Maroon 5 returns to Dolby Live at Park MGM Las Vegas on Thursday for the first 2024 dates of their residency show, which launched last year. Guitarist James Valentine says fans who come to the shows might get to see a side of Adam Levine they’ve never seen before.
Most Las Vegas residency shows are strictly timed and the set lists don’t change that much, but James notes there are definitely moments built into the show that allow them to let loose.
“We always get to inject a little bit of creativity and spontaneity within every song, and there’s certain moments in the set that are certainly engineered for that,” he tells ABC Audio. “And Adam also gets to sort of explore his Vegas lounge performer side.”
He laughs, “We never know what he’s going to be saying onstage. We’re always as surprised as the audience.”
Maroon 5’s Vegas set list may change slightly from last year’s shows, but it’ll still include their biggest hits, from “Moves Like Jagger” and “Girls Like You” to “Sunday Morning,” “This Love” and one of James’ personal favorites.
“It was really fun to play ‘She Will Be Loved’ [in Vegas] because we got to go out in the audience, me and Adam,” he says. “Y’know, I’d strap on my acoustic guitar … and we’d go walk around the audience. And so that was a pretty special moment every night. I really enjoyed doing that.”
However, James says that moment caused a slight problem.
“Sometimes when you are in the audience, people are excited, which I understand,” he says. “And so we did have some aggressive selfie taking. Our security had to explain, ‘Hey, they are performing’ and ‘back off a little bit.'”
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