Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the industries to take a hit was live music. Maroon 5 was one of many acts who had to postpone their 2020 tour, however on September 7th, 2021, the band’s fans in the DMV finally got to experience it. Carrying the simple title the 2021 Tour, Maroon 5’s eleventh headlining tour was a night of tight musicianship and the pristine falsetto of frontman Adam Levine.
The band opened the show with their 2011 hit “Moves Like Jagger “. While Adam Levine’s dancing didn’t pay proper homage to Mick Jagger, Levine’s stage presence made up for it. From there, the group took it back to the 2002 debut Songs About Jane for a lively performance of “This Love”. Adam Levine then dipped into his features catalog for a performance of “Stereo Hearts”. At this point, I honestly expected Levine and the group to do a medley of Levine’s Hip Hop features. It would have been great to hear Levine sing his verses of Kanye West’s “Touch The Sky”, Ying Yang Twins “Live Again” or Lil Wayne’s “Trust Nobody”. Instead, though, the group kept it moving by performing songs from their seven-album catalog.
Ideally, just about any hit song you wanted to hear, was performed. My night was made when I heard “Sunday Morning”, while my wife was happy when she heard an acoustic version of “Payphone” and my son’s song of the night was “Don’t Wanna Know”. Despite the lukewarm critical response to the group’s latest album Jordi, “Beautiful Mistakes” and “Memories” both came across great live.
My first time seeing Maroon 5 was a fun night out. However, I did have a few complaints. The group’s opening act was Blackbear, and the less said about his performance, the better. Now it could be my forty years of age and my love of real Hip Hop, but whatever Blackbear was doing, just was not for me. On the plus side though, my son seemed to enjoy his performance so I guess that is the silver lining.
For an opening act, I would have much preferred a short opening set by group member PJ Morton, who is an amazingly talented solo artist in his own right. In addition, my favorite Maroon 5 song, “Lost Stars” was not part of the setlist. Nevertheless though, Maroon 5’s DMV stop on their latest tour was a great way to spend a few hours.
Final Grade : B+
Songstress Ashanti was experiencing significant success with two platinum albums at the time of the release of her inaugural holiday project, “Ashanti’s Christmas,” on November 18, 2003. Her label head, Irv Gotti, produced most of the album. This project comprises four original songs co-written by Ashanti, in addition to six cover versions of traditional Christmas standards and carols.
Vocal quartet A Few Good Man contributed two songs to the project: a cover of “Silver Bells” and the ballad “Merry Christmas My Dear,” both of which were produced by Daryl Simmons. Demail Burks, David Morris, Aaron Hilliard, and Tony Amey were the members of the group, and after introducing themselves in the festive video for “Silver Bells,” it was only fitting that they delivered a ballad on the album.
R&B legend Luther Vandross had already solidified his place in R&B when he released his first holiday album, “This Is Christmas. Arriving in stores on October 24, 1995, “This Is Christmas” validates Vandross’s ability to sing anything.
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