Maroon 4.5

So me, Rachel and Kristen went to see Maroon5 on Saturday (along with some of her gradschool friends). The sorted details of that fated night shall soon not be unforgotten {law&order sounds}

8:00 Nokia Live theatre
So the Donnas opened for Maroon5 and it reminded me of how bad I always feel for opening bands. I'm so much more a fan of the coheadlining approach ala John Mayer and Counting Crows from last year. The problem of the opening band is one of math really. There's essentially a threshold at which a concert becomes good. The sum value receives many inputs, but is essentially measured in average energy level per the following: ( X=(E/dx)/dt) where X > epsilon (the threshold) assuming E to be a function that describes energy per it's inputs (good performance, highschool girls screaming, etc)
Now the inherent problem lies in the fact that for a large venue (where 'opening bands' usually end up playing before big bands), the epsilon value is ridiculously high, and is on an order of magnitude higher than the band's set of inputs combined. Without the set of audience inputs the opening band really doesn't have much of a shot. (which individually are of much smaller magnitude then the bands, but which when combined, by the definition of theatre capacity, scale in order with the epsilon-threshold value)
Case in point, before the concert I glanced through The Donnas' blog on napster and they were talking about the incredible energy, etc from their own small venue tour, which they sadly don't get in a big venue. Poor poor opening bands. But they do get enhanced exposure, which could have future benefits... but I've dorked up this post enough already, so I'll defer analysis on that one.

Soo... Maroon 4.5 oh wait, my stupid law&order theme...
deing douing>{law&order sounds}

9:30ish Nokia Live theatre

So Maroon 4.5, we were greeted not by the usual sudden intro into song with flashing lights but by Adam Levine alone on a dark stage with a spotlight... well I was thinking shakesperian soliloquy (hehe stupid blogspot spell checker sooo won't know that one). Turns out instead that earlier in the day he had been working out with those stretch band things attached to a door when someone opened the door it popped the carribeaner into his chest leaving a 'laceration' and a fractured sternum. So basically he said he was going to do his best and play for as long as he could. Which led way for some humorous intersong banter as he described how drugged up on pain killers he was, and how he felt like Ozzie due to his immobility. None the less they did a sweet job on a shorter than normal set. Then for some reason, their drummer has been injured, but in a way that he can't play drums, but can play guitar and sing... who knows. Anyways, so once adam clearly couldn't do much more, he headed back stage and their normal drummer (who had been chilling backstage) came out and they did Seven Nation Army (White Stripes) followed by Highway to Hell (AC/DC) which were both badass. On Highway to Hell their lead guitarist jumped stage and went running through the entire lower level of the venue. (it was hilarious to watch out of shape ushers trying to chase him, god bless our fucked up civil legal court system). Of course the teenyboppers left in mass once Adam went off stage because they have no music appreciation, but it made for bearable traffic afterwards so it was good. If you have napster, maroon5 has another live version of Highway to Hell you could check out. Both songs were done incredibly well and it was an awesome way to end the concert.