Maroon 5 Goes Beyond Loud

ICONIC PERFORMANCE AT AN ICONIC VENUE

All roads led to the Big Dome last Tuesday and fans from all over the city filled the iconic coliseum to the rafters in an unprecedented turnout as the pop-rock band Maroon 5 held the Manila leg of their Overexposed World Tour 2012. Although this was the third time the band performed on local soil, it seemed like it was their first as the event quickly turned from a one-night concert to a historic musical experience in the Philippine concert scene.

Photo by Bruce Casanova

The queues at the newly-transformed Grand Atrium of the Smart Araneta Coliseum said it all. It was a veritable sea of humanity as excited fans snaked through the lines to enter the venue. There was a mad rush to buy the merchandise and the glow sticks around the coliseum concourse before they positioned in their places. No one wanted to miss a second of the much-awaited performance. Who could blame them? The mad scramble for tickets to the concert started as early as June when these were uploaded on TicketNet Online. In just a few days, the concert was sold out.

When Maroon 5 finally came on stage, the screams went beyond loud. Adam Levine and his band brought the house down with the opening number, “Payphone”. Glow-sticks illuminated the Big Dome as Adam Levine wowed the crowd with favourites that catapulted them to worldwide fame like “This Love,” “Harder to Breathe,” “Won’t Go Home Without You,” “Misery” and much, much more. Aside from their hits, the band also gave worthy covers of The White Stripes (Seven Nation Army), Justin Timberlake (SexyBack) and Human League (Don’t You Want Me). They even teased with samples of the dance craze “Gangnam Style” only to rouse the crowd and lead them to their finale number of “Moves Like Jagger.”

Levine also showed why he is considered as one of the world’s leading pop icons with his tireless energy as he crooned, rocked, and screamed their hits to the tens of thousands of Pinoys  in attendance. He sang, he played the drums and guitar, he teased, he rocked the Big Dome into a frenzy. No fancy stage-work and production was needed as the lead singer’s stage appeal and his band’s musical prowess were enough to keep the crowd electrified throughout the night.

The choice of venue couldn’t be more apt as the Big Dome has hosted numerous global icons in the past and has been the Philippine home of foreign acts for decades. It is but fitting that Maroon 5, a band that was able to deliver an iconic concert to their Filipino fans perform in the only iconic venue in the Philippines.