Review: Counting Crows

Fame may be eternal, but popularity is fleeting. The Counting Crows became famous and popular in the early 1990s, not long after releasing their first album, “August and Everything After.”

They sold more than 7 million copies of that album, headlined amphitheaters and made it into some tabloid/gossip headlines (lead singer Adam Duritz dated Jennifer Aniston and then Courteney Cox of “Friends”).

Things are different these days. Tuesday night, the Crows headlined a show at Starlight Theatre, drawing a crowd that couldn’t have been more than 2,500 people — small enough to fit in one of our theaters or Crossroads KC.

The Crows are touring off their most recent album, “Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation),” a collection of covers both well-known and obscure released in April, which means they haven’t released an album of original material since “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings” back in March 2008. An album of covers isn’t exactly a sign you’re about to throw in the towel, but it is an indicator that the wells of inspiration may not be as deep as they used to be.

They performed several of those covers, starting with “Untitled (Love Song)” by the Romany Rye and including “Four White Stallions” by Tender Mercies, a side project for two members of the Crows (Dan Vickrey and Jim Bogios). The covers were dispersed among some of the Crows’ own material, songs like the show’s opener, “Sullivan Street,” “Anna,” “Round Here” and “A Long December.”

If there was any dismay among the crowd during the set, which lasted about 15 minutes short of two hours, it was probably over the absence of “Mr. Jones,” the band’s biggest hit.

The show could have used the jolt that song would have provided (or “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby”). The crowd seemed ready to ignite a few times, but that spirit was defused by a set list stocked with too many songs cast in the same tempo and mood. The insertion of a few of those covers didn’t help either. Even their version of Teenage Fanclub’s “Start Again” fell short — well short of the celestial, original version.

So it became primarily a sit-down show. Most fans sat and watched the band and sang along to the songs they recognized. There was some energy expended during the uptempo numbers like “Come Around,” the funked-up rendition of “Rain King” and two countrified covers: Gram Parsons’ “Return of the Grievous Angel” and Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere.”

Over the course of almost 20 years, the Crows have undergone only three personnel changes, so they remain a tight, polished band, albeit one that at times looks like it’s going through some motions. And Duritz’s voice hasn’t lost much of its character, which has always approached a distant facsimile of Van Morrison’s. So the band sounds much like it did back in 1993, when it fused its blend of folk and rock into a sound built for the adult-contemporary and -alternative charts.

The mood picked up toward the end, starting with the melancholic “A Long December” and through “Rain King.” During that one, Duritz dropped in a few bars of “Washington Square,” then lamented it later because that song was next on the set list. They ended with “Hangin’ Around,” a song about being bored and weighted down and “bummin’ around” in one place too long.

It doesn’t exactly describe the Crows’ place in the music world these days, but it’s getting close. The line between popularity and nostalgia can get pretty thin, and right now they seem to be approaching the border.

Setlist: Sullivan Street; Untitled (Love Song); Another Horsedreamer’s Blues; Four Days; Hospital; Black and Blue; Anna; Hard Candy; Start Again; Round Here; Like Teenage Gravity; Four White Stallions; A Long December; Return of the Grievous Angel; Come Around; Rain King; Washington Square; You Ain’t Going Nowhere; Hangin’ Around.

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Comments

[Ron]

I love the Crows' music, but can't stand their live shows. Duritz hacks the songs up so badly they are hardly recognizable. I'm okay with a little bit of improv to spruce up an old favorite, but he takes it way too far.

[pellboy]

A very casual fan so no real desire to see this show, but I must say that I was actually very pleasantly surprised by their free show out at The Legends a few years ago. As said by TF, the band was pretty tight and at that time anyway, they rocked alot harder than I expected.

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[Natacha VonBraun]

Van Morrison? I always heard a strain of Michael Stipe.

Not sure I agree, either, with the Fairport Convention comparison of the recent album by CC.

If there'd been anything remotely close to a "Meet on the Ledge," I wouldn't have left as early as I did.

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[Olestal Sox]

What a poor excuse for a review. Makes me wonder if you were actually in the house. Yeah, I will grant that the opening acts kinda fell flat, but I think that was the heat and the sound system. Both bands were capable - just needed to be able to tab into a decent sound syste. As far as folks being 'seated', I don't know where you were, but folks in my view were standing most of the time - taking a seat occassionaly, but rocking to the band all night. Counting Crows is a great band, maybe under appreciated here, but what else is new? Shows a lot about our area when folks like JLo can play Sprint and get great reviews for Las Vegas style performances. The Crows are the REAL deal, and still rock.

[Country Jesus]

Outdoor shows this summer have not been condusive to lively perfomances and excess crowd participation due to 100 degree weather. If I was in a touring band in my mid-40's I would schedule indoor shows this time of year. I have no desire to sit outside in the oppressive heat and see bands that I've seen 2 or 3 times already. This is a recipe for complacency, 100+ degrees, 30-40 year old audience, and 40+ year old performers. Think I'll stay inside tonight and watch the video.

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