This post was written by Hatchet Reporter Lizzie Hay.

It’s Friday night at the Smith Center. Signs emblazoned with adoring slogans like “I Love You Adam” rise up from the crowd as the lights go down and Maroon 5 appears onstage. At the close of the first song, the 2002 hit “Harder to Breathe,” singer Adam Levine tosses his leather jacket to the right of the stage and tells the audience, “it’s gonna be a good night tonight!”

Maroon 5 may be a group of talented musicians, but their greatest strength is playing to their fans during a strong live show.

The band indulged their fans during the two-hour concert by playing mostly tracks from their debut album, “Songs About Jane,” including an acoustic version of “Secret.” Still, it was the impromptu instruments solos and duets played in between the songs that showed their flair for playing live; Levine even worked some Pink Floyd lyrics from “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” into a cover of Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You.”  It kept the pace of the concert bright and the crowd involved.

Throughout the show, it became clear why Levine is the group’s front man. He made the show seem like an intimate gig, despite its large, impersonal setting. He included the audience in his between-song banter, introducing the “new guy” at the keyboards and encouraging the crowd to support his nickname, “Boom Boom.”

Although the show officially closed with “This Love,” Maroon 5 gave the crowd one more encore: a two-song mash up featuring lyrics from Lauryn Hill’s “Keep It Tight.” They gave a solid performance and, above all, kept their fans happy.