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Review & Photograph by Diane Fleischman
How many crows does it take to fill the Main Stage at Musikfest? The answer is seven, as long as it’s The Counting Crows! The Counting Crows returned to Musikfest Monday night and performed to a full audience, very few vacant seats could be found. The summer scorching temperatures had dropped considerably and a cool breeze circled the area, and made a perfect night to be at a Counting Crows concert.
As the music started to “Sullivan Street’, the distintive vocals of Adam Duritz followed. It’s been 30 years now since The Counting Crows exploded onto the music scene, which at that time, Duritz, was sporting the dreadlock hair style, which was popular back in the 90’s. And as all things do eventually pass, for Duritz, ‘the dreads’ passed years ago.
“Come Around”, and ‘Mr. Jones” followed, many fans stood and sang along. Overall, Duritz did not provide much banter with the audience. But there again, does he need to? Duritz is a phenomenal songwriter, poetic, dramatic, and prolific. Songs like “Angel of 14th Street”, and “Bobby and The Rat-Kings” lyrics are so detailed with storylines, emotions and characters, all the answers are found in the lyrics.
A couple of songs released recently also were performed, “Tall Grass” and “Elevator Boots”, and the fans were happy to hear and sing along to “Palisades Park”, which is not a mainstay on the band’s set list. Undeniably, everyone wanted to hear the hits, “Big Yellow Taxi” (Joni Mitchell), “Omaha”, with “Rain King” coming in towards the end of the set. Duritz sat down at the piano for “A Long December” which closed out the set with a standing ovation.
The band returned for an amazing four song encore, “Round Here”, followed by “Almost Woke You Up”, written by Steven Kellogg, the show’s opening act. Duritz called Kellogg back on stage to perform with the band, a song, that Duritz admitted he liked so much he had to sing it. Within the first few notes, everyone recognized “Hanginaround”, applauded, and rose to their feet. The concert ended with”Holiday in Spain”.
Closing on a personal note, to the gentleman seated a couple rows back from me, who screamed for “Anna Begins”, repeatedly, I’m sorry the band didn’t honor your request and play the song. Maybe next time, when they “Come Around”.
https://www.countingcrows.com/
