One of the constant highlights of Maroon 5’s Las Vegas residency has been when singer Adam Levine and guitarist James Valentine venture into the audience to serenade a section of the superfans, many of whom sing along as Levine croons “She Will Be Loved” and Valentine fingerpicks the song’s chord progression. The Maroon 5 superfan knows this part of the show well. If they’re seated close, they’ll be capturing the moment for content creation without interfering with sightlines.
The superfan prepares carefully for this moment. They’ve saved maximum memory on their phone for video. They documented the road to Dolby Live on social media. They watched the end of Venom 3: The Last Dance again and felt chills as “Memories” accompanied a montage of Eddie Brock reminiscing about his titular buddy. They streamed the song and helped it reach the summit of the Top Movie Songs chart in October.
“Memories” peaked at No. 2 in January 2020 and will likely be peaking all through March at Maroon 5: The Las Vegas Residency, where the band plays its first live shows after a seven-concert, late-winter Asian tour. One show was at Japan’s Tokyo Dome, where Levine’s 8-year-old daughter, Dusty Rose, was serenaded during the band’s rendition of “Girls Like You.”
Maroon 5 played that song during the encore during the last set of shows in what has become one of the longest-running band residencies on the Strip by a band whose relationship to Las Vegas nearly reaches back to its beginnings. The current setlist includes material from their Songs About Jane Tour that were performed at Vegas concerts by the band, which included founding member and current rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Jesse Carmichael.
Drummer Matt Flynn was on board by the time Maroon 5 played the first of many New Year’s Eve concerts in Las Vegas, with keyboardist PJ Morton joining in 2012 and longtime Maroon 5 collaborator Sam Farrar playing basslines since 2016. Maroon 5 would be as much a part of “Auld Lang Syne” in Las Vegas as fireworks until it launched the first Dolby Live residency shows in 2023.
Now superfans of all ages know where to find Maroon 5 in Las Vegas and have 6,400 vantage points to choose from, including balcony seats. Levine’s voice effortlessly hits high notes like it’s 2003, and the musicianship of Valentine is often front and center on the tall video panels that sometimes project the band in infrared.
Otherwise, the background is ambient and non-distracting from the performance of more than 20 songs and covers, which include Morton’s “Heavy” on at least one occasion in October. Expect “Animals,” “Payphone,” “Moves Like Jagger” and “Sugar” for sure, with strong possibilities of “Stayin’ Alive” and a Prince song.
Expect Maroon 5 to play each concert as if it’s the first of the residency or the last. Levine might sing about a payphone, but the band never phones it in. Maroon 5 does not disappoint the superfans.
Park MGM. ticketmaster.com
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