By Kara Hallam

Staff Writer

With an awkward and slow start, the Maroon 5 concert at Gexa Energy Pavilion quickly turned around as the sun went down and the crowd got up on their feet to sing along to the band’s best songs.

PJ Morton opened the concert. Morton is an upcoming artist whose songs have a taste of jazz in them but keep to a contemporary beat. Morton performed for about 30 minutes.

The crowd did not take too enthusiastically to this new star.  His songs were unfamiliar to the audience and a little old school for the younger concert goers.

Next, Kelly Clarkson took the stage, and the crowd got on their feet and sang along to her opening song “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger.” “Breakaway” proved to be the crowds favorite as the majority sang along to it as Clarkson performed.

“I know every line to “Breakaway” and it was amazing to sing it along with all my friends and the actual Kelly Clarkson,” junior Olivia West said.

The crowd acted as one choir chanting along to the song,  underneath the beautiful night sky.

After a short drum intermission, Clarkson returned to the now fluorescent stage in an all neon get up to close with “People Like Us” and “Since You’ve Been Gone.” Her performance seemed to be a bit overdramatic, however, and the fluorescent backdrop almost seemed alien like.

At 9:30 p.m. Maroon 5 finally performed. Adam Levine started with “One More Night” while illuminated balls were thrown into the audience that changed color in coordination to the different songs like “Sunday Morning” and “Tangled.”

Levine’s falsetto voice constantly hit every high note and endured his performance.

Maroon 5 performed for 45 minutes straight before slowing things down and introducing the members of the band. Levine remained the center of attention throughout the show but he often shared the spotlight with guitarist James Valentine.

The band concluded the show with a few covers of songs like Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and then sang its chart topping song “Moves Like Jagger.”

Maroon 5 seemed to perform for a shorter duration than most artists after its opening acts. They were not as talkative to with the crowd as most artists are during their concerts.

“Overall it was one of the best concerts I had ever seen at Gexa Energy Pavilion. The energy there was great and Maroon 5 did an awesome job,” junior Jacob Harris said.