“My heart is beating so fast! I’m so excited,” said one of the girls in my group as we were seated in the holding area. A few minutes ago, we were handed meet-and-greet id’s with the band’s picture on it. Why oh why didn’t I pay much attention to my wardrobe today, I quietly chided myself. Too late. Our group was called by “Sean” , the road manager for The V Tour. I’m not even sure if that was his name due to the adrenalin rush that I felt with each passing minute.
Soon it was time to enter the narrow hallway that led to the meet-and-greet area. Long-haired, beard-faced “Sean” gathered the four groups who were scheduled to have photos taken with MAROON 5. “Hello,’ he said enthusiastically. “Everything will go very , very fast. As explained earlier, we have an official photographer. That’s why we asked all of you to leave your personal stuff outside. The guys in the band know that the girls want to get near Adam – so they will make space for you,” he smiles knowingly. “Please be reminded though that Adam does not like hugging or kissing. So unless he makes the first move, just take your positions, give your best smile and we will send you the photos.”
I looked around and saw that everyone was unconsciously fixing themselves, practicing their smiles and had expressions much like toddlers on Christmas morning, A few more moments passed by and then MAROON 5 entered the room … only they were not 5 but 6. Never mind. It was so surreal!
Adam Levine was wearing a red t-shirt (which had LOS ANGELES FOX HOLE printed on it) and grey and red New Balance rubber shoes. Up close, he wasn’t as tall as I imagined. I took a mental snapshot of the tattoos on his forearms. On the left, he had wings and a guitar On the right, he had the words “I love you” inked inside a heart. He was also wearing his wedding band.
The band stood in a straight line and soon the photo session was on its way. Two of the girls in my group immediately made their way to where Adam was standing. I took my time and said hello and shook the hands of the other band members. “Hi,” Adam said. My heartbeat raised to 120 , my pulse rate double that. I gave him the best smile I could muster and mouthed an almost inaudible “hi” in return. Somewhere in the background I could hear “Sean” saying “Get ready guys…” Three clicks from the photographer’s camera and my two minutes with Adam was over. Happy sigh.
The V-Tour gathered fans of all ages. Maroon 5 sang 17 songs all in all. They opened the show with “Animals” which had the raving crowd singing and howling. The band followed this with One More Night, Stereo Hearts, Harder To Breathe, Lucky Strike and Wake Up Call. Familiar tunes like Payphone, This Love, She Will Be Loved, Sunday Morning and Daylight elicited more singing from the receptive audience. Of course, the people refused to leave until Adam sang Moves Like Jagger and the band’s latest anthem Sugar.
By the way, my husband was with me all the time this was happening. He just looked amused as he watched me get all googly-eyed and excited. It was one of those rare moments we had gone out without the kids. Meeting Adam Levine was definitely a treat for a girl such as myself! Having a date with my bestfriend while we listened to music we both liked, however, turned out to be the best thing about the whole night.
With a pocketful of glitter,
