My ticket number was 843. I was worried. The line was long. I was at the very end.

I was relieved to find that the place wasn't completely filled when I got in. And I had forgotten that I was above Japan's average headline so I could see the stage clearly.

When the lights dimmed, the crowd went absolutely crazy...

The Show

The show was great. I must say that they are awesome live. You could tell that the band has been playing together for a long time because they are extremely tight. The way they started and ended each song was almost flawless. The band opened with "Through With You". They played almost all the songs off of their album. "Not Coming Home" sounded great (A live track on special editions of Songs About Jane). Of course the house came down when they played "This Love", the entire place was singing. They rocked the house with "Harder To Breathe" and brought the mood down with "She Will Be Loved" and "Sweetest Goodbye".

I have to say that I was extremely pleased with the show. The main reason is that on their records, Maroon 5 is borderline a boy band. Their songs are sweet and light and extremely radio friendly. But when they performed their songs live, it kicked ass. The distortion of the guitars came out, and they literally ROCKED. I couldn't contain myself during "Harder to Breathe" and I was jumping up and down to the beat. Even their sweeter tunes had a certain "Umph" to it.

There were a couple of surprises during the show.

1. The introduction to the song "Shiver" was "I Want You (Shes So Heavy)" By The Beatles. This was such a great surprise for me, being raised on The Beatles.

2. The Lead vocalist got on the drum set and the drummer took up a guitar and sang "Highway To Hell" by AC/DC. They played this song at the end of their Encore. This song brought the house down more than any other song they performed. It just goes to show that classic rock is, classic.

The show overall was very statisfying. No 5 hour solos, no long talks, just one tight song after the other, with a couple of surprises. They deserve to be one of the most succesful bands of recent history.

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