Express & Star

Review: Maroon 5, LG Arena

The dodgy 'tache made him look like a young Nigel Mansell – but this is Adam Levine I am talking about. Somehow the Maroon 5 front man made the most menacing of face fluff donning his top lip look cool.

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The funk rockers, joined by Grammy nominated keyboardist PJ Morgan, kicked-off their European tour with an unforgettable non-stop 100-minute set in a packed LG Arena last night.

Fans had to wait eight months to finally see the boys from LA after they suddenly postponed the tour previously scheduled for May last year. Yet the disappointment was forgotten about from the moment Levine, Carmichael, Madden, Valentine and Flynn took to the stage.

Blurred Lines star Robin Thicke, who is also touring with the band, left the twerking and depraved scenes of the MTV Awards behind him and put on a 45-minute set worthy of the ticket price alone.

Maybe it is just me, but I had written the rough and ready Michael Buble lookalike as another talentless Beverly Hills upstart. Thicke by name, thick by nature, I thought. But, hands up, I was wrong. He showed an incredible vocal range. It is rare that a warm up act will have the LG packed to the rafters – but Thicke did – and we loved it.

With our appetites duly whetted, the main act kicked off with One More Night from their new album and then straight into classic This Love.

From one hit to another: that was the structure of the night with only a brief pause to towel the sweat from their brows.

Perhaps it's sacrilege to say, but you not only forget just how good Maroon 5 actually are, but also the sheer volume of their catalogue. You'll struggle to find another band that can match them instrumentally and consistently achieve such perfection.

A pulse-raising rendition of Payphone, followed by an acoustic version of She Will Be Loved and the showstopping Daylight made for fitting finale.

Maroon 5 are true music makers. For me the greatest testament to this was that the huge swarm of fans largely left their cameras and phones in their pockets and simply absorbed every minute of their genius.

By Rob Golledge

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