Review: Maroon 5 Live at The O2, London

I have never been to the O2 arena, so on the 11th of January 2014, Maroon 5 and Co took my virginity. However, I had to wait a long while for my first time. We had planned to have our first time back in June last year, but due to American TV commitments, they cancelled on me, with a note to say I'd have to wait more than 7 months before we would try again.

A promo photograph...

So, the months ticked away, and the dome teased me every morning on the way to University as I went past on the DLR. All I could think about was the night we would finally get to spend together. Then the tickets came through the post. It meant, this was finally going to happen. Then the night came...

Before we could be together, we had to go through the foreplay known as 'The Support Acts', with PJ Morton and Robin Thicke. The former performed to a barely quarter-full stadium, as many people (perhaps wisely) opted to turn up later to miss the tedium of warm-up acts. He made respectable attempts to get the crowd enthused while he played a selection of songs that no-one seemed to have ever heard before. Like many others, I took this time to surf the web on my phone.

A picture obviously not taken by me.

Thicke came on, and gave an hour performance of mostly songs no-one had heard before, intersected by the occasional song you think you might have heard before, perhaps a few years ago? He spent a long time with dark glasses on, then he took them off to play the piano for a few songs, before standing on it and jumping around for the remainder of his stint. He also spent far too long introducing his onstage band, who all looked much cooler than him, with his glaringly-white teeth. He finished with Blurred Lines, which is the only song to actually gain the interest of his growing audience.

After yet another interval (thankfully the seats in the O2 are surprisingly comfy), Maroon 5 were welcomed onto the stage by perhaps the loudest cheer I have ever heard. I was worried that they would perhaps opt to sing songs from their latest album, which happens to be my least favourite. However, they chose to sing mainly from their early back log, and how fantastically they did so.

Another picture not taken by me...

This Love and Harder To Breathe were the massive crowd pleasers, which had the whole audience singing along at the top of their collective lungs. It was interesting to note that the moments when they sang songs from the new newer album, the energy dropped somewhat. As well as that, half way through, they done a 10 minute long funk jam, which dragged on until everyone was a little bit bored.

Thankfully, it perked up again, for songs such as Moves Like Jagger, and when singing a cover of Daft Punk's Get Lucky. They ended with She Will Be Loved, which Levine sang so endearingly, just like the original over a decade ago. However, I fear he ruined it slightly by trivialising it when giving the song a 'Pantomime treatment', where he split the crowd in half and gave each side a different part to sing.

Unfortunately, I didn't hear a word Adam Levine spoke. He chatted quite a bit, but spoke too quickly, too close to the microphone, and with the band loudly playing background music over him. He sounded brilliant, apart from when he was bounding up and down the down the stage like a rock singer.

We were sat high up; so high up that it gives even the more sure-footed people like myself, a touch of vertigo. However, the three big screens at the back were brilliant, as they used a mix of background imagery and live video of them performing. The staging and lighting too were great, with a variety of different lighting being used throughout.

The view from where we were sat; my own picture. Could you spot the difference in quality?

So, as I sat there being blinded by a green light, I contemplated how they are not as big as they should be. I rarely hear other people talking about them, and they are brilliant. They should have more recognition over here in the UK. It would also be good for the audience to consist of more men, other than those who were accompanying their other halves; I might have actually be the only man who wanted to be their more than his girlfriend. They are not a boy band. They are rock/pop, with more catchy songs than most artists can claim to have.

But just as I was thinking all that, a woman threw her pink lacey bra on stage, and I decided any attempt I made to campaign for more male recognition of Maroon 5 would be a futile one.

Overall, Maroon 5 gave me an inconsistently fantastic night, but when I look back upon our night, it was an amazing night which will always hold a place in my heart.