"I just learned our music is on George Bush's iPod," The Thrills' lead singer Conor Deasy announced cheekily to the crowd at their Saturday concert, alluding to the fact the contents of Bush's iPod were recently leaked to The New York Times. "We have lost our faith in our music. We'll make sure that doesn't happen again," he joked.
The Thrills opened for headliners Maroon 5 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md. Saturday. In a style reminiscent of a mellower Maroon 5 crossed with modern country music, the five-member band played around 10 songs from their albums "Let's Battle Bohemia" and "So Much for the City." While a decent band, the Thrills weren't able to get the crowd on its feet as Maroon 5 later did, even though a number of fans seemed familiar with the lesser-known group.
After The Thrills finished, a billowing, transparent curtain was lowered over the stage. The remaining seats and spaces on the lawn almost completely up filled up. People began to scream and cheer. The lights came up, throwing shadows behind the curtain, and it rose as Maroon 5-James Valentine, Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden, Ryan Dusick and Adam Levine-began to play.
They opened with "Shiver," from their 2002 debut release "Songs about Jane." The band played a number of songs before lead singer Levine announced, "This is the biggest show we've ever played!" and the crowd went crazy. Then he asked if they could play new music, as their album had been out for three years. The group played two or three new songs throughout the show.
What seemed odd, though, was the order of the songs. Often, bands play their well-known songs towards the end of the set, but Maroon 5 played two of their singles, "Harder to Breathe" and "This Love," early in the lineup. Still, the crowd knew the words to all of the songs and Levine initiated a sing-along to "This Love."
Towards the end of the show, Levine got the crowd clapping for their recent single "Sunday Morning" and he said, "We encourage as much singing as possible." They ended their set with "Sweetest Goodbye."
The band's encore began with the only song off the new album they hadn't played: the single "She Will Be Loved." The crowd, however, began to sing the first verse before Levine started. By the time the band realized, though, the crowd was to the end of the verse, so they just picked up with the crowd.
After the song ended, Levine told the crowd that the band had a treat for them: the drummer playing with the band that evening was not actually band member Ryan Dusick, who had been injured. But Dusick was going to come out for the last number. Dusick appeared amidst an uproar and picked up a guitar. Levine ran up the stairs to the drum set as Dusick stepped in front of the microphone and the band began to play their cover of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" from their acoustic album.
The concert as a whole lived up to the expectations initiated by Conor Deasy's opening jab. The energy of the crowd added a welcome element to Maroon 5's performance as the band played every song from their album. They also chose wisely to add the new music, and one would expect they'll be releasing it in the near future to follow up the success of their concert tour. The preview of this new music, and the amazing performance, left the crowd with only a taste of what's to come.
