An absolutely thunderous crowd shouted at the top of their lungs on Friday (12th of October) at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena for one of the biggest pop bands in the world, Maroon 5. There was definitely no questioning whom this audience had come to see.
The first support were pop punk outfit, The Cab. While the band had good energy on stage and connected well with one another while performing there were a few issues with the vocalist, Alexander DeLeon. There were occasionally a few pitch issues and he certainly seemed to have an attitude problem when he quickly thanked the crowd at Rod Laver Arena before tossing the microphone on the floor behind him, grabbing his jacket and rushing off stage without even finishing the last song on stage with the band. The stand out in this performance was definitely the drummer, Dave Briggs, definitely a terrifically gifted player.
Next to take the stage was the New Zealand born but Melbourne based three piece, Evermore. They were so excited and really managed to get the crowd going as they kicked off their set with their hugely popular hit ‘It’s Too Late’. Another giant response came for ‘Light Surrounding You’, which brought the house down. Again, the drummer of Evermore must also be made mention of, possibly one of the angriest drummers I’ve seen, in the best possible way. Lead singer and guitarist, Jon Hume was charming, funny and humble constantly communicating with the crowd, including making mention of their new album ‘Follow The Sun’, off of which they played their title track. The song was very up beat and up lifting and really felt like Evermore staying true to their sound.
After some waiting, the lights in Rod Laver Arena went down and the crowd absolutely lost their minds. Then onto the stage came the band, who were closely followed by incredibly handsome lothario, Adam Levine. The clearest picture that can be painted in regards to this moment is imagining thousands of people, who in spite of age or gender, were reduced to screaming 16 year-old girls having the time of their lives as they enjoyed the opening song ‘Payphone’.
Oddly though, the band members were all dressed in white, a little lame? Maybe, but it did seem to look good with the lighting design as well as the general large-scale pageantry of the event.
Going into this show, certain trepidations went through my mind in regards to Adam Levine’s character and although slightly cocky he was charming and entertaining, not to mention, so vastly talented, not only impressing the crowd with his great voice but also his fantastic guitar and drum skills.
Although the band was so fantastically tight and played everything brilliantly, it was the old hits that evoked the huge crowd responses. One obviously being ‘Sunday Morning’ where the whole crowd were chanting along. Levine then headed to the back of the stage where he picked up his guitar and played through all of ‘If I Never See Your Face Again’, which excited the crowd to no end. It seemed they lost their minds with every movement he made. However, the guitar solo he played at the end was definitely worth the fuss the audience was making. Other big responses came for ‘Wont Go Home Without You’ and ‘Harder To Breathe’. Off the new album, the band played a few songs through the set such as ‘Wipe Your Eyes’, which was a lovely song that the crowd adored.
Audience participation can very often be an awkward thing at concerts however in ‘One More Night’ the crowd were absolutely deafening. This was definitely one of the most adoring crowds that have been at Rod Laver Arena in a while.
After finishing their set on a huge note, the band returned to the stage for the encore, the crowd were just as excited as when they first emerged. Interestingly they played a cover of The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army where guitarist, James Valentine sang the first half and Levine unexpectedly played drums and sang the second half, just going to show even more how much of an all rounder he is, although, Meg Whites drumming isn’t exactly difficult, if you can play a kick drum in time then you shouldn’t struggle too play her songs.
Levine and Valentine then touched everyone with their quiet acoustic version of their lovely bossa nova style hit ‘She Will Be Loved’. Levine had the crowd in stitches when he in the middle of the song began to explain that when singers move the microphone away from their faces in the middle of a song, its not because they are so caught up in the moment, but that they are in fact burping. A very helpful tip, I’ll be sure to look out for this in the future.
Yet another surprise was when the band returned to the stage to play ‘My Hearts A Stereo’ which is by Gym Class Heroes and features Adam Levine, however Levine performed the whole song alone and it was fantastic. They then played a song called ‘Daylight’, which Adam Levine announced was his favourite song on the new album. It was a sweet heartfelt love song and it was placed perfectly in their set. Preceded by a big intro, which acted as a giant musical teaser they finally played their number one smash hit, ‘Moves Like Jagger’ before Levine thanked the crowd graciously, took a bow alongside his band and left the stage with them.
Regardless of their genre, Maroon 5 are not a band to be mistaken for naïve generic pop stars. They are well-rehearsed talented musicians who have clearly put a lot of thought and effort into putting on the best show they can, which was evident in the crowds response throughout the entire night.
Watch the Noise11.com Evermore interview:
Watch the Noise11.com Evermore Sessions at Noise11.com:
