Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine apologized Friday for the band’s lackluster performance at a festival Thursday night.
The band took the stage for a set as part of the Vina del Mar festival in Chile, which is a huge music festival there and broadcast on TV.
Videos from the official festival account show Levine less animated than his usual performances.
Friday, Levine posted a mea culpa to his Instagram story, saying he wanted to be honest with his fans.
“To be totally frank, there were some things holding me back sonically last night and I let them get to me and it impacted how I was behaving on stage and it was unprofessional and I apologize,” the singer said.
In a statement to Billboard, the band echoed those sentiments, saying they also experienced numerous technical difficulties “including monitor issues and with both of Adam Levine’s in ears.”
“It created a very difficult situation for the band to deliver their normal show,” a representative for the band said in a statement.
Levine added he tried to “zero in” and focus on singing as the issues in their 70-minute set unfolded.
“I wanted to sound good, number one, and look good, feel good, number two,” he said. “I struggled a lot and sometimes it’s really hard for me to mask the struggle and so for that, I did let you guys down and I apologize.”
“Last night, it wasn’t our best. And for that, all I can say is that I’m really sorry,” he said.
Despite videos showing fans cheering at the actual performance, many fans were not happy in the comments.
“One question for the fans of Maroon 5: are they always this boring? Or are they phoning it in only because we are from Chile and he doesn’t know who we are?" one person tweeted.
Another person commented on Youtube, “This is like someone singing karaoke.”
“This is a festival transmitted to ALL OF LATIN AMERICA, Adam didn’t greet people, didn’t interact with the public, didn’t accept the prizes he was given, didn’t even say goodbye, that disappointment the lack of desire that he put into this show,” another person commented. “The Latin American public deserves the same respect and delivery in any part of the world.”
In the statement to Billboard, Maroon 5 added they do have several more shows coming up in South America.
“It’s one show of many, coming to South America and performing is one our favorite things to do,” Levine said in his video. “We absolutely adore our Chilean fans and love coming here.”
