Counting Crows

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you’ve ever listened to their live stuff, it is clear that they got bored decades ago playing the songs the way they are on the albums, so they change it up. Some people are ok with this, some aren’t.

My husband is a big fan and loves all the variations. Back in the Napster days (so like 1999) he'd downloaded dozens of different concert versions of Round Here and Long December, his favorites. He had many burned CDs with variants.

The changes in concert aren't a recent thing because they got bored. It's something they've always done as musicians to explore and evolve their music. Adam Duritz is anything but neurotypical (in a remarkable way) and I dont think he could ever stick to a single take. That's just not him or how the band operates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’ve ever listened to their live stuff, it is clear that they got bored decades ago playing the songs the way they are on the albums, so they change it up. Some people are ok with this, some aren’t.

I read someone say once in an article about how (maybe Bob Dylan?) had a concert once and refused to play his biggest songs, that the best touring artists understand where their bread is buttered. For example, Taylor Swift has said she knows she will play Love Story, as fans know it, at every show til she dies. It doesn’t matter if it bores her to tears or she’s moved past it. Thats what fans want to hear when they pay XYZ to see your show. Counting Crows might be bored of their songs but damn, they are not important enough to be doing doo wop versions of Rain King to entertain themselves at the shows people still bother to attend.

At some point you need to decide whether you are a fan of the band/artists or whether you are a fan of the songs.

I watched A Complete Unknown last year and was happy for Dylan that he escaped the system that was trying to pigeonhole him into playing the same songs that the fans wanted to hear, exactly the same way, for the rest of his life, forever and ever, amen. So this man is almost 85 and he’s still giving pleasure to his fans by touring, just doing it his way. He sure doesn’t need to do it for the money.

I understand wanting to sing along with the songs and feeling sad about it if you can’t. But I also understand the sheer boredom an artist would feel after performing the same thing once you’ve done it the same way literally 2,000 times. I’m good with artists changing it up for their own creative expression and mental health.

[Anonymous]

I saw him just after concerts resumed and loved his song Color Blind. His concert seemed more poetic and humbled