Adam and the killer earworms
Maroon 5 follows trends, kids scream
Los Angeles power-poppers Maroon 5 rewarded shrieking fans at the Bell Centre on Wednesday night with a truly impressive visual spectacle. The music, on the other hand, was inoffensive and unobtrusive, made to pleasantly fit in the background — similar to how one can superficially enjoy their most recent hit, Payphone, when it makes its obligatory rounds on Top 40 radio. They do have a sense of humour about their ubiquity, as the tour and their latest album are both called Overexposed.
As evidenced during their brisk, sub-two hour set, the band has racked up an impressive number of inextricable ear worms across four albums. They’ve also yawed their sound palette when fashion dictates: going from forlorn date rockers on Songs About Jane to disco ducks on It Won’t Be Soon Before Long to their current spoon-fed melody approach. Despite these different permutations, there has always existed two constants: Adam Levine’s uncomplicated-yet-winsome vocals and James Valentine’s light-funk lead guitar work, and both pillars successfully propped up the performance whenever one got tired of looking at the visual pageantry.
Then again, the stage was truly a sight to behold. Beyond the illuminated M-shaped floor that allowed Levine and Valentine considerable walking space were two levels of screens: one below drummer Matt Flynn and the two keyboardists, and the much larger backdrop behind them. In addition to the big screen’s overall quality and vivid colours, the multiple levels also gave the stage a sense of three-dimensional depth. This effect worked best during their version of Gym Class Heroes’ Stereo Hearts, where multiple pulsating speakers were shown on screen.
Since they came equipped with a set’s worth of wellknown singles, Maroon 5 had largely won the battle before even hitting the stage. The 17,569 in attendance — mostly young, predominantly female — sang with and over their heroes, and screamed whenever Levine’s fetching mug graced the screen. The songs were mostly played verbatim, and in the case of the grating whistling on Moves Like Jagger, overdubbed to no one’s dismay. The line between real live performance and artificial click tracks became especially blurred when the group blended aggressive rocker Harder to Breathe with dubstep producer Skrillex’s Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites. The fireball visuals during that song made the messy mashup tolerable.
Of course, for many, seeing tatted up, falsetto-singing frontman Levine was enough of a reason to be there. He has an easygoing presence that’s hard to dislike, and doesn’t overdo his vocals — thankfully he hasn’t picked up any bad habits as a judge on singing competition show The Voice — but his constant, casual swearing in between the songs seemed a bit inappropriate given the group’s young fan base.
Although maybe it really was “hot as s--t” on stage, and operating a video camera was worthy of being called a “holy s--t moment.” Perhaps that’s just the way young people talk nowadays, and Levine and his bandmates were once again proving to be astute trend followers.