Sara Bareilles reminisced about the wild moments that came with life on the road before she became a Grammy-winning mainstay. The “Love Song” hitmaker recently shared that opening for Maroon 5 in the late 2000s introduced her to more than sold-out crowds; it also marked the first time she ever saw cocaine.
Long before Broadway success and her upcoming album Good Grief, Sara Bareilles was touring with Adam Levine and company on Maroon 5’s It Won’t Be Soon Before Long Tour. While the experience helped launch her career, one backstage memory has stayed with her for nearly two decades.
Sara Bareilles was stunned when she first encountered cocaine on tour with Maroon 5
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Bareilles recalled stumbling across cocaine at a party during the tour, though she was quick to clarify it had nothing to do with the band itself.
“Oh, my god, it was crazy. I saw cocaine for the first time,” she told Rolling Stone. “Went to use the bathroom at a party and there was a little, this does not even belong to the band. This was just one of those things where we’re out. And I was like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s cocaine!’ Couldn’t believe it.”
The singer added that the surprising encounter didn’t change her personal approach to drugs. “Still never done cocaine, guys. I don’t do drugs, except with therapists,” she joked to Rolling Stone.
Despite the memorable backstage moment, Bareilles had nothing but praise for Maroon 5 and the way the band treated her while she was still finding her footing in the industry.
“Those boys were so wonderful to us,” she told Rolling Stone. “They felt like big brothers. They took me and my band on the road. They took us under their wing. They shared everything they had. It was really awesome.”
The surprises didn’t stop there. During Maroon 5’s Hands All Over Tour, Bareilles said she was shocked by another concert tradition: fans tossing underwear onto the stage.
“There was literally a lot of throwing underwear,” she recalled to Rolling Stone, adding that her first thought was, ”‘Did you bring two pairs?’”
Now, Sara Bareilles is entering a new chapter with her first studio album in seven years, Good Grief, arriving on August 28, followed by a North American tour. Reflecting on this stage of her life, she told Rolling Stone, “The decade of my forties has been all about stripping away artifice… I don’t want artifice. I think it’s very easy to hide. And I’m terrified, but I’m not hiding.”
TELL US – WERE YOU SURPRISED TO LEARN SARA BAREILLES’ FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH COCAINE HAPPENED WHILE TOURING WITH MAROON 5?
Originally reported by Vanshika Vasundhare Singh for Reality Tea
