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Maroon 5 rocks sing-along Koreans
Adam Levine, front, and Maroon 5 perform during the Super Bowl half-time show at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta in the U.S. on Feb. 3. Yonhap
By Ko Dong-hwan
By Ko Dong-hwan
Korean concert promoter Live Nation Korea released a poster for Maroon 5's "Red Pill Blues Tour" in September 2018. Courtesy of Live Nation Korea
Four years after its last Korean concert in Daegu, Maroon 5 rocked a crowd of about 30,000 in Seoul.
As part of a world tour with its sixth studio album “Red Pill Blues” released in 2017, the American band performed at the packed Gocheok Sky Dome in the city's Guro-gu district on Feb. 27. The openers were “What Lovers Do,” “Payphone” and “This Love” followed by 15 tracks throughout the nearly two-hour show.
Adam Levine, the band's vocalist and leading figure, is one of the most popular foreign rock stars in Korea thanks to the 2013 domestic hit movie “Begin Again,” in which he featured, and its original sound track “Lost Stars.”
After the first 14 songs, the mass chanted “encore” waving their phones ― torches switched on ― above their heads. Levine responded with “Girls Like You,” “Lost Stars,” “She Will Be Loved” and ended with “Sugar.” At the end of the show, the musician and actor, 39, promised he would be back.
Before the concert, some skeptical Korean reports had questioned how the band would attract a crowd after more than 860,000 “disliked” its
Super Bowl LIII half-time show (with a half-naked Levine) in early February on YouTube
, as against just 120,000 “likes.”
“Despite the previous critical reviews, Korean fans unchangingly welcomed Maroon 5,” said Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo, referencing the 2018 concerts at the same venue by Sam Smith and Kate Perry, who each drew 20,000 and 15,000.
The Wednesday concert was the 10th Korean gig for the seven-piece group since its first concert at the Olympic Park's Olympic Gymnastic Arena in Seoul's Songpa-gu district in 2008.
The recipient of three Grammy awards, three People's Choice Awards, four Billboard Music Awards and five Teen Choice Awards began its Red Pill Blues tour in Ecuador in March 2018. The tour will end in Paris in June this year.