this band was until I saw ‘This Love’ as one of the morning videos on MTV. Then came the release and video for my favorite Maroon 5 song of ALL TIME, ‘She Will Be Loved’.

Still I didn’t know much about Maroon 5 and then I heard Songs About Jane (2002) which by the time I had heard it, it was two years old.  The entire vibe with Adam’s voice was just amazing. I became a fan instantly and couldn’t wait to hear more. To date the album has sold over 5 million copies.

As time went on with Maroon 5, Adam Levine became more AND MORE attractive. I think that his sex appeal really took off by the second album, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long (2007). That album featured ‘Won’t Go Home Without You’ and radio smashes  ‘Makes Me Wonder’ and ‘If I Never See Your Face Again’. What really took that album to the next level was the remix/collab with Rihanna of ‘If I Never See Your Face Again’. That video showed off just how HOT both Adam and Rihanna were. I love that version more than the original and after seeing them perform it live on FNMTV (Friday Night MTV) I could only anticipate that they would collab again (still waiting).

Next up came Hands All Over (2010) which had two of my favorites ‘Misery’ and “Never Gonna Leave This Bed’. It wasn’t until its rerelease that the album got real buzz and took Maroon 5 to the next level. They had officially become rock stars. The album was rereleased in June of 2011 and featured the mega smash hit and song of the summer ‘Moves Like Jagger’ featuring Christina Aguilera. The song was all over the radio and it was hard not to sing along. The collab was first performed live on The Voice as Levine and Aguilera were judges on the show. With a platform like that there was no denying that the song would take off. Aside from The Voice it was also performed at the American Music Awards and at the 2011 Victoria Secret Fashion Show as Adam held hands and walked down the catwalk with his girlfriend, now fiancé, Behati Prensloo.

I went to their concert at Jones Beach Theater in July of 2011 where they co-headlined with Train and it was AWESOME! I was close enough to the stage to see Adam’s face and the atmosphere of the crowd when this song came on was amazing. They ended their set and the show with ‘She Will Be Loved’ where the fans sang along as he pointed to the right and the left having each side sing something different. Awesome concert!

As Adam’s popularity skyrocketed due to the success of The Voice his sex appeal sky rocketed as well. He was always a good looking guy, but as time has gone on he’s gotten HOTTER and HOTTER! Hence why he’s became People’s, Sexiest Man Alive.

Their fourth album, Overexposed (2012). Click here for my initial review. I gave the album a 3.5/5 and here it is two years later and I can say that it’s still my least favorite Maroon 5 album and my favorite song off the entire album is ‘Love Somebody’. I don’t know with this album I just wasn’t really into it, but they had smashes on the radio such as ‘Love Somebody’, ‘Payphone’, ‘One More Night’, and ‘Daylight’. I’m so glad they stopped playing the Wiz Khalifa feature on the radio, then again they never really played it to begin with.

Now they’re back with a new track and count down to their fifth album, V, which is to have a feature Gwen Stefani. Their new track ‘Maps’ is a nice segue back to the radio airwaves and as the first single I like it so much better than that of ‘Payphone’ from Overexposed. Take a listen below.

I’m amazed with the success of Maroon 5 and the commercial success is really owed to that of the success of Adam Levine. He’s become like this sex symbol and there’s a whole bunch of ‘Maroon 5’ fans when it reality they’re just there for Adam. That’s fine, whatever takes the group to the next level I suppose. I just know that there are a lot of people claiming to be Maroon 5 fans. It’s ok, they’re really infatuated with Adam.

Collectively, Maroon 5 hasn’t done too shabby during their 12 year span as they’ve won three American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards and three Grammy’s. I can’t wait to see how their album pans out. Fingers crossed it’s a smash. It all comes down to, did Maroon 5’s sound REALLY change? I wouldn’t say drastically, but with time a sound would change as artists take chances and experiment more. To me that’s not change, that’s growth. As for my favorite Maroon 5 album, Songs About Jane.