Maroon 5 on March 5. When I found out how much the price range was for the Maroon 5 tickets, I thought it was just way too much for my budget. So I told myself that I just wasn’t going to see them live. No big deal. So what. Then, when the final weekend came by and I realized that the concert was a mere 3 days away, I went into a manic panic. I realized the folly of my ways, the enormity of my crime, and I was ready to atone for it by buying tickets at ridiculous prices, if I’d even find any so late in the game. Thanks to a friend (Gracias, Che!), I got me 5k tickets (Ouch!), and my fate was sealed.
We got to the venue on time and we were surprised that there was no front act. Then, without a bug, a bug (walang kaabog-abog), the band just strolled onstage, and started playing. The crowd went wild! And thus ensued the love affair between Adam Levine and their Pinoy crowd. Just like in the Vertival Horizon concert, it was a love fest between performer and audience. He couldn’t believe the crowd’s reaction to them. About 2 or 3 songs into the show he already said that he felt a “certain energy” from the crowd and that he was loving it. The first of 2 apexes of the show was when they sang “Won’t Go Home Without You” where there was a goosebump-inducing audience sing-along. Adam led the crowd into sing the chorus over and over and over, as we all chanted louder and louder and louder, until we reached an orgasmic crescendo of song. Okay, okay, I’ll fess up and admit that my tears kinda swelled up during that part. I had lumps in my throat the size of melons. The second climactic moment was during “She Will Be Loved”, when, in the middle of the song, Adam stopped singing, closed his eyes, and incredulously shook his head as he basked in the screams of his adoring crowd. When he stopped singing, the already thunderous applause and shrieking went into hyper drive and shook the coliseum to its very foundations. Of course I’m a fan, so my account of the event is way colored by my bias.
It wasn’t always like this, though. As I grew up in the 70’s and the 80’s, the Pinoy crowd was notorious for being such dead audiences. The biggest stars would hold concerts here and I’d feel so bad for them because the crowd is always so hard to impress. They’d only cheer for popular songs, but even then, it would come in bursts, then die down as fast as it swelled up. I remember watching Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul (Yes, she was a star…), and many others, and you could feel their frustration. We were so inhibited then, never really standing up and dancing, very frugal applause-wise, and D.O.A. 90% of the time. So I’m really, REALLY happy now that we loosened up as a nation and now know how to party. Adam Levine said something like this: “We’ve been on the road for so long that it’s so nice to be in a strange land and feel like we’re home. This has got to be one of the best concerts we’ve ever done…very possibly the best ever.” Vertical Horizon had the same sentiment. I know some might say that acts on the road say that at every venue, but my gut tells me they really meant it.
My only downside to the concert was that my 5 favorite non-released tracks on their album were not performed – “Better That We Break”, “Infatuation”, “Back At Your Door”, “Goodnight Goodnight”, and my all-time favorite, “Nothing Lasts Forever”. I even promised to call Delle when they sing it so she could hear them live even if just on the phone. Hmph, they sang everything else. But overall, it was worth the admission price. Even if the 5k ticked away centavo by painful centavo in the span of a couple of hours, it was time and money well spent.