Although the first band I ever saw was They Might Be Giants, Counting Crows holds the top spot for bands I’ve seen the most. Once in NC, once in MD, and now this is the fourth time in NYC (FarmAid on Randall’s Island, Central Park SummerStage, Roseland, and Ford Amphitheater in Coney Island). I also missed two others I had tickets to, one in Montclair which was canceled, and one somewhere else in NYC that I forget.
Yet I will always remember that they were the first concert I ever cried at, back in NC, since the performance was so raw and their songs spoke so much to the pain in life as well as the joy. That’s what drew me to their albums in the first place, back when albums were the only way to really know an artist, not just iTunes downloads. Much like Joshua Tree from U2 was a masterpiece, August and Everything After was a revelation.
What also set them apart was the variation in live shows. Mediocre artists simply replicate their songs on stage, beat by beat. Spectacular artists add in extra verses, riffs, solos, and draw you in even when you don’t know what lyric’s coming next despite knowing the album by heart. Adam Duritz has always done this every set I’ve seen him perform, and every time it adds to the experience by leaps and bounds. It’s coming straight from his penchant for poetry that happens to be set to music.
As an unexpected bonus, and emotionally enhancing the night, the journey to the show was an experience in freedom I feel that I haven’t had in a very long time. I stopped at Nathan’s, bought two chili dogs and a lemonade for two homeless guys, and got a lobster roll afterwards for myself. I walked across the Coney Island boardwalk with an almost full moon overhead, saw the improvements made since Sandy and smiled. I took pictures that let me capture parts of these moments, and gave directions to follow me to two lost drunk girls heading for the concert. I watched lightning flash over the Brooklyn Cyclones stadium, and when I got to the Amphitheater saw another amazing, funny, and heartfelt performance. I left during Holiday in Spain as an encore.
I was free, something I think you can’t appreciate unless you’ve been somewhere you don’t have those seemingly simple options, and having my recent hospital stays makes me appreciate it all the more. It’s the unique ability of Counting Crows to evoke that pain and the joy inherent in the war called life which gets me out of my apartment and to Coney Island to share those feelings. It’s that opportunity to feel which allows me to be able to give to others and feel good about it despite my own issues. To have that success in the simplest of things, and surmount my own difficulty to be in moments like these is priceless in my mind. I had a purpose and a destination worth the mental and physical effort. No wonder they hold my top concert spot.
Yet I will always remember that they were the first concert I ever cried at, back in NC, since the performance was so raw and their songs spoke so much to the pain in life as well as the joy. That’s what drew me to their albums in the first place, back when albums were the only way to really know an artist, not just iTunes downloads. Much like Joshua Tree from U2 was a masterpiece, August and Everything After was a revelation.
What also set them apart was the variation in live shows. Mediocre artists simply replicate their songs on stage, beat by beat. Spectacular artists add in extra verses, riffs, solos, and draw you in even when you don’t know what lyric’s coming next despite knowing the album by heart. Adam Duritz has always done this every set I’ve seen him perform, and every time it adds to the experience by leaps and bounds. It’s coming straight from his penchant for poetry that happens to be set to music.
As an unexpected bonus, and emotionally enhancing the night, the journey to the show was an experience in freedom I feel that I haven’t had in a very long time. I stopped at Nathan’s, bought two chili dogs and a lemonade for two homeless guys, and got a lobster roll afterwards for myself. I walked across the Coney Island boardwalk with an almost full moon overhead, saw the improvements made since Sandy and smiled. I took pictures that let me capture parts of these moments, and gave directions to follow me to two lost drunk girls heading for the concert. I watched lightning flash over the Brooklyn Cyclones stadium, and when I got to the Amphitheater saw another amazing, funny, and heartfelt performance. I left during Holiday in Spain as an encore.
I was free, something I think you can’t appreciate unless you’ve been somewhere you don’t have those seemingly simple options, and having my recent hospital stays makes me appreciate it all the more. It’s the unique ability of Counting Crows to evoke that pain and the joy inherent in the war called life which gets me out of my apartment and to Coney Island to share those feelings. It’s that opportunity to feel which allows me to be able to give to others and feel good about it despite my own issues. To have that success in the simplest of things, and surmount my own difficulty to be in moments like these is priceless in my mind. I had a purpose and a destination worth the mental and physical effort. No wonder they hold my top concert spot.
posted by AnonymousX at 9:03 PM
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