Grammy award-winning band Maroon 5 wowed a lively crowd with chart-topping hits and new material Friday night during a live performance at the Smith Center.
More than 3,300 students sang along to well-known hits like “Harder to Breathe,” “She Will Be Loved” and “This Love.” The band also lengthened a few older songs like “The Sun” into extended instrumental solos, and played a well-received cover of Alicia Keys’ hit, “If I Ain’t Got You.”
“What a night, what a night,” lead singer Adam Levine said. “I think you guys are the best crowd on the tour.”
The audience, comprised of both GW community members and outsiders, filled most of the floor area and nearly all of the seats except for the ones behind the stage. Many attendees spent most of the concert on their feet, as Levine and the rest of the band succeeded in captivating the crowd.
“It was awesome. I really love the band,” graduate student Haru Na said. “I like the older songs from Maroon 5 because I only have the old CD, but now I am a huge fan.”
Wesley Callahan, Program Board’s vice chair, helped put the event together, and said the event was months in the making.
“We started planning this concert back in the summer when we found out that Maroon 5 was coming back for a college tour,” said Callahan, a junior. “We thought it would be a great hit with the GW students.”
Callahan said that PB worked day and night during the last week to get ready for the concert, preparing everything from lights and sound to setting up the stage in the Smith Center.
“A lot of time, a lot of manpower goes into a show like this,” Callahan said.
Sophomores Lisa VanArsdale and Mackenzie Hovermale said they enjoyed the event and received a memorable takeaway from the concert.
“We caught a towel, and we almost caught a guitar pick!” VanArsdale said.
Newcomer band Fitz and the Tantrums opened for Maroon 5 – a last-minute replacement for the original opener, rapper K’naan.
Fitz played a half-hour set of upbeat soul and funk music, warming up the crowd for the main attraction.
Some students interviewed expressed disappointment that K’naan did not play had been originally announced, but they said this did not put a damper on the overall experience of the concert.
“It probably should have been K’naan,” said freshman Chris Latimer. “But I thought it was pretty good.”
