The Forum in Inglewood, CA, is one of the most well-known music venues in the entertainment industry. Formerly the home of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kings, the Forum has become a world famous music venue, and some even go so far as to say that is the West Coast equivalent of Madison Square Garden. During spring break, I had the memorable saw Maroon 5’s “The V Tour” in the Forum, getting to be in such a famous venue watching one of my favorite bands perform.
I’ve been to a few concerts, but this is by far my favorite because Maroon 5 is one of the most talented bands in the industry. There’s no denying this—just look at their continued success in the music industry today. Their album has three hit singles (“Animals,” “Sugar” and “Maps”) and “The V Tour” has sold out nearly all of its dates, with shows continually being added. The best part about this concert for me was that the band truly does sound just like they do on their album when they perform live.
The crowd was riled up by two opening acts: Rozzi Crane, an up-and-coming hip-hop/pop artist who has opened for Maroon 5 three times before, and MAGIC!, who headlined the Fall Concert Series at Brandeis last November. I thought that these opening acts, while talented, were unique choices as opening acts for Maroon 5 because the musical styles of each artist are so different. Crane is edgy (and has an incredible vocal range) while MAGIC! is a reggae band. Maroon 5 is very much a pop band, but they performed several songs from their various albums.
Opening with their recent hit “Animals” off of the album “V,” Maroon 5 proceeded to perform several of their older songs including “Sunday Morning” and “She Will Be Loved” (both off of their album “Songs About Jane”), “Moves Like Jagger” (Crane was pulled on stage to sing Christina Aguilera’s part) and “Lucky Strike” from the album “Overexposed.” The entire time, I was happily dancing and singing along with the entire arena.
The most surprising thing that I noticed at the concert was actually the audience members: Most of them were not teenagers like I expected. Rather, a majority of the audience was comprised of adults, especially a lot of people in their 20s, which makes sense since the band was formed 15 years ago.
My favorite part of the concert was when Adam Levine performed “She Will Be Loved” because it is my favorite Maroon 5 song. They slowed the show down a little bit in order to perform an acoustic version of the song. I also really enjoyed the last part of the concert when they performed “Sugar,” one of my favorite songs off of their new album. I loved this performance because it’s a fun song, and I’ve been dying to see them perform that song, especially after watching the music video. However, for this specific concert date, the last song was not “Sugar,” but “I Love LA” by Randy Newman, who came on stage to perform the song with them, featuring a performance by the Laker Girls. During the performance, thousands of pink balloons were dropped on the audience. This concert experience was amazing, and it was a great start to my spring break.
