Maroon 5 bring back something they’ve been missing for years

When I told friends and family I was going to see Maroon 5 on Friday night I was met with a similar confused reaction.  

‘Oh?,’ they’d reply, with a rather perplexed look. One friend said they’d forgotten they existed. 

I loved the band when they burst onto the scene, seeing a spiky haired Adam Levine in the racy 2004 music video for This Love. Like many, I quickly became uninterested after they lost their older smooth soul sound after their album Songs About Jane. 

But when I saw the band take to the stage at BST Hyde Park on Friday night as the sun set in London’s lushest landscape, I was delightfully surprised. 

Within three songs I was gazing at Adam remembering that he was in fact a talented musician long before his stints on The Voice and American Horror Story. 

I texted friends as I watched, exclaiming: ‘I forgot Adam can really rip on a guitar.’

Although their entrance to Harder to Breathe was slightly lacking the energetic oomph it needed, they more than made up for it when they got to their third track, This Love. 

Between songs, Adam relished in the magic of the hazy capital and even lead the crowd in a Freddie Mercury-esque singalong. Obviously, it wasn’t quite Live Aid by comparison, but his slick falsetto was unexpectedly powerful. 

The older songs they performed (Sunday Morning, She Will Be Loved) are rooted in nostalgia, so inevitably received a much more enthusiastic reaction from an otherwise motionless crowd. 

But Adam’s vocals were impeccable, even as they closed the evening with Sugar and its soaring high notes, he managed to keep the crowd engaged until the very end. 

The band’s performance on Friday reminded me just why they were critically acclaimed in their pre-Moves Like Jagger radio era. 

PJ Morton, the band’s keyboardist, was a force. Adam made sure to mention the several Grammys he has under his belt, an obvious statement to make unless you had earplugs in for their entire performance. 

Meanwhile James Valentine often battled with Adam in a Guitar Hero-style shred-off which nicely broke up the poppier songs (Moves Like Jagger, Girls Like You). 

It’s a shame that the musicianship of the band has often been overshadowed by some cringeworthy moments throughout the years. 

Most noticeably Adam’s torso becoming a meme during their flat Super Bowl performance in 2019, as well as his 2022 marriage affair scandal which undoubtedly turned some fans against him. 

But their BST performance put that aside for a moment and highlighted their distinct blend of funk, R&B, and rock they’re known for.

Although they’re better known for two decades of cheesy pop sounds and radio hits, they ditched that for the night in favour of some deliciously unexpected melodic twists and turns.