Maroon 5 @ Water Rats 21/01/04

by Geelezee

Hidden (or not so hidden) amongst the crowd at this special warm up show at Water Rats for 200 lucky competition winners tonight is the fifth wheel in a group of fifth wheels that used to support Justin Timberlake's mighty pop-star ego. Yes, you'd better believe it, Joey Fatone of N*Sync fame (sic) has arrived to check out one of his favourite bands of the moment, LA pop-rockers Maroon 5. Its also common knowledge amongst the industry, darling, that other well-known champions of the Maroon 5 cause include Kirstin Dunst and Whoopi Goldberg. So baring in mind what kind of crowd Maroon 5 are pulling in, does this give us Brits, newly acquainted with the Maroons, some indication of what to expect?

Well the short answer is yes. Coincidentally, so is the long answer.

What kind of band would you expect Joey Fatone and Kirstin Dunst to like? Pop, but a little rough around the edges? (The guitarist has long hair). Rock, but not forgetting their pop-sensibilities? (They write songs your Mum sings in the car). A band that look and sound like a real band but take few chances in their art; instead happily rock-out to big sing-a-long choruses and funky bass lines. Perhaps this is a little prejudiced, but if you seriously consider whether a member of the American Take That could possibly appreciate the difference between timeless magnificence and a straightforward rock band, the prejudice doesn't seem so unjustified.

Maroon 5 are, essentially, Red Hot Chilli Peppers fronted by Justin Timberlake. Now take a minute to think about that. Yes, the Chillis are a seminal band and Mr. J.T. is a talented guy with the sense to hook up with the right collaborators. And he has a six pack. But would you want the two to get together? Admittedly singer Adam Levine is a powerful front man with a cracking voice, and he knows how to use it, hitting screaming highs notes on tracks like 'Shiver' and effortlessly gliding into delicate falsetto on 'She Will Be Loved'. The band proficiently bang out funky bass lines and shrieking blues riffs, but where's the challenge? Where's the excitement that should be there in a new band like this? Tonight they run through their repertoire of radio-friendly anthems, MOR choons, and fun-for-all-the-family funk fests, and they work the crowd like the professional performers they are. Levine screams, the crowd screams; Levine jumps around, the crowd jumps around. It's all very Top of the Pops. But this reviewer seems to be in some minority in not quite feeling it.

Yet it's hard to ignore the intense vibe at Water Rats tonight. Mainly due to the crowd of late-teenage girls buzzing around with wide eyes, unable to believe their luck at getting so close to their new favourite band, and you have to give Maroon 5 credit for drumming up so much amorous attention. You could never go so far as to label them as a boy band, they're talented musicians and they write tunes that stick in your head whether you want them to or not. Perhaps they're the type of band that are designed for that late-teenage period where girls get a little bored of your straight forward boy bands and start to get into 'real' bands. Of course, this doesn't account for Whoopi Goldberg, which is an entirely different discussion. Perhaps Maroon 5 are the first step for teeny-boppers towards the world of real music. Somebody's got to do it, and it may as well be these guys as anybody else. Maroon 5 are all part of the rich tapestry that is the music scene. All the music scene's a stage, and all the bands merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; and one band in its time plays many parts. Just as N*Sync played their part for the benefit of those teeny-boppers, and Bob Dylan plays his part for that stage later in life when poetry and politics seem so much more important than good looks and a falsetto, Maroon 5 are travelling the middle ground, bridging the gap and playing their role well. But do they deserve to be applauded for that? Is that an honourable position to be in? The jury is still out.

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