I’ll be honest, the main thing that drew me to the Maroon 5 concert at the Dubai World Trade Centre, last week, was the oh-so-cute lead singer, Adam Levine, but I have to admit that the US rockers know how to work a crowd.
Despite barely three of their songs in my internal jukebox track listing, pretty soon I was dancing around like a loon and singing along to the catchy choruses (you don’t really have to know the lyrics in such situations, do you?).
With hordes of teenage girls gathered around the stage, jostling to get the best view of the band (and vying for a certain Mr Levine’s attention), I was a little surprised, to see a few seven-ish year-olds dancing and singing along to the tracks, word perfectly. I wasn’t allowed at rock shows at that age!
The show started at 8 pm, and UAE-based rock band Juliana Down got down to the business of getting the crowd nicely warmed up, and proved they have the chops to hold their own on the international stage - after all they did open for legends Guns N’ Roses at their 2010 Abu Dhabi gig. Fresh off of the release of their first album Empires, the local boys sounded even better than before; with charismatic lead singer Dia Hassan urging the crowd to really get down.
Maroon 5 finally hit the stage around 10 pm (and keeping the crowd waiting is probably a rock star’s prerogative, anyway), and kicked off with Misery from the album Hands All Over. Cheeky smile on his face, crowd-loving Levine was certainly in his element – shaking his lusted-over booty to the beat, covering the stage in exuberant leaps and bounds and singing his little heart out.
Behind him was Matt Flynn on drums, Mickey Madden on bass, James Valentine on guitar, and Jesse Carmichael on keyboards, with Flynn sat tight, providing rock steady drum beats, while Carmichael punched his keyboard with full force.
Madden and Valentine (oh, and what was with their 70s rocker hairstyles?) filled in the guitar and bass bits with élan, whilst Levine sealed his rock god credentials by strapping on a guitar and cutting loose throughout the gig, and at one point, holding an electric guitar duel – 70s stadium rock-style.
Belting out most of the tracks from their latest album, Hands All Over, the crowd was also treated to a few oldies but goodies, including She Will Be Loved and Sunday Morning, with, naturally, the fans going wild for the first licks of This Love.
Overall the guys were onstage for at least two hours before heading off… and then back again for the obligatory encore, this time of She Makes Me Wonder.
Have no doubt about it; these boys know how to move a crowd, even if their UAE fan base was decidedly pre-pubescent!