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Maroon 5 hypnotizes Jakarta
Vocalist Adam Levine (right) strums the guitar as his rock band Maroon 5 performs at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta
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Vocalist Adam Levine (right) strums the guitar as his rock band Maroon 5 performs at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta. JP/Nurhayati
Maroon 5 is not only about lead vocalist Adam Levine, but having seen the group’s first-ever concert in Jakarta, there’s no denying that he’s definitely the band’s main attraction.
“The Maroon 5 concert will be at 8 p.m. and the gate will be open at 6, so you don’t need to go to Istora [the concert’s venue] early in the afternoon,” tweeted Adrie Subono, a renowned promoter whose company Java Musikindo organized the Maroon 5 concert in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Do you think the US band’s die-hard fans heeded Adrie’s wise advice? Of course not.
On D-day at 2:30 p.m., rain was pouring down hard to the accompaniment of thunder and lightning. But the bad weather failed to discourage the dozens of fans who had already arrived at the concert venue at Istora at the Senayan sports complex.
They crowded the entrance gate, trying to find shelter from the pouring rain.
Still, smiles were on their faces and the sound of their laughs could be heard between the thunder claps.
Most of them had spent Rp 700,000 [US$78] on the festival tickets, which were Rp 200,000 more than the stadium seats, to make sure they could be up close and personal with the band during the concert, the tickets to which sold out in just 10 hours.
Their target was of course to get as close as they could to the band, and specifically to its front man – the charming Mr. Adam Levine, who took off his clothes and bore all for the February issue of Cosmopolitan UK magazine to raise awareness about prostate and testicular cancer.
On the cover, his private parts were covered by the hands of Victoria Secret’s Russian model Anne Vyalitsyna, who rumors had she was dating him at that time.
After their debut album Songs About Jane was released in 2002, the funk pop band quickly gained many fans around the world, selling millions of albums worldwide.
Levine, Jessie Carmichael and Mickey Madden started playing music together in junior high school, under the influence of rock legends Nirvana and Pearl Jam. They usually played in Carmichael’s garage in Malibu.
Ryan Dusick joined as the group’s drummer in 1994 and the band Kara’s Flowers was born before they later changed the name to Maroon 5. Dusick was later replaced by Matt Flynn due to illness.
The band’s latest formation includes Levine (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jesse Carmichael (keyboard, rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Mickey Maden (bass), James Valentine (guitar, backing vocals) and Mike Flynn (drums, percussion).
Now, nine years after releasing their debut record, the band arrived to meet their fans in Indonesia as part of their world tour.
The concert’s real excitement began at 8:15 p.m. when Levine — clad in a fitted white T-shirt — came on stage, triggering a deafening buzz of 8,200 screaming fans calling out his name. And the night started to heat up, with the band belting out the first single — “Misery” — taken from their latest record Hands All Over, released in September 2010.
Levine did not have to sing the whole song as the audience was happy to fill in for him whenever prompted.
After the opening performance, Levine greeted his fans with “Apa kabar Jakarta [How are you, Jakarta]?” which prompted another round of delighted screams from the audience.
The band played “If I Never See Your Face Again”, a duet with songstress Rihanna in their second record It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, released in 2007. Levine also showed off his guitar-playing skills during the song.
Next up was “Harder to Breathe”, which is also on the band’s debut album Songs About Jane – the record that rocketed them to stardom and earned them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2005.
A day before the concert, Levine admitted he was very exhausted after touring Singapore.
But it seemed that during the Jakarta concert his fatigue faded away, to be replaced by a magnetic energy that drew in the thousands of teenagers and women in the crowd.
When he spoke to the audience, he hypnotized the women with his sweet words.
“I think this is the best crowd we’ve ever had. So I can say, saya cinta kamu, I love you,” he said after leading the audience to sing along to “Never Gonna Leave This Bed”.
After calming the audience down a little bit with the slower-paced “Secret”, they then played the crowd favorite of the evening, “She Will Be Loved”, which surprisingly was played acoustically.
“It’s dedicated to ladies in the house. To the ladies, saya cinta kamu [I love you]. Saya cinta kamu saja [I only love you]. I know you know this song, so please sing along,” Levine said.
Another much-awaited song was the band’s iconic track, “This is Love”. The members of the audience in the stadium seats stood up and began dancing when they recognized the famous intro.
The lights then went out and the band left the stage. Soon, the familiar screams of “we want more!” filled the venue.
The band reappeared and played “Hands All Over” and “Makes Me Wonder”.
They closed the night with the groovy “Sunday Morning”.
The band were beaming with positive energy after the show.
“One of our amazing Indonesian fans gave me a bracelet tonight. I’m in love with it. I’m gonna wear it all the time!” tweeted Levine on his twitter account, while Valentine wrote: “Can’t wait to come back, thanks for all the love Indonesia!”
