Despite their near ubiquity on the radio, for nearly a quarter of a century, I never really stopped to think about just how many hits the six gentlemen who comprise Maroon 5 have under their respective belts.  Turns out they’ve sold more than 135 million records worldwide, with 25 of their singles receiving a total of 86 ‘Platinum’ certifications, and with three of those (“Moves Like Jagger,” “Sugar,” and “Girls Like You) having been certified ‘Diamond’ by the Recording Industry Association of America. *

What’s more, so many of these hit singles have been collaborations with an impressive array of contemporary artists, ranging from Rihanna (2008’s “If I Never See Your Face Again”), Christina Aguilera (2011’s “Moves Like Jagger”), Wiz Khalifa (2012’s “Payphone”), and Kendrick Lamar (2016’s “Don’t Wanna Know”), to Future and SZA (2017’s “Cold” and “What Lovers Do,” respectively), Cardi B (2018’s “Girls Like You”) and Megan Thee Stallion (2021’s “Beautiful Mistakes”).  And while my hopes—that one of these artists might make a surprise appearance and join the band on stage during the opening weekend of M5LV: The Residency—were dashed, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed the show (which was not my first Maroon 5 concert in Las Vegas, and, based on my experience, will certainly not be the last).

Dolby Live at Park MGM is a perfect venue for Maroon 5. Producer Baz Halpin and director Parker Genoway have been particularly smart in the way they line up the band—Adam Levine (lead vocals), James Valentine (lead guitar), Jesse Carmichael (keyboards and rhythm guitar), Matt Flynn (drums), PJ Morton (keyboards), and Sam Farrar (bass guitar, keyboards, percussion, sampler, special effects, and backing vocals)—laterally, across the raised portion of the venue’s massive 130’ x 40’ stage, with the horn section on one side, and the background vocalists on the other, thereby allowing frontman Levine to go HAM on the lower part of the stage and its X-shaped protrusion, jumping, leaping, shaking a fist in the air, and on a few occasions, displaying the ‘Disco Point’ (made famous by John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever). **

Which parts of M5LV do I most enjoy?  Well, starting at the very beginning, the band’s selection of “Kiss” by Prince as the lead-in to the show’s Intro (a Las Vegas vignette featuring a seemingly infinite number of showgirls doing a Rockettes kick-line, to the sounds of “Viva Las Vegas” by Elvis Presley).  I also get chills as a result of the audience’s reaction to hearing the first few bars of “Animal” (the first song in their 21-song set) and again when the crowd hears the opening of “Moves Like Jagger” (which sent everyone into a tizzy).

The covers are fun, and both “I Wanna Be Your Lover” by Prince and “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees make great use of Levine’s falsetto.  But, for me, the highlight of the show is when kicking off the Encore, Adam Levine and James Valentine, accompanied by a few security guards and cameramen, venture into the audience and—upon the same perch used by Usher during his residency shows, located betwixt sections 203 and 204—sing a stripped-down version of “She Will Be Loved” that is fantastic.  Was it made even better by my seat being only a few scant feet away from Levine and Valentine?  Yes.  Was this compounded by knowing that Levine’s dad was seated across the aisle from me?  Certainly.

I’d also like to mention that the lighting design by Tom Sutherland of DX7 Design is stunning and rather like a Rothko painting come to life, with the stage bathed at different times in swaths of gold, a verdant green, vivid red, and cerulean blue. Also, the videos are fantastic (I especially enjoy the ones evoking sunset that merge to great effect with the smoke that covers the stage).

So, you might wonder if Maroon 5’s new M5LV residency is right for you...  While these sorts of questions can only be answered by the individual, it’s safe to say that if you have been listening to the radio regularly these past couple of decades and have enjoyed what you’ve heard, then yes, you’ll have a great time spending an evening at M5LV.

The setlist from the opening weekend of M5LV: The Residency, in Dolby Live at Park MGM (March 24 and 25, 2023), was as follows:

Intro: Viva Las Vegas by Elvis Presley

1. Animals
2. One More Night
3. This Love
4. Stereo Hearts [Gym Class Heroes cover]

Vignette: “Beginning”

5. Harder to Breathe
6. Sunday Morning
7. Payphone
8. Cold (Friday) / What Lovers Do (Saturday)
9. Makes Me Wonder
10. I Wanna Be Your Lover [Prince cover]
11. Heavy [PJ Morton cover]
12. Maps

Vignette: “Jordi”

13. Memories
14. Don’t Wanna Know
15. Daylight (Friday)
16. Love Somebody
17. Moves Like Jagger
18. Stayin’ Alive [Bee Gees cover]

Vignette: “Many Miles Later”

Encore:

19. She Will Be Loved (performed in the audience)
20. Girls Like You
21. Sugar

Maroon 5: The Las Vegas Residency
Dolby Live | Park MGM
September 27, 28 | October 02, 04, 05, 09, 11, 12
Click HERE for info

Get into it!
#M5LV

[Editor’s Notes: * The RIAA certifies a single as ‘Platinum’ when it has sold 1,000,000 units; while ‘Diamond’ certifies that it has sold 10,000,000 units (or, 10x Platinum) // ** In urban vernacular, "HAM" is an acronym for "Hard As a Mother"]