"Moves Like Jagger" may be Maroon 5's signature song, but the group's legacy in the pop world may be Operates Like Levine, a playbook for modern-day pop stardom.
Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine is ingenious. He's enjoying a huge solo career without ever making his own album. He's done it by becoming a big TV star of sorts, a coach on NBC's "The Voice."
His face and personality are displayed throughout the country on a weekly basis. And that has boosted the success of the 17-year-old Maroon 5, which has bounced back with a string of Top-10 hits — including "Moves Like Jagger," "Sugar" and "Girls Like You" — since Levine landed on TV in 2011.
There was no question at Maroon 5's sold out concert Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center that this was the Adam Levine Show. He may have introduced the other members of Maroon 5 as his "best friends and my brothers," but he pretty much acted like they were strangers except for guitarist James Valentine. Levine picked up a guitar and jammed with Valentine a couple of times and even invited Valentine to join him on the V-shaped runway extending from the stage.
Yes, the runway was the exclusive province of Levine. And he commanded not with moves like a rock star but with enthusiasm, animation and, most importantly, his voice. More specifically his falsetto. He uses it to great effect just like Prince did. And with ease. In a way that elicits shrill screams from female fans.
Like at the end of the night's closing number, "Sugar," a hit Levine introduced by saying "big love to Prince."
Like during the acoustic encore of "She Will Be Loved," before which Levine asked the nearly 14,000 fans to refrain from using their cellphone cameras for 90 seconds.
Like during a cover of Michael Jackson's "Rock with You," complete with a giant spinning disco ball.