Adam Levine Has Whole Stadium Dancing

Story courtesy of the Canton Repository

Fandemonium erupted at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium when Adam Levine raced onstage and launched into Maroon 5′s recent hit “What Lovers Do.” Current radio royalty doesn’t usually come to Canton.

But on Sunday, Maroon 5 performed in Benson Stadium, a brand-new 23,000-seat entertainment venue that has upped Canton’s concert game. The band headlined the fourth annual Concert for Legends, bringing a close to Enshrinement Week Powered by Johnson Controls.

The show, which opened with country star Lee Brice, attracted a crowd of all ages, though attendees were predominantly female. The place was packed!

As expected, Maroon 5 waited until after dark to start playing — at 9:35 p.m. — for maximum lighting and video impact. The 84-degree temperature at showtime served to make the crowd even more loose and party-ready.

Adam came onstage in a black T-shirt and track pants, all sexy swagger, and instantly turned the place into a dance party. There are seven members in the band, but Levine was the one filling the video screens.

The sound was full and clear with Levine’s often-falsetto vocals floating above it all. By his second song, “Payphone,” he was singing backup while the audience was screaming all the words.

The hits just kept coming like a well-programmed jukebox: “Sunday Morning,” “Animals,” “Cold,” “Maps,” “Harder to Breathe,” “Love Somebody,” “Maps.” Levine strapped on an electric guitar for some rocking riffs during “This Love,” and then the band kicked into an island-flavored rendition of “Misery.” “Harder to Breathe” funked hard. The silky Michael Jackson classic “Rock With You” was a sweet treat, leading into the showstopper, “Moves Like Jagger.”

An easygoing guy on “The Voice,” Levine onstage is a hard-working, commanding, playful showman, plus he hits all the notes. “Man, this place is bitchin’,” Levine said. “This is cool.” Then, he made a joke about getting inducted into the NFL’s Hall of Fame.

Here’s what we thought:

Dan: I was at Maroon 5′s first Canton concert, at the Thursday’s Plaza parking lot in 2003, and I’m real happy they came back. This show, and the Pitbull concert at Benson Stadium in July, have positioned Canton as a player in the Northeast Ohio concert scene. The production values were first rate, this was equal to a concert at the Q or Blossom. And Levine was sensational.

Alison: This whole thing was so fun. My only regret is I was hoping to see more of Adam Levine, if you get my drift. (Dan to me: Calm down, woman. He’s married and has two kids.) Anyway, he has such a commanding stage presence and just makes you want to listen and watch. Are there actually other people in this band? I thought I would only know a handful of the songs, but I actually recognized everything. This felt like such an upgrade from the country concerts in years past. Hey, George Veras (the executive producer at the Pro Football Hall of Fame), please book someone this good again next year.

Lee Brice

Sunday’s concert wasn’t country star Lee Brice’s first gig in Canton this weekend.

He played a private party Saturday night for enshrinee Brian Urlacher at the Historic Onesto Hotel and Event Center.

“Yeah, what a night, literally one of the coolest things I’ve ever been able to be a part of,” he posted on Twitter after Saturday’s enshrinement. “Congrats to everybody, you are freaking Hall of famers!!”

A self-professed “huge fan of Maroon 5,” Brice opened Sunday’s concert with “Hard to Love” and then played a lot of rock ballads that mostly sounded the same.

He hit his hits: “Crazy Girl,” “Love Like Crazy,” and “A Woman Like You.” Toward the end of his set, he performed “I Drive Your Truck,” which he offered as a tribute to the people who serve America (he mentioned police, first resonders, military, nurses, teachers) and had everyone waving cellphones with the flashlight turned on.

The first time he fired up the crowd was when he screamed, “Who’s ready for a cold beer?” and launched into an anthem about beer appropriately titled “Beer.” He got more lively as it got darker, thanks in part to a lengthy drum solo.