Counting Crows - August and Everything After Live at Town Hall
by Kevin Wierzbicki
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Filmed in New York City in autumn of 2007, this performance finds Counting Crows reprising the material from their 1993 debut album August and Everything After. The album was a surprise smash hit that sold over seven million copies and the resultant pressure of the rapid rise to fame was too much for lead singer Adam Duritz who ended up having a nervous breakdown. All of the band's material is very emotional but with an awareness of what happened to Duritz the opening number, a mash-up of "Round Here" and "Raining in Baltimore," becomes seriously poignant. Both songs feature a character who is at wit's end, an eerie lyrical presaging of Duritz's reality, and Duritz takes the opportunity to ad lib lyrics almost to the point of hamming it up as the breakdown episode comes full circle from song to real life to back into song. With the exception of late album track "Raining in Baltimore" being meshed into the opening song, Counting Crows perform August and Everything After in the original sequence here, meaning that a rendition of huge hit single "Mr. Jones" comes very early in the set. That situation and the fact that Duritz brings the show to a screeching halt to introduce "Perfect Blue Buildings" in a rambling and long-winded manner combine to put a damper on the energy level but the audience doesn't seem to mind and at-home viewers have the rest of the show to enjoy the polished musicianship on display here, especially in the work of multi-instrumentalist David Immergluck who rocks out on mandolin on "Anna." An included bonus feature is an insightful interview piece with Duritz and keys man Charles Gillingham.
Counting Crows - August and Everything After Live at Town Hall
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