Adam Levine is sexy. This is something that is clear, obvious even. (I mean have you seen his new Men’s Fitness spread?!) Another thing that’s clear—Maroon 5 can put on a show. During the band’s two-night takeover of Madison Square Garden this weekend—for their worldwide #MaroonVTour—they electrified the sold out crowds and caused voice loss, sore feet, and an undeniable want for Adam Levine (ok, maybe that was just my experience, but it is a valid one).
The headliners came out singing their mega hit “Animals” and instantly got the attention of the crowd. It should be noted that Levine’s denim button up shirt was consistently coming undone throughout the song, which likely caused some of the mayhem.
Throughout the whole concert it was clear that the band knew what the crowd wanted to hear. They stuck to the hits. “Wake Up Call,” “This Love,” and “Sunday Morning” (where Levine hit one of the most amazing notes ever, see blurry Instagram video here) were some of the favorites. The partially acapella version of “Payphone” was a thing of magic. Another thing of magic? Levine’s dance moves throughout the entirety of the concert. Constant jumping, a weird lunge/sway move from side to side, and lots of movement in his hips were all beautiful, beautiful things. Their set concluded with “Daylight” and the band exited the stage.
Minutes, literal minutes, went by as the crowd screamed and cheered, “one more!” urging the band to come out for an encore. Maroon 5, of course, did come back out playing “It Was Always You.”
After the first of their four encore songs ended, Levine was at the tip of the runway on the stage in the middle of the crowd. He praised the excitement of the crowd and went on to ask the crowd a favor. He wanted all cell phones to be put away for two minutes. “There was a time when cell phones didn’t exist,” Levine explained. Levine went on to say that if he caught a cell out during the next song (the always fantastic “She Will Be Loved”) that he would turn away so the perpetrator wouldn’t get their picture.
The crowd was giggling at Levine and at how serious he seemed to be; little did the crowd know just how serious he was. After hitting every note of the opening of the song perfectly Levine stopped singing, looked at a girl in the crowd with her phone out, and said, “Nope. This is mine now.” He took the girls phone, set it one the stage, and went on singing for a bit. (It is unclear if the girl ever got her phone back). But, he didn’t continue for that long as he stopped again when he saw more phones out, this time exclaiming in a semi-joking voice, “I wonder what is going through your head right now, knowing that I’m mad at you.” This seemed to get the attention of the crowd and everyone sang along sans phones.
“Moves Like Jagger” followed and got the crowd up and dancing. The whole concert concluded with what had to be hundreds of red balloons falling from the top of The Garden while Levine belted out the band’s current single “Sugar.”
The nearly two hour set felt like only a few minutes as Levine and the rest of the band engaged the crowd the whole time. As the balloons fell and the crowd seemed to grasp the fact that the concert was really over, the sense of awe—over the magic that had just been experienced—was almost tangible.