Maroon 5, 3rd Dec / Mumbai
Venue: Mahalaxmi Racecourse
Opening Acts: Zaeden and Mr. Mailbox
The gates opened at 3 PM, and Zaeden, the first act, was scheduled to start at 5 PM. Why such a long gap? It makes no sense. I arrived just before 5:30, and while walking to the stage, I heard Zaeden just starting his set — a 20-minute delay. A 5 PM start time should mean 5 PM for a show of this scale. The tickets were delivered at home so no waiting at the box office but there was no security check, only one guy who on the was after metal detectors and no frisking if anyone was carrying loose cigarettes or any lighter.
Personally, I am not a fan of his music, but people seemed to enjoy it. What bugged me was that his commentary didn’t feel genuine. At times, it seemed like he was asked to emcee for Maroon 5, which made little sense — why do that in the middle of his songs? He also said, “You gotta support Indian and local artists as much as you support the international ones.” While the message itself isn’t an issue, the delivery was odd and felt forced. If you’re going to make such statements, they need to sound natural, which they didn’t. Zaeden performed his major hits and brought Lisa Mishra on stage for one of the songs. His set lasted around 90 minutes. Rating: 5/10.
During this time, people were loading up on food and drinks. There were plenty of options. I had a hotdog and a chicken shawarma. I skipped the beer (they had Simba). Water was free, but you had to purchase a ₹100 refillable cup.
A great initiative was the ₹200 food and drinks voucher for people who took the local train (likely available only at Mahalaxmi station, the closest to the venue). Since Mahalaxmi requires you to walk almost 2 km to the venue and back, this was a thoughtful gesture. After the concert, I took a train toward Dadar. Surprisingly, the train was empty, with only a handful of concert-goers on board. This was unexpected because a large sea of crowd exited the venue right after the show.
The weather was quite smoggy throughout the day. However, since I stepped out at 4 PM, it was pleasantly cloudy, with no harsh sunlight. The dust from the ground became an issue during the exit at night, but the temperature and humidity were manageable.
Coming to the second act, Mr. Mailbox: I tried looking him up before the show but found little about him online. Turns out he usually opens for Maroon 5 and travels with them (the oldest post I saw was from 2019). His set was disappointing, resembling the kind of playlist you’d hear at a pub on a Friday night — just mixing hooks from pop, EDM, and rock hits. Nothing unique. Listening to 200 song hooks back-to-back for 90 minutes felt monotonous. I expected a better performance for an opener. Even smaller DJs opening for acts like Martin Garrix or Marshmello put on more enjoyable sets. His commentary wasn’t remarkable either, also, very poor visuals that just showed his name with some graphic on repeat.
Note: These are my personal opinions. Some people seemed to enjoy both acts.
The show had no emcee, which was another major disappointment. I had the cheapest ticket (₹8,000), and honestly, I expected a better lineup or at least a stronger opening act before the main event. The gaps between the acts was also too long.
I didn’t notice any merch stalls. There were designated smoking zones, and most people followed the rules. Nice job, Mumbai! The staff — police, volunteers, and others — were present throughout, including along the entire walk to and from the local station.
Now, about Maroon 5: After a 15-minute buildup, they came on stage around 8:15 PM. Their performance was fabulous — I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some people around me knew the lyrics to all the songs. They played all their major hits and had decent commentary and great jugalbandi times between the band members. A memorable moment was when they called a woman carrying flowers on stage, and Adam sang one half of She Will Be Loved to her, it was a sweet.
It was like any other pop concert but an enjoyable one. They also took a 5-minute break during the set without announcing it (a minor annoyance).
One issue with general access tickets was that the stage was so far away that you had to rely entirely on the big screen. Unless you fought and booked a spot right behind the barricades, the stage was barely visible. The sound quality was good, but one had to navigate between the crowd’s noise and the speaker alignment for a better experience.
Adam’s commentary included some clichés: calling Mumbai “the best city ever” and sharing how he felt too tired to perform because of flights but changed his mind after seeing all the beautiful people as soon as he saw the crowd. He also said they’d come back next time and do two shows, which excited the audience. He acknowledged the band’s 25-year career and how this was their first time in India.
They ended the show with Sugar at 9:50 PM. I had a good time, but the ticket price would have felt more justified if it were at least 30% cheaper. Also, no Indian artist cameo in the performance, was expecting this.
Overall: 8.5/10 experience. Was the show worth attending? For me, yes. I grew up during a time when Vh1 was my primary way of discovering and consuming music.. so much so that back then that I wouldn’t leave for school without listening to Payphone. So yeah, I’m glad I went for this one, the 15-yo-me is happy.
