Brixton Academy
Friday 5th November 2004
reviewed by Cars
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I was suprised by the diverse audience, expecting it to be mainly girls there but there seemed more or less equal amounts of men & women of all different ages. In fact in front of us we had a family of six consisting of Nan, Grandad, Mum, Dad & 2 very excited kids!
The first support band was someone called Sarah. I can't remember her last name but at a guess I'd say it was Dull. Obviously playing her Casio keyboard that she'd clung onto from the 80's she was onstage for what seemed like 3 days but was probably around half an hour.
Next support band (I always think 2 is a little uneccassary) was Guster. They were different I give them that. They had 2 singers & a bongo player! Rather ironically the best song they played was when Mr Bongo actually played the drums instead of bashing his poor hands red raw. I have no real opinion of this band. They weren't bad at all but I can't remember how any of their songs went. The only thing that really sticks out was how insecure singer number 2 was! He continually asked the crowd if they liked the lighting, the songs, even warning us at one stage that the next song wasn't very good for the first minute or two! If even they weren't sure about themselves how did they expect an audience to be?
At 9.30 the tension was building, I was really looking foward to Maroon 5 appearing now. I have liked them way before most people seemed to ( back in January of this year in fact). Eventually they burst out running across the stage, looking very rock n' roll. Then it happened - Adam started to sing, in a comical voice. I nudeged my friend & smiled. Oh how amusing, he's singing in a silly voice to make us laugh - what a fine chap he is.
Into around the 3rd song I realised with some horror that he wasn't putting the voice on at all - that was him singing as best he could live. OH DEAR!! Anybody that says he sounds anything like he does on record is either lying or severly in need of an ear test.
Now, I'm all up for singing live, in fact I'd hate to go to a gig where there was any miming but my God, this was truly awful.
There was a slight glimmer of hope when they played This Love & I thought his voice had improved, though I fear this may just have been because the crowd were singing so loudly you could hardly hear Adam.
This along with Harder To Breathe were the highlights of the show. The first two songs to be pulled from the album, & the best two.
Another good momonent (apart from when they finished!) was a new track they showcased called Can't Stop. Stripped of their funk sound & more rocky it was very good.
They played most of, if not all, of Songs About Jane as well as an ill advised cover of Highway To Hell. Most of the crowd that night would think AC/DC was an electrical term so it was completely lost on several people. The saving grace being that Adam went on drums for this & the drummer sang - even he sounded better than Adam so the sound was obviously not to blame that night.
There's not much more I can say about the gig. Maybe the singer was just having an off day. The band themselves were very good & didn't falter once. Whatever the reason for the off vocals tonight I won't be paying to see them again. Though after selling out several nights I shouldn't think they'd care about that
3 out of 10
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