Marooon 5 and Kelly Clarkson- Honda Civic Tour

First Niagara Pavilion, Burgettstown. PA – August 3,2013

Reviewed by Michael Rampa

The Maroon 5/Kelly Clarkson tour has been jokingly billed as a show by the two prettiest people in pop music. But as they showcased at Burgettstown. PA’s sold out First Niagara Pavilion; their talents run more than skin deep.

Idol winner and America’s sweetheart Clarkson displayed impressive versatility; blending blues, country and a little Motown with her pop catalog. After leading off with the megahit Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You), she got the crowd of 23,000 moving with the dance anthem My Life Would Suck Without You. Things got interesting in the middle of the set. After announcing her recent engagement, she channeled her inner rock star for Tie It Up, singing full voice above a blistering chord progression worthy of Jimmy Page.

Much of Clarkson’s appeal is her humility and girl next door sweetness. Far from playing the entitled diva, she critiqued her own dance skills and said, “that is called twerking and I can only do it because I have a fat ass.”

For all the otherworldly power of her pipes, the tender ballads were all standouts. From the moving Breakaway and Because Of You to the stripped down version of Don’t You Wanna Stay, she was effective in a breathy, lower register. A rocking four song close featured the ensemble in day glo spandex pounding kettle drums like Blue Man Group. She brought it home with her #1 smash, Since U Been Gone.

At promptly 9:20, lead singer Adam Levine took the stage in skin-tight jeans and T-shirt to the screams of females begging for him to disrobe.  In their 10- year history, the band has managed to blur the lines between rock, hip hop, reggae and now dance, (thanks to Moves Like Jagger.)  The short 65 minute set opened with blistering renditions of last year’s hit, One More Night and This Love. The show featured massive production. From the lasers and strobes to the video screens, everything was subtly choreographed to Matt Flynn’s aggressive drum work and reached all the way to the back of the lawn. The cover of Prince’s I Wanna Be your Lover suited Levine’s falsetto perfectly. They even threw in a snippet of Daft Punk’s Get Lucky and a Gym Class Heroes cover, Stereo Hearts. The mass exodus in anticipation of a two-hour traffic snarl began after only an hour with the intro of Moves Like Jagger.

The artists have sold a combined 30 million albums and could have easily drawn well on separate tours. But this night was one heck of a package deal.