Excitement builds for Maroon 5

By: Maso Hamilton

Posted: 11/20/09

The anticipation has been building since the University Center Program Council announced Maroon 5 would be performing at the Junell Center on Nov. 21.

Tickets have been selling rapidly since they were made available to students at the beginning of the semester.

"When I first heard Maroon 5 was coming to perform here, I thought it was a joke," sophomore Michael Henry said. "Now that I know it's real I'm extremely excited."

ASU will be one of the last stops on the Grammy Award-winning band's nationwide Back-To-School tour, which features up-and-coming hip hop artist K'Naan.

Maroon 5 has also announced the $15K Starving Student Challenge, a contest giving one fan $15,000 using Twitter and TwitVid. Concert-goers will be required to take a video of themselves at the show and submit it to twitvid.com/maroon5.

One winner will be picked at the end of the tour. In addition, the band will be running several contests, giving students a chance to win tickets to the show. Band member James Valentine will challenge students to tennis matches at each tour stop in exchange for tickets.

"I'm excited about the Starving Student Challenge," Henry said. "Some of my friends and I have been talking about making a cool video while we're at the show. I'm sure it will get noticed by the band members."

Maroon 5 are on tour promoting their upcoming album, which is slated for release in spring of 2010.

Special guest K'Naan is a new artist who has been gaining worldwide exposure and popularity due to his catchy lyrics and collaborations with high profile artists.

He will also be promoting his new album, which is to be released at the end of this year.

"K'Naan is one of my favorite artists this year," senior Philip Buckner said. "He's fairly new but he's got such a presence and should mesh well with Adam Levine and Maroon 5."

The concert starts at 7 p.m on Saturday. Tickets are available at the Houston Harte University Center Information Desk and at the Junell Center Ticket Office.

All tickets are general admission and floor access requires that guests be 17 years of age or older. Doors will open at 6 p.m.