I’ve just returned from Columbia, MD, where I spent the evening with Rich at a Counting Crows concert. I saw them twice last year but didn’t think I was going to make it this summer since my sister, my normal CC partner, is out of town, but Rich offered to accompany me, so a great tragedy was avoided.
I’d never been to Merriweather Post Pavilion before and was leery of an outdoor venue as they aren’t as intimate, but, although it’s a different experience to see a band outside, Merriweather has good acoustics and huge monitors. The only drawback was that I absolutely could not see the stage, but we were so far back I would have been able to see only tiny figures even with an unobstructed view.
The music more than made up for the lack of visuals, though, as it always does. They played a great set, more acoustic than I’ve ever seen them (as Adam pointed out). Adam seemed genuinely happy tonight, not in the sloppy drunk way he has purportedly been in the past, but in an at-peace-with-the-world kind of way. He’s originally from Maryland and his family was in the crowd, as were a number of his friends from Berkeley, so that may have been part of it; additionally this was the last show they’re going to be doing for quite a while, so he may have also been feeling relieved — but I’d like to believe that he’s just doing better overall than he was 10 years ago after he suddenly became famous.
They played beautiful renditions of ‘Richard Manuel is Dead’, ‘Mrs Potter’s Lullaby’, ‘Omaha’, a great acoustic ‘Accidentally in Love’, and…well, just go check out the setlist. It was all fantastic, but the highlight of the evening for me was their ‘Rain King’/‘Raining in Baltimore’ medley. I was hoping they would play ‘Raining’ as it’s one of my theme songs when I’m feeling the peculiar loneliness of a long distance relationship (a recurring theme in my life currently in full swing), and their “song sandwiches” (I know, these are called alts, a terrible non-descriptive term) are one of my favorite parts of seeing CC live. ‘Raining’ is a bittersweet song, perfectly suited to Adam’s bittersweet voice and the bittersweet feeling, and tonight’s version captured it wonderfully. “Three thousand five hundred miles away / but what would you change if you could?”
Their final encore, ‘Holiday in Spain’, was perfect as well, and another song I’d been hoping to hear. The note of wishful desperation usually present in Adam’s voice for this song was absent in lieu of the anticipation of his upcoming vacation written plainly across his face.
I’m sorry they aren’t planning to tour again any time soon, but I’m glad I was able to make it to the show tonight. Sometimes I think that as I become less angsty I’ll stop identifying with the Counting Crows’ music and Adam’s lyrics — but it’s been nearly eleven years now and they still move me in new ways every time I hear them.