Counting Crows w/ Toad the Wet Sprocket, Myth Nightclub – Maplewood, MN (25 July 2014)

Tour Dates

The Outlaw Roadshow Tour featuring Santa Barbara reunited four-piece Toad the Wet Sprocket and Bay Area alt-rockers Counting Crows hit town, showcasing both new songs and the late ‘80s/early ‘90s hits that made them famous.

The band, led by duo Daniel Pingrey  and Jimmie Linville is not a Christian rock group, as their name might infer (though it is a reference to the Bible’s Book of Daniel) and plays a melodic blend of folk pop that fit it well with the other two bands on the bill.  The audience did seem to pay attention, which is often rare with a band third on the bill, and in spite of singer Linville wearing an opposing Green Bay Packers cap, that a fan in front even tried to rip from his head.

Toad the Wet Sprocket next took the stage for a performance just shy of an hour, efficiently managing to play thirteen songs in that time, blending selections from their recent album New Constellation (on the band’s own Abe’s Records-their first new material in sixteen years), alongside the older familiar songs that first put them on the map.

Changing it up from their previous setlists, the band opened with ‘Whatever I Fear’ from 1997’s Coil before launching into the new ‘The Moment’, with singer Glen Phillips prefacing it by saying, “We’re gonna play you a song from THIS century, if that’s cool.” The band [Glen Phillips (vocals/guitar), Todd Nichols (guitars), Dean Dinning (bass), Randy Guss (drums)] is clearly still having a good time reuniting and bringing their music to fans, new and old.

Hits ‘Good Intentions’ and ‘Something’s Always Wrong’ followed, and grabbed the crowd’s attention, many of whom were clearly there more for Toad, than the other acts. Guitarist Nichols took over lead vocals for the swaying ‘Crazy Life’ and the band was more than ably backed by Jonathan Kingham on keyboard, steel guitar, and mandolin.

‘Come Back Down’ from the 1990 release, Pale, was a setlist surprise and the band closed with three timeless alt-radio hits, ‘All I Want’, ‘Fall Down’, and best-known song, ‘Walk on the Ocean’, with my only complaint being the vocals set a little low in the mix, which especially made Phillips’ comments between songs, a little hard to understand amidst some audience conversations.

Vocal volume wasn’t an issue during Counting Crows’ 104 min. set, as singer Adam Duritz’ mic (once it arrived on stage, as he went to sing the first song and it wasn’t there) was in front of their mix and clearly heard.  The seven-piece is out in pre-promotion of their upcoming  Somewhere Under Wonderland (Capitol Records) due out Sept, 2^nd, playing a generous helping of the new songs, along with an ever-rotating setlist incorporating many of their previous hits.

The band entered to the intro music of ‘Lean on Me’, with Duritz sporting a profane Nine Inch Nails t-shirt, and reached back to their 1994 debut, August and Everything After, for the set-opening and somewhat somber ‘Sullivan Street’. A cover of a song by The Colour offshoot band, The Romany Rye followed, with tempo gradually building on ‘I Wish I Was a Girl’ and the bouncy ‘Come Around’.

First and biggest hit, ‘Mr. Jones’ had even the most casual fans nodding their heads in a fairly straight-forward version of the song, and the new ‘God of Ocean Tides’ (the first song written for the upcoming album) fit in well amongst the older tracks.

The remainder of the band, David Bryson (guitar), Charlie Gillingham (accordion, keyboards), Dan Vickrey (guitar), David Immerglück (guitar, banjo, mandolin), Jim Bogios (drums) and Millard Powers (bass), kept up with Duritz’ (who had also since changed into a vintage T-Rex t-shirt) tempo/key changes and slight improvs with Gillingham taking center stage on accordion for early classic, ‘Omaha’, which had the crowd shouting the chorus back to the band.

An extended ‘Round Here’ was a mid-set highlight, adding in elements of new song, ‘Earthquake Driver’ and Duritz’ former band, Sordid Humor’s ‘Private Archipelago’. After the new ‘Possibility Days’, Duritz moved to piano, again accentuated by Gillingham’ accordion for hit, ‘A Long December’ before a buoyant ‘Hanginaround’ ended the main set.

The three-song encore started with current single, ‘Pallisades Park’, an epic new number dotted with Duritz’s familiar lyrical references of funhouses, trains, sky rockets, and carnivals. ’Rain King’ and ‘Holiday in Spain’ ended the evening, with Duritz staying on stage to direct the singing crowd as the closing outro music of The Mamas & Papas’ ‘California Dreamin’ filled the speakers.

California had indeed come to Minnesota… for the evening anyway.