Rego's Classic Rock

Great Studio Album...Shitty Concert

Quite possibly the worst concert I have ever seen in my life is the Counting Crows. When I first heard “Mr. Jones” on the radio I thought, “Wow, that is a great fucking song”. And honestly, on the radio, it is. But if you ask me how it was in concert, I’ll tell you flat out, it was the biggest waste of money I’ve ever had the misfortune to shell out.

When their debut album “August and Everything After” came out in 1993 I thought that this is the band that will pick up the banner of Rock N Roll and carry it into the next century, until I saw them in concert. The band sounded great but the vocals of lead singer Adam Duritz were horrible. Not only did he look like some overweight bum they got off a beach in Southern California, he acted and sounded like one also.

“For me, songwriting is something like breathing: I just do it. But that doesn’t mean you’re fantastic.”
Adam Duritz

After the 3rd or 4th song it was as if he didn’t want to or couldn’t sing anymore. He just spoke the lyrics, no harmony, no rhythm, no passion… nothing! Just a guy who looks like a sweaty slob talking over the bands music. To me it seemed like he ran out of breath and just winged it and didn’t care how it came out. Hey, he got 3,000 people to pay $30 to see him, why should he care, right? If you’re so out of shape that you can’t sing after a few songs, you’ve no business going out on tour.

And their biggest hit at the time and to date “Mr. Jones”, you ask? Well, according to someone I was with, they where sick of playing it. Well excuse us for paying money to see a band that, at the time, only had one album out and everyone came there to hear the songs that made them popular. I guess our feelings don’t count.  And to make matters worse there were people actually saying how good they where.

I was thinking, “Did everyone else see the same show I just saw?”  Of the two people I was with, one of them, who is a total idiot anyway, was like “They were good”, the other, who is more mature, called it like it was,”They sucked!!!”

At one point during the show we were sitting down and some horse’s ass two rows in front of me made a motion with his hands for everyone to get up. And honestly that’s what I should have done.. got up and walked right out of the place.

Talented Artist or out of shape Bum?

Adam Duritz, would jump on one of the speakers then fall back like he passed out, which after a while I wish he did because he sucked so bad and I couldn’t take listening to him anymore. At one point I was wishing God would just drop a pair of brass knuckles onto my lap so I could jump on stage and break this guys jaw. I just couldn’t take it anymore. Not that I am a violent person, I am not, but this guy really pissed me off.  The impression I had was that this guy just felt like he was better than everyone else. To me his attitude was, “I’m great, all these people paid to see me and I”ll just act like a total slob and they will love me anyway”.

I’ve heard people say that it’s his song and he can sing it anyway he wants. OK, I’ve seen plenty of groups change up their songs, but you don’t take a great song and make it Suck! I’ve heard people sing better karaoke versions and didn’t pay a dime to see that.

If you’ve seen them in concert I’d like to hear your thoughts on their live show.

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