Adam Levine cuts out of Barbershop party early after ‘miscommunication’
Adam Levine’s pop-up at Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails at the Cosmopolitan late Saturday lasted about 15 minutes.
This was not the intended outcome.
Levine was a quick in-and-out at the Cosmo’s live-music/haircut haven, in what club GM Gregg Dee described as a “miscommunication” over where Levine’s group would be seated and the size of the crowd.
“That’s kind of the way we’re looking at it,” Dee said in a phone chat Sunday night. “Somewhere along the line, what he thought was happening and what his management set up for him were different things.”
Dee said a Levine rep had walked the venue in the afternoon to plot where the superstar would seat and how the room would be set. But as of late Sunday night, Dee had not heard from Levine or his reps about what happened at the club.
In the veteran club official’s account, Levine arrived at 11 p.m. and departed hastily at about 11:15. The 40-member party included Levine’s Maroon 5 band mates James Carmichael and Sam Farrar; members of the band’s production team; and Levine’s wife, Behati Prinsloo. Maroon 5 had earlier finished its 2023 “M5:LV” residency run at Dolby Live (the band last week committed to a return in 2024).
The Barbershop crowd consisted entirely of invited guests and VIPs, with no general-admission access (yours truly was among the invitees, but did not attend). The seating capacity was cut to between 100 and 120 in the 140-capacity venue.
Levine was initially led to a VIP seating area at the front of the stage on house left, where such superstars as Bruno Mars and .Anderson Paak have been seated when they’ve visited the club.
Levine then asked to be to the back of the venue, what is called the “owner’s booth,” just to the left of the entrance. Dee said Levine expressed concern about size of the crowd filing in. The club exec halted then “held” the door, shutting down access.
Minutes later, Levine left, with most of the entourage following suit. Some social-media accounts said the 44-year-old rocker threw a tantrum as he left. Dee didn’t see it but still isn’t entirely certain why Levine cut the night short.
“We were not jam-packed, as we often are on Saturday nights,” Dee said. “I do not know what his intention was.”
The result was a missed opportunity to generate widespread media coverage of the Barbershop venue, and also popular Vegas rock-cover band Radio Xx, which anchors Saturdays at the venue. MGM Resorts International, which now owns both the Cosmopolitan and Park MGM, is bridging Barbershop and Dolby Live by staging pop-up performances by star headliners at the smaller club.
That’s why Mars and .Paak turned up at the club in August of last year, after a Silk Sonic show at Dolby Live.
The night was also a showcase for Levine’s booze company. Dee had ordered a couple of cases of Levine’s Calirosa Anejo Tequila for the Radio Xx set. That product placement could only reinforce the brand’s position with club operator Clique Hospitality, which owns a dozen venues across Las Vegas, including Clique at Cosmopolitan.
And Radio Xx was ready for Levine, and even his Maroon 5 sidemen, to take the stage, setting up an extra mic, a tuned guitar and even extra drumsticks on stage.
But Levine had not formally committed to play at the event, as Mars and .Paak had in ‘22. Radio Xx members reportedly hoped the energy of the show would inspire Levine to take the stage. He and band mate James Valentine did exactly that, at then-Mizuya Lounge (now Rhythm & Riffs) on New Year’s Eve 2015 with the Paul Charles Band. This was after Maroon 5’s show at Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Dee was straightforward in how this attempt an epic Las Vegas hang was cut short. Levine wasn’t even settled long enough for the PR team assigned to promote the event to capture a single photo.
“We’ve had a handful of celebrities, whether they jumped up on stage or whether they just hung out, where everybody had a good time,” Dee said. “I would much rather have it that Adam Levine was in with his crew and had a great time, instead of all this other nonsense.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
