This past Friday saw the arrival of the Counting Crows to the Houston Field House. The Crows are currently touring to promote their new album, Hard Candy. The concert began at 8 pm with a performance by the Texas band, Graham Colton.
For an opening act, Graham Colton put on a surprisingly solid set. The band, who made their first New York appearance on Friday, had good lyrics and solid musicianship, and are truly an act with a large headlining potential in its future. Graham Colt-
on’s self titled debut album is in stores now along with the Bands for America CD, for which they supplied a track.
After Graham Colton, the Counting Crows took the stage for what would prove to be an hour and forty minute performance that combined songs from both their current album and ones from some of their past successes such as August and Everything After, and This Desert Life. The band played old favorites such as “Mr. Jones” and new hits like “American Girls.” The concert contained all those elements characteristic of a Counting Crows concert, including an acoustic rendition of “Round Here,” play-
ed on piano, by lead singer Adam Duritz, and a good mix of energetic and more emotional songs such as “Round Here,” and “Anna Begins.”
The only negative aspect of the concert was the lack of effort on the part of the band to interact with the crowd. Having seen the Crows at larger venues I can understand why this may be difficult with larger audiences, however, in light of the comparatively smaller crowd—approximately 4,500—the band failed to capitalize on what could have been a valuable asset. The concert concluded with a rare double encore which featured an acoustic cover of “Blues Run the Game,” by Johnson C. Frank and ended with an extended performance of “Sullivan Street.”
As for the Crow’s itinerary, the next couple months include shows in the US and Europe. The band will return home for Christmas, and then continue touring abroad with future stops in Europe, Australia, and Japan, finally returning to the US in summer 2003.
