Friday night Maroon 5 brought their Overexposed tour to the Mohegan Sun Arena. I had been owed tickets through the fan club due to a mix up with a contest I won last year so I had no idea where our seats would be until we picked them up and was excited to see they were 2nd row! The stage set up was an M and there was a general admission pit up by it. Those in the pit were split with different colored wristbands which allowed them to stand either on the left side or the right side of the point of the M. There was also a walkway about 4 seats away from us and then another stage further in the back. For a while I was convinced Adam was going to walk right by us, I was almost right… but I’ll explain more later (and if you’re going to a show and don’t want to be spoiled, you may not want to read that part.)
The first opening act was Owl City and they (he?) played from 8-8:30 I really wasn’t that impressed with his set and there were also a TON of strobe lights used during the set so I had my head down and eyes closed for a good majority of it because the flashing was bothering me.
Next up was Neon Trees who I was excited to see. Unfortunately it was difficult to get any photos because I didn’t want to stand up and the couple in front of me seemed to be like a brick wall with arms that they waved in the air like they just didn’t care and cameras up in the air recording pretty much everything, ever. (I’m not against taking videos but when you record nearly the WHOLE SHOW… you should maybe take time and enjoy the moment you are actually in.) Neon Trees played from 9-9:30 and I enjoyed their set much more.
At 10pm it was time for the main event – Maroon 5! There was a big screen set up and it played videos on it, but most of it I couldn’t make out. You heard someone dialing a phone and a sorry the number cannot be completed as dialed recording, so of course the first song they did was Payphone. The set was a 90 minute set and was high energy for nearly the entire show. They did quite a mix of songs from all the albums – almost an equal amount from each of the albums (by my count/memory). I also thought that Adam did a great job dividing his time on the sides of the Ms – obviously he was in the middle the most (which is what we were closest too) but I never had a feeling that he was neglecting to our right in order to be on the far left which I sometimes get at shows.
When Adam introduced the rest of the band, he grabbed the camera and was taking shots of the audience and then zoomed in waaaay in the back and said thanks to modern technology they were not very far away. His camera work pretty much made me sea-sick (and he even admitted he was not very good at it!) but he took the camera around to get close ups of the rest of the band when he introduced each of them, which was pretty funny.
For 2 of the songs (Wake Up Call and Moves Like Jagger) the band was joined by Rozzi Crane (www.rozzicrane.com). She was really good on the duets and also did great at getting the crowd to participate with some ‘yeah yeah yeah’ sing a longs.
Here is the encore details and if you don’t want to be spoiled stop reading right now! After 13 songs, the lights went out and I noticed there was a lot more security coming to the walk way that I thought Adam would be going down. I knew something was going to be happening soon. It turns out, there was a huge bridge up at the ceiling that came down from the sky and for the encore Adam walked across it (and sometimes sang on it) and made the 60th row the 1st row. He did 3 songs of the encore back there / on the bridge – Stereo Hearts, She Will Be Loved (when we got split in to groups to sing – it sounded awesome and I always love doing stuff like that) and Daylight. Then he came back to the main stage for Moves Like Jagger. The rest of the band was on the main stage but Jimmy V did join him for a little bit out on the end stage.
I have been going to Maroon 5 shows for 10 years now (it is CRAZY to think about that) the first time that I saw them was opening up for John Mayer in late 2002. No one really knew who John was and even less people knew who Maroon 5 was. I immediately fell in love and have seen them several more times through the years since then. (I think I’ve missed a couple of their tours). It is amazing to see how they have evolved through the years to now be this HUGE super star band. The show was absolutely amazing and the best part was at the end – Adam said they would be back in the summer! I can’t wait!
Payphone
Makes Me Wonder
Lucky Strike
Sunday Morning
If I Never See Your Face Again
Wipe Your Eyes
Won’t Go Home Without You
Love Somebody
Harder To Breathe
Wake Up Call
One More Night
Misery
This Love
Stereo Hearts
She Will Be Loved
Daylight
Moves Like Jagger