Counting Crows at Echo Beach – 06/15/12

Photos by Randall Vasquez, Review by Taylor Luftig

Despite that the Counting Crows packed their set with loads of cover songs, the Echo Beach show still felt like a perfect start to summer. It seemed like the band could have played a whole set of covers, and they still would have been embraced with open arms by the middle aged crowd. The combination of sand, beer, a sunrise, and the opening song ‘Round Here’ provided the crowd with just the right amount of nostalgia.

With the introduction of each song, lead singer Adam Duritz delivered an overbearing amount of emotion. Seeing a musician put forth emotion is always a plus; it shows us that the songs that we cling to at our low points weren’t just thrown together without any real meaning. Though, when a band has been playing the same songs since their debut album release in 1993, that much emotion can take away from the bands performance as a whole. The entire night Duritz was often the only focal point on the stage, with his intense hand movements and melodramatic banter. Overall, with a set jam-packed with singles such as Colorblind, Mr. Jones, Holiday in Spain, and other fan favourites, the crowd got exactly what they came for.