MAROON 5 TURN BST HYDE PARK INTO THE ULTIMATE SUMMER SING ALONG

LIVE REVIEW | MAROON 5 w/ OneRepublic, Jess Glynne, Bradley Simpson – BST HYDE PARK | LONDON |

Returning for its second weekend this summer, BST Hyde Park welcomed another sold out crowd on Friday as Maroon 5 took over the Great Oak Stage. Backed by an impressive supporting lineup including OneRepublic, Jess Glynne, Ella Eyre, and Only The Poets, the festival brought together artists who have dominated the music charts for more than two decades.

The day began with an opening from Reading band Only The Poets on the Great Oak Stage, while Bradley Simpson, VOILÀ, Pedro Santos, Dylan Flynn & The Dead Poets, Patrick Hamilton and Stefan Mahendra kept crowds moving between the festival’s smaller stages.

Before the headliners took to the stage, Jess Glynne delivered one of the festival’s strongest supporting performances. Her name glittering on a red backdrop, she opened with ‘I’ll Be There‘. She moved effortlessly through a catalogue packed with modern British pop staples, including ‘Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself’, ‘Take Me Home’ and ‘Thursday’. By the time ‘Rather Be’, ‘These Days’ and ‘Hold My Hand‘ arrived, the crowd needed little encouragement, with thousands singing every word back across Hyde Park. It was the kind of set that felt perfectly suited to a summer festival, energetic without ever feeling forced.

Over on the Rainbow Stage, Bradley Simpson attracted a crowd that stretched well beyond the tent itself. Fresh from the release of his debut solo album The Panic Years, the former The Vamps frontman balanced polished pop rock with an easygoing stage presence, joking with the audience about the summer heat while performing songs including ‘Picasso’, ‘Almost’ and‘Play At The Moon‘. It was clear many fans had arrived specifically to see him, with every lyric sung straight back at the stage.

As Simpson closed the Rainbow stage, the park gradually transformed from picnic blankets and casual arrivals into a sea of fans gathering in front of the Great Oak Stage. OneRepublic took over for the penultimate set of the evening. With nearly two decades of chart topping hits in their catalogue, the band had little trouble winning over Hyde Park from the opening notes of ‘RUNAWAY’. ‘Apologize’, ‘I Ain’t Worried’ and ‘Counting Stars’ each sparked huge singalongs, proving just how deeply their music has embedded itself into pop culture.

Frontman Ryan Tedder also made a point of highlighting his songwriting career, weaving a medley of tracks written for artists including Beyoncé, Adele and Leona Lewis into the set while sharing stories of the many musicians he has worked with throughout his career. Tedder’s songwriting résumé is remarkable, and the enduring popularity of those songs speaks for itself. Even after all these years, they remain some of pop music’s most recognizable anthems. Though a repeated reminder of these accomplishments occasionally disrupted the flow of the performance, particularly when the audience already seemed more interested in hearing the music than being told about it during the precious hour long festival set.

Tedder’s vocals also showed signs of strain throughout the set. While his trademark power remained evident during big choruses, some of the more demanding moments lacked their usual ease. His energy, however, never faltered. Repeatedly sprinting the full length of the catwalk before climbing into the pit to perform alongside fans on the barricade, he remained a constantly moving presence throughout the hour long set. Despite the occasional vocal strain, the band’s impressive catalogue and Tedder’s tireless energy made for an enjoyable festival performance.

If OneRepublic warmed up the crowd, Maroon 5 arrived ready to own the night. 

As ‘Good Vibrations’ echoed across Hyde Park before the band emerged, anticipation quickly turned into deafening cheers with the opening riff of ‘Harder To Breathe’. From that moment on, Maroon 5 delivered exactly what the sold out crowd had come for: an almost relentless run of hit after hit spanning more than two decades.

Wasting little time, frontman Adam Levine looked out across the sold out crowd with a grin. “Hyde Park! Holy sh*t. This is absolutely incredible,” he shouted before reflecting on the band’s first London show. “We first came here in 2005 and played The Barfly. There weren’t that many people there, probably 40, if we were lucky.”  It was a refreshingly humble moment from a band that has spent the last two decades producing some of pop’s biggest hits.

There was little need for lengthy introductions. ‘This Love’, ‘Animals’ and ‘One More Night’ arrived in quick succession, with Levine constantly making use of the full length of the catwalk, even climbing into the pit to perform alongside fans at the front barrier. As the evening sun began to dip over Hyde Park, ‘Sunday Morning’ brought a change of pace, with James Valentine’s soaring guitar solo becoming one of the night’s standout musical moments as he stepped onto the runway to finish the song.

The momentum continued through ‘Heavy’, ‘Won’t Go Home Without You’ and ‘Memories’, before Hyde Park turned into one of the night’s loudest singalongs during ‘She Will Be Loved’. Encouraging the audience to “make the rest of London jealous,” Levine barely needed to ask, as thousands of voices carried the final chorus across the park. 

A gentle opening to ‘Payphone’ offered one final reflective moment before ‘Sugar’ brought the evening to a celebratory close. As the final chorus echoed across Hyde Park, Levine took one last moment to reflect on the band’s journey. “This was so much crazier than we could have imagined all those years ago, and we have you to thank,” he told the crowd before signing off with a heartfelt, “Thank you all so much, Hyde Park. Thank you, London.”

BST Hyde Park will continue this weekend with sold out performances from Pitbull on Friday 10th July, and performing his biggest shows of his career so far, Lewis Capaldi takes on 2 back to back nights on 11th and 12th July. Find out more HERE.