Colour me Maroon

ADAM LEVINE had little to do to get fans revved up at Maroon 5’s opening night concert at Impact Arena on Monday. After a rather lukewarm reception for Swedish openers Dirty Loop, the concertgoers roared to their feet at the sight of Levine and his bandmates appearing onstage to the strains of “Animal”.

A spirited performer, Levine was on the go the moment he hit the stage. The agile and very slim yoga practitioner pranced from one corner to another in his trademark skintight jeans, rousing the audience to get up and dance with him. Another of Levine’s trademarks – his tattooed arms – became visible as he shed his long-sleeved checkered shirt and threw it at the audience much to the delight of the screaming fans.

 After “Animal”, the band segued into a series of upbeat songs that included “One More Night”, “Stereo Hearts”, “Harder” and “Lucky Strike” with little pause in between.

The crowd had no chance to rest its collective feet and Levine wasn’t about to let them either. A few members of the audience did get tired and went back to their seats and when Levine spotted them, he grudgingly allowed them to rest for a while before prompting everyone to rise again as the band swung into a new song.

Although Levine has been the unequivocal face of Maroon 5 and the object of fans’ adulation of (cue the “Adam, be my sugar daddy” sign displayed by the fans), his less recognisable bandmates did not seem to mind. 

The other five members of the band – James Valentine, Jesse Carmichael, PJ Morton, Mickey Madden and Matt Flynn – certainly looked like they were having a lot of fun jamming on stage. Indeed, percussionist Flynn put up a really solid performance that more than merits mention. Levine too showed his instrumental talents when he strapped on his neon pink guitar for a few songs.

For a band that started out with acoustic hits from their “Songs About Jane” days and later swerved into electropop, Maroon 5 has enjoyed mainstream popularity with frequent plays on the airwaves. The audience sang along to all the songs performed that night, even the band’s early hits like “This Love” and “Makes Me Wonder”. 

Although not a die-hard fan, I do have several Maroon 5 favourites but realised it impossible to expect them to perform all of these during the 90-minute show. But I was really glad when Levine sang his solo hit “Lost Stars” (my top favourite) from the soundtrack of the 2014 movie “Begin Again”, in which he also stars, with Valentine on the acoustics. 

Levine got to show off his high-pitched nasal vocals in that song, which he said was his favourite and added that he was pleased to see the song getting a better reception here than in the States. The band later performed “She Will Be Loved”, which Levine introduced as the song that propelled the band to fame.

Saving what should have been the best for last, the band played their most recent hit “Sugar” (the inspiration for the “Be my sugar daddy” signs) to close out the show. By that time though, their performance was a little below expectations. Energy levels had visibly dropped, particularly in Levine. 

Perhaps it was fatigue after the sold-out performances in Manila and Singapore before the band came here. In fact, the show ended on an anti-climax without an encore. 

Maybe the band was really saving the best for the last – in this case, their second show on Tuesday night.