DREAMS AND MEMORIES, A POETIC ASSHOLE'S TALE
Counting Crows, Apollo Hammersmith - Mon, 23rd Mar 2004



He wore a Californian Golden Bears shirt.. He told a joke about 3 Texan surgeons.. His head was trying to impersonate a pineapple.. He played the piano..

Adam Duritz has always been a lyrical genius to me.. I always thought there must be thousands of troubled souls out there, being inspired by the power of his poetry every day.. but yet, while admiring the work, I never felt like I could connect on a personal level... That is.. until last night...

When I first heard about this 'greatest hits' tour, I was half interested in going.. I already knew that they were one of the great live acts of the past decade, but didn't think it justified the high price to see them... In the end, it took some hard convincing by a few hardcore CC fans, who assured me I wouldn't regret it... So I started listening to August again, and managed to get a burnt copy of Films About Ghosts.. and went along to the Apollo in Hammersmith.. ticket in hand...

The first half of the show was only just better than average.. mostly because I couldn't recognise a great majority of the songs.. but I stood in the crowd listening to the words, both spoken and sung by Adam, almost to the point where I tried to block out the music... Though, the band was very much in good form last night, and tight to say the least.. Dan had some impressive solos, and Matt's basslines had me bopping along all night... Mr. Jones and Big Yellow Taxi came and went without much fanfare.. BYT, in particular, didn't sound as good for some reason...

It wasn't until they played a wicked version of Rain King that had me in complete and utter awe... The intro and first verse almost sounded like classic Eagles, and then Adam just took over in the chorus and the whole theatre was in a trance... The place was buzzing... Then they went straight into my favourite, Long December, which just about brought me to tears, as I suddenly recalled the first time I heard the song all those years ago... I had completely forgotten about that up until then... Adam was on the piano and the lighting was a perfect blue... Special...



For the encore, they had saved Hangin' Around, Friend of the Devil, and Holiday in Spain (Ray and Natalia were pretty chuffed about that last one)... I was a tad disappointed not to hear Round Here and Mrs. Potter.. but you can't win them all, can you?

So here I am, 6 o'clock on the morning after.. I'm due to fly to Geneva tonight for another ski trip in the Alps.. and I still haven't packed... See you's on the flip-side...