MANILA, Philippines - When Maroon 5 opened their Manila concert on Thursday with Animals, thousands of fans at the Mall of Asia Arena literally went wild. As the vaguely tribal beats resounded around the concert hall, people jumped to their feet, thrust their fists and smartphones into the air and hollered the lyrics of the song along with frontman Adam Levine.
The stage seemed set for another memorable show, the fourth the band has done in the Philippines over the past decade. Maroon 5, like many other foreign artists, are repeat performers in the country apparently because of the Filipino audience’s incredible reception and participation.
“The best fans in the world are definitely here,” Levine said.
He added, “You guys love singing, music. I mean, all cultures love music, but I feel like you guys love it more than anybody.”
And truly, the Filipino audience may be the best sounding in the world (most in tune at least — and best in mimicry!), but, during this particular show, the usual intensity seemed to be lacking.
For some reason, despite the boys’ flawless performances, the crowd seemed to be less energetic compared to the band’s last visits and recent shows by other artists.
The explosive burst of enthusiasm when the concert started wasn’t sustained as the night wore on.
The excitement peaked when the band played their breakthrough hit, This Love, followed by Sunday Morning from the same album, and then Makes Me Wonder.
The audience also came to life with She Will Be Loved, a concert staple that the band often uses for crowd sing-offs (which, sadly they didn’t do this time around). The chorus of voices singing the karaoke favorite was deafening — which is usual for songs like this — but seemed to lack the usual verve that endears Filipinos to visiting musicians.
To be fair, the energy never really dropped completely during the show — everyone sang along with every song, cheered for every guitar solo, and followed Adam’s prompts like good fans. Still, the mood seemed to simmer just short of the usual exuberance of Manila concerts.
All in all, the reception was relatively tame, considering that the set list was practically a best-of compilation of Maroon 5’s biggest hits. In fact, all 17 of the songs the band played had achieved some measure of success on the music charts.
They sang Payphone, Daylight, One More Night, Harder to Breathe, Maps and Lucky Strike.
An unplugged version of Lost Stars from the Begin Again soundtrack was even thrown into the mix.
Adam also dedicated Love Somebody as the song for Manila, which is especially touching since a line in the song goes, “You’re such a hard act for me to follow.”
But will Thursday’s concert really be difficult for another show elsewhere to overshadow? Perhaps not.
By the end, the band seemed resigned to the crowd’s less than stellar reception. They sang two of their happiest, most upbeat hits, Moves Like Jagger and Sugar to close the show, and yet, most of the people in the hall were still rooted to their seats, not dancing, and just barely clapping.
Maybe it’s because it was a school night. Maybe traffic zapped the energy out of everyone. Maybe the band could have done more to rally the crowd. Maybe people are too focused on watching the show through their smartphone screens to actually experience the show.
In any case, Maroon 5 deserved a bit better than what they got. The boys put together an amazing song line-up and executed it fantastically. They’ve consistently made the Philippines a stop on their world tours because fans always turn up, both in numbers and enthusiasm.
But as one fan remarked as she exited the building after the show, “I feel like Adam was a bit disappointed.”
And perhaps he was rightly so… but hopefully not disappointed enough to exclude Manila from any of the band’s future tours.
Hopefully next time, Manila will — to borrow a line from one of the band’s songs — “give a little more.”