Counting Crows plays intimate set to large crowd at Taste of Chicago
Near the corner of Columbus and Jackson on Saturday, you could find gigantic turkey legs, street preachers by the dozen and some of the tackiest Chicago merchandise you’ll ever care to lay eyes on. But the most interesting thing you could find at this particular corner on this particular evening was crow — Counting Crows, to be precise.
The post-grunge six-piece (plus its iconic lead singer Adam Duritz) bounced, stumbled and rocked its way through 17 songs in a free Taste of Chicago performance at the Petrillo Band Shell in Grant Park.
(Scott Stewart/Sun-Times)
Despite the enormity of the crowd, which filled the pavilion and stretched to the far reaches of the lawn, the Counting Crows played as intimate and unpretentious set as possible — from the holes in the armpits of Duritz’ T-shirt (honoring the ’70s punk band Dead Boys) to the way he sang his songs as if he were telling a story to a good buddy.
Sporting his signature dread-locks, Duritz stumbled around stage in a way that suggested he wasn’t entirely sober nor the least bit out of control. One feared at times he would topple, only to realize that Duritz seemed to know exactly what he was doing.
Even after all this time (the Crows’ first major studio release, “August and Everything After,” came out more than 15 years ago), Duritz on stage seems to be a genuine fan of his own band. He was more than content a few times to sit back and observe their jam sessions, choosing only to pepper them intermittently with ‘Na na’s’ and the occasional ‘hey, hey.’
The Crows played most of their hits, including “Long December,” “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby” and “Mr. Jones.” They only seemed to leave out “Around Here” — which was pointed out by several in the crowd who were hopeful the band might be taking requests.
There were two types of fans at this concert. There were those die-hard fans of the band, content to stand atop chairs and sing along with every word. These fans were thrilled to be seeing their beloved Crows without having to pay the murderous Ticketmaster fees.
Meanwhile, plenty of casual fans — those whose depth of Crows knowledge begins with “Mr. Jones” and ends with “Rain King” — also came out to Grant Park, but a large number dispersed somewhere mid-concert, perhaps fearing the gathering storm clouds that provided an attractive but ominous background to the city’s skyline.
Those fans who left missed a thoroughly entertaining encore that saw opening act Augustana join the Counting Crows on stage for an enjoyable rendition of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Cecilia” that included a four-part harmony.
The Counting Crows seem to enjoy playing covers as much as if not more than the original material they’ve rehashed thousands of times in concert. Augustana also joined in for a cover of Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” during the encore.
By the end of the show, the event staff — which had tried with some success to prevent the masses from bum-rushing the front of the stage — relented, and a few actually gave into the music and danced a bit.
The smell of so many foods hung in the air, a sweaty crowd danced and sang its way through a set of some solid tunes courtesy of the city. This is summer in Chicago. And Saturday night in Grant Park, Counting Crows provided a soundtrack nothing short of apropos.