| Adam Levine (Photograph by Kevin Winter/ Nbcuniversal/ Getty Images) |
Maroon 5 is accustomed to playing sold-out arenas before thousands of screaming fans — mostly young women in love with lead singer Adam Levine. On May 9 in Las Vegas, the group got a surprise after walking onstage in an opulent Bellagio ballroom: graying middle-aged men wearing loafers and SALT Conference lanyards. “In case you don’t know who we are, we’re Maroon 5,” joked Levine, who performed wearing skinny jeans, a tight black T-shirt revealing extensive tattoos, and his signature three-day stubble. Most in the several-hundred-person crowd indeed weren’t sure what they were watching. “What’s their name again?” asked one elderly asset trustee; a 40-something hedge fund manager said he’d looked up the odd-sounding name. “I had to Google it,” he admitted. “Awwww yeah!” screamed Levine early on, looking for an echo from the crowd. No response. Some in the audience watched excitedly, particularly those in the elevated VIP section sponsored by Northern Trust. The hippest attendees had exchanged their daytime suits for a decidedly casual but 1 percent look: untucked, French cuff dress shirts. The concert was for a good cause: SALT’s new Aspire Giving charity initiative benefiting three nonprofits: Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, charity: water, and Warrior Gateway. It was one of the last numbers, “Moves Like Jagger,” that finally got the crowd going.
