Counting Crows Play Melbourne After Eight Year Absence #REVIEW

Adam Duritz gave thanks to being around for so long at the Counting Crows Melbourne show on Tuesday (4 April 2023). Most bands, he said, have a very limited life. Counting Crows have survived for over 30 years.

Watch the Noise11 interview with Adam Duritz

After forming in San Francisco in 1991, Counting Crows were a global success just two years later with the 7x Platinum ‘August and Everything After’ giving us now classics they still perform today like ‘Mr Jones’ and ‘Rain King’.

We have had multiple tours from Counting Crows across Australia. Australia was late to the party with the first tour not on ground until 2003, 10 years after ‘August and Everything After’. They have sure made up for that since with further tours in 2004, 2009, 2013, 2015 and now 2023.

Counting Crows fans are loyal and showed their support with yet another sold-out Melbourne show. Singer Adam Duritz revealed early into the show that he and another member of the band had Covid ahead of the Australian dates and that they had to isolate for a week in New Zealand. As a result the Wellington show was cancelled. While he is now recovered, he was clearly knocked about by the illness and sat for extended periods during this show.

Counting Crows at the Palais Melbourne, 4 April 2023 photo by Bron Robinson

That didn’t matter to the audience. You cannot fault this band. They have become the best of the best and that comes from a mostly 30-year unity.

Adam Duritz formed the band in San Francisco after growing up on the east coast of the USA and migrating across the country including a stop-over in El Paso, Texas. We were treated to his migration stories, including his first-hand description of ‘Omaha, somewhere in the middle of America’. Keyboard player Charlie Gillingham, rhythm guitarist David Bryon and lead guitarist David Immerglück were all there at the start for the first album although Immerglück was not credited as a full band member until the third album ‘This Desert Life’ in 1999. Guitarist Dan Vickery joined after the recording of ‘August and Everything After’ and was a fully credited band member on the second album ‘Recovering The Satellites’.

This is a big band, seven members, with five from the early days. With Counting Crows live you get the sound you know by the people who made it.

This show wasn’t so much “greatest hits” more so representations of a 30 year history. A greatest hits show would have kept ‘Mr Jones’ for the encore but Counting Crows served one of their biggest three songs into the show. Their Shrek 2 song ‘Accidentally In Love’, one of their biggest hits wasn’t in the set (it hasn’t been played since 2015), nor was Australian radio favourite ‘Round Here’ off the first album (but ‘Round Here’ has appeared on other shows of this tour).

The Joni Mitchell song ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ (a number 3 hit in Australia) was played (but not every show of the tour) and the stunning ‘Colorblind’ has also made every show so far (and early in the set too).

One unique feature of the 2023 Butter Miracle tour is the four-song ‘Butter Miracle Suite’, featuring ‘The Tall Grass’, ‘Elevator Boots’, ‘Angel of 14th Street’ and ‘Bobby and the Rat-Kings’. The songs are played in the order they appear on the 2021 Counting Crows EP. What was planned to be an album never eventuated. Adam discusses it in the Noise11 interview so for Counting Crows fans this is the only new music we’ve had since the 2014 ‘Somewhere Under Wonderland’ album.

Another treat was the Teenage Fanclub cover ‘Start Again’.

Eight years is a long time inbetween Counting Crows tours. Its good to have them back.

Opening for Counting Crows is one-man band Frank Turner. With nine solo albums to his name, Turner is a folk-rock poet, a next generation ‘Billy Bragg’. He sings of real human themes like mental health, grief and substance abuse. Turner has backed a lot of living into his 41 years including being a classmate of Prince William at Eton. His words are observations and are first-hand experiences. Treat yourself to his hour before Counting Crows.

Counting Crows Melbourne Setlist 4 April 2023

Hard Candy (from Hard Candy, 2002)
Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby (from This Desert Life, 1999)
Mr. Jones (from August and Everything After, 1993)
Colorblind (from This Desert Life, 1999)
Butterfly in Reverse (from Hard Candy, 2002)
Omaha (from August and Everything After, 1993)
Good Time (from Hard Candy, 2002)
Recovering the Satellites (from Recovering The Satellites, 1996)
Start Again (Teenage Fanclub cover)
God of Ocean Tides (from Somewhere Under Wonderland, 2014)
Big Yellow Taxi (from Hard Candy, 2002)
Miami (from Hard Candy, 2002)
The Tall Grass (from Butter Miracle, Suite One, 2021)
Elevator Boots (from Butter Miracle, Suite One, 2021)
Angel of 14th Street (from Butter Miracle, Suite One, 2021)
Bobby and the Rat-Kings (from Butter Miracle, Suite One, 2021)
Rain King (from August and Everything After, 1993)
A Long December (from Recovering The Satellites, 1996)

Encore:
Hanginaround (from This Desert Life, 1999)
Holiday in Spain (from Hard Candy, 2002)

Counting Crows remaining dates are:

Thursday 6 April, Melbourne, Hamer Hall
9 and 11 April, Sydney, Enmore Theatre

https://www.livenation.com.au/artist-counting-crows-8566

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