Maroon 5 Concert

Song of the day: Next Girl - The Black Keys. It's hard to find a band that delivers such a strong message in their music and yet do it in a subtle and simplistic manner that stays true to its music roots and originality. The Black Keys, a blues-rock band comprising of guitars/vocals Dan Aurbach and drummer Patrick Carney, fall into this category. It's a proven formula that duo partnerships can rock harder than any quintet as epitomized by the band White Stripes, but ive got a feeling that The Black Keys will transgress over any potential or accolades ever achieved by the White Stripes. Definitely a band to watch out for and enjoy

Maroon5 Concert

April 29th will always be remembered as the day of the much anticipated Royal Wedding of Prince William & Kate Middleton and also the day, pictures of a grandmother waiting in line to purchase an iPad2, surfaced into the internet. (pity)

For me, it was the day i finally got to see a concert at Bukit Jalil Stadium and one in which Maroon 5 will be performing. The last time i was there, it was for a Faye Wong concert in my college days, back when i had teenage fantasies of her. But that's the past. Anyway, I'm not an overnight fan of Maroon 5, but rather one that is looking for an opportunity to hang out with my wife and to enjoy some live music together.



The venue is indoors so there's like different standards of seats with different pricing. There are a few designated entrances and you need to make sure you're in the right one. Failing to do so, the ticket guys will have to send you back to the end of the line of the correct queue. So it's pretty strict but understandable due to the variations in ticket pricing.

In truth, i was in awe of the majestic space in the stadium. And i am quite impressed by the size of the stage, though ive heard a bigger one was prepared for the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Anyway, one thing that was kinda peculiar to me was the way the organizers arranged the standing tickets. Now i always thought standing tickets should give you the best view and the best spot to at least have some sort of interaction with the band (maybe some eye contact at least), but hell no. There was at least a 100metre or so gap in between the stage and where the standing spots were. This gap is filled up with rows of plastic chairs, and not even the good ones mind you, but those chairs you usually see in public "ceramahs". Cmon, dont tell me they expect the front row fans to be sitting, tapping their feet throughout the concert..but more on this later.



So i havent have much luck in "being there shouting and screaming" when the band appears for the first time at the start of a concert. At deftones, i had to run like a crazy rabbit and though at that time, it was related to my need for water "outake" (toilet break), at Maroon 5 on the other hand, it was due to my need for water "intake". Procastinating at first, i finally decided to get a bottle of coke and mineral water, and since it seems that the band will be late anyway, i took a slow stroll away from my seat. As soon as i was paying for them, the fans started screaming and my phone was vibrating endlessly (wife calling me to come back). Everyone was running frantically. The stadium was all dark when i reached and people were screaming and shouting and clapping and i had to skip over a seated couple and stepped on a few shoes to get to my seat which was right in the middle of a row.

So the band started off with their current hit "Mysery" which has been in the radio endlessly for the past weeks. The stage looked awesome from up here (i'm seated at the upper right wing) with a variation of flashing lights. Adam Levine had plenty of space to move around and he's flanked by his guitarist, James Valentine on his left and the basist, Micky Madden on his right. Somehow, the band had 2 keyboardist that night on each side of the drummer, Matt Flynn. The sound was great due to the acoustics of the enclosed stadium. Some fans had those twinkling rainbow batons which they wave around and it added to the atmosphere of the concert.





By the 3rd song, everyone was all warmed up and as if the "party button" was just flicked on, a sudden wave of seated fans (remember those guys who were seated at the front on those plastic chairs?) rushed to the barriers that separated the stage from the fans, shouting and screaming. Finally, a rock concert. They started dancing and jumping all around, waving as Maroon 5 performed one of their edgier and rockier songs. One that i can remember had Adam Levine performed a guitar solo, which got all the female fans screaming for more.



Speaking of female fans, there's this one that nearly tore off my ear drums. It's funny what this girl could do to me what the band failed to do even with the best of the best of sound equipment. She has this really sharp horrifying shriek that would be heard at the beginning of every song, every time Adam Levine addresses his fans and every time he waves at us. It's forgivable at first but it went on for the whole concert, ignoring my subtle attempts to get her to stop by covering my ears. It got so bad that my mind end up subconsiously waiting for her shrieks when a new song starts. At one time, she was screaming how she loved Adam Levine's butt. But who am i to stop her from having her time of her life. I'm glad she enjoyed every moment of it.



Like that girl, most of the fans were really having a good time. Though ours were tickets with seats, some of us actually stood up and dance as Maroon 5 played some of their greatest hits like "Never Gonna Leave this Bed", "This Love", "Makes Me Wonder", "Sunday Morning", "Wont go home without you" and many more. Anyway, i was kinda disappointed with the slow rendition of "She will be loved" which Maroon 5 decided to perform that night. With only an acoustic guitar backing Adam Levine's vocals for that song, i felt that this slower version would be better played on acoustic sessions and not on a concert. But he got the crowd to sing along and they really enjoyed that whole exercise.



Remember the fans seated right at the front on their plastic chairs, who took the liberty to stand next to the barriers to get up close and personal to the band? Yeah, it was looking more like a rock concert when that happened. Until a bunch of security dudes decided to be party poopers and ordered them to get back to their "expensive" seats. This didnt go too well with the band, so thankfully Adam Levine stopped the security from damaging the atmosphere and to let the fans move up to the front, much to the cheers from the crowd. Awesome!



At the encore, Maroon 5 played 3 more songs and then it was goodbye. I have to admit, Maroon 5 definitely rocked on their edgier songs, and they looked to be having so much fun playing them as compared to their slower ones. For a singer that is known for his sexy though squeaky voice, Adam Levine looks pretty comfortable in his guitar solos and the band definitely gave it their 100% in revving up the crowd. It is their first time in Malaysia and they definitely gave a lasting impression for pop music fanatics everywhere.



As for me, for the first time, my wife and i had a decent 10 minute discussion on music after the concert, a moment to saviour indeed.