I enjoyed this experience. Relatively new reggae band “Magic!” opened for Maroon 5 on the latter`s self-titled tour and were riding high after winning a major Juno award the night before. You could tell they were happy to be there. Toronto is after all the main band members’ hometown. “Happy to be home!”, lead singer Nasri said. I was familiar with them before but was surprised at the amount of songs I’d already heard. They also did a so-so cover of “Message in a Bottle” by The Police with an increased reggae spin. The world will see them again as a main act in time.

Speaking of which, this is only the second proper concert I’ve ever been to. The first one was in October were I went to see Sting in Kingston with my dad (wherein my mom didn’t want to go, so the opposite happened here.) As a comparison it was hard for Maroon 5 to live up to Sting’s professionalism. Whereas the former musician came out immediately on time without a warm up band and started playing, there was a break between Magic! and Maroon 5. Maybe it was intended, I’m not sure.

I actually think age was a proper factor both in terms of experience and maturity. Sting in the twilight of his career is more relaxed and has been playing twice as long as Maroon 5 lead singer (and almost twice the age). It could be chalked up to the former’s zen personality but despite the latter in his prime after 12 years of success showed spouts of nervousness. Accidentally dropping his mic which bounced and hit a fan, he brought her up on stage apologized, and nicely then sat her side of stage. A city blackout caused a P.A. fail for the first time in their career. Adam’s cool improvisation showed when he said he thought it was a special little moment we all shared together.

It is funny to hear him swear. Again where Sting’s mellowness was part of his image [he easily conversed with the audience while playing through Roxanne admittedly for the 1000th time] Levine’s cursing added a minor dimension at least to his stage persona that gave more of an in-there experience. Levine’s voice sounds like that of a young boy’s, contrasted with the harsh light shining on the 35-year-old (36 post-review) the sound and look was almost disembodied.

Added stylistic side note: he wore standard black jeans but with the odd choice of an Oakland 83 jersey. (Scott Simonson fan?) It seemed a bit lazy but hey if you’re comfortable.

The disappointing aspects of the show; the 2 hour run time of the band for me and my mom felt a little short. Hitting about half of their catalogue in comparison to Sting who ran for 3 hours hitting all the major notes. Our favourite song a bonus track on their latest album and the great Begin Again film soundtrack was missed.