Last night, I went to Red Rocks to see Maroon 5 and Train in concert, a night out suggested by a longtime friend who loves both bands. I myself am far more familiar with Maroon 5, having all three of their studio albums. Train, on the other hand, is a band whose music I like well enough, but often in an "I didn't know they did that song" kind of way.
Predictably, I enjoyed the Maroon 5 portion of the concert most. They opened their set strong, with a nonstop run of half a dozen up-tempo songs. They literally never stopped playing, just blending one song into the next for 20 minutes straight. A nice, high-energy start to the night, I thought -- though it kind of worked against the mood when they slowed down later and did two or three back-to-back low key songs. Still, they finished out strong and played lots of energetic music.
Listening to Maroon 5 albums, I've often wondered how lead singer Adam Levine can sing for long stretches in his style. He's awfully high on the scale, riding the falsetto break and belting out in almost equal measure. I now have my answer: he can't. Many of the songs were transposed to lower keys in the concert, and many vocal phrases that were a falsetto/full-voice mix on the album were entirely one or the other in concert. I don't say this to mean that he sounds bad live; but the studio takes are definitely well-cultivated. Basically, the band sounds rather different in concert than on their albums. Which is arguably a good thing, if you're looking for some variation.
So then came Train, and I'm still not sure just what I thought of them overall. Their approach seemed to be, if you don't like this bit, maybe you'll like the next; they tried a lot of different gimmicks over the course of the night, and I certainly didn't like them all, though your mileage may vary.
Lead singer Patrick Monahan changed shirts six times in a 65-minute set, starting out as a Neil Diamond look-alike and passing through something vaguely Brian Johnson (meets Freddy Mercury?) before ending up with something I think I saw Belinda Carlisle wear once in a video.
A prolonged (and if you ask me, painful) bit had them bring 20 women up on stage from the audience to sing and dance as "Trainettes." Later, there was a walk-out-into-the-audience treatment of "Marry Me" that would have been hokey, but was actually pretty funny when the singer acknowledged mid-verse that his at-altitude hike up 200 stairs was more work than he'd expected.
They did an acoustic set of songs from Blondie, U2, and others. They sounded really great, and I was quite enjoying it... though I wondered with a faint twinge why they were doing some of their best work on other people's songs. Still, their set did include every Train song I think I know, so you were probably getting the main material you were looking for, if you're a longtime fan.
A good night, overall. If you're a fan of either band, I'm sure you'd enjoy the show if it comes to your town.
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