September 13, 2008

  • This past night, I went to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, California, for the Counting Crows and Maroon 5 concert. Both bands are doing headlining sets, with Augustana opening for them. I unfortunately did not show up early enough to see Augustana's set, so I can't say how good they were. The first thing I noticed when I did get there was that this audience wasn't the type of crowd I normally see in the many concerts I've been to. The lack of black shirts was almost shocking to me, and many women were actually dressed up more than just the t-shirt and jeans combo. It was almost like it was some kind of work related party, as opposed to the festival atmosphere that most rock concerts I go to are. By the way, I suppose it's not surprising what with Maroon 5 being there, but there were clearly more women in the audience than men. Another surprise for me, was that I did not realize it until I was heading for my seats, but I apparently purchased Orchestra tickets, and was the closest to the stage that I've ever been in this venue (17th row from the pit + stage). This was also the first time I've seen either Counting Crows or Maroon 5 live, which continues my goal of trying to see all my favorite music artists in concert.

    Out of the two bands, I have more of an understanding of what to expect with Counting Crows' live performance, because of their album "New Amsterdam : Live at Heineken Music Hall." One particular thing about their live performances is that they pretty much don't always play their big hits and that they tend to alter the songs from what we are familiar with from their albums; which you can imagine makes it a little hard for us in the audience to sing along at times. Lead singer Adam Duritz is clearly the one that will get the most attention out of the whole band, and that's not surprising because he is so energetic and quite passionate when he sings, that he is easy to keep your attention to. Their set list contained some of my favorite songs from the band, like "Mr. Jones," "A Long December" or "Rain King." They also played some songs off their newest album "Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings." What completely stole the night for me however, was their performance of "Round Here" that was simply epic, and was an extended version with long ad-lib verses that sounded like Adam was emotionally telling us a story. I regret not capturing that song on video, but I await the availability of the mp3 at livecountingcrows.com. Counting Crows had a freakin awesome live set, and I am definitely definitely planning on seeing them again when they are back in town.

    Maroon 5 was up next and they also had a great set. Just like with Counting Crows, most eyes were directed towards the lead singer; Adam Levine. It's nice to see that he is able to sing as well as he does on the albums, but what surprised me the most was that he apparently also plays several of the guitar solos. Kudos on being talented Adam. Once again just like with Counting Crows, Maroon 5 did not completely play their songs exactly like in the albums, which does tend to make the concert experience unique to itself. At one point, they were doing a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" before transitioning into "She Will Be Love;" their big hit from "Songs About Jane." Their performance of the night though that got the most audience interaction was surprisingly for "Won't Go Home Without You;" which is from their newest album "It Won't Be Soon Before Long" (didn't get it on video either...). For that song, Adam got the audience to raise up their cell phones, which is like he said "the new lighter" for concerts. Maroon 5 had a pretty good set overall, and while a lot of people dismiss them as just being another typical pop rock act, there are still tons of us fans who know better.

    At the end of the night, I wanted to buy a Counting Crows t-shirt, but unfortunately the design I wanted was only for a girl's shirt. Then I spent about a half an hour trying to get out of the parking lot. All in all though, this was a great event.