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Counting Crows and John Mayer, Friday, July 25, 2003

Graham Colton opened with a
generous six-song set and a radio-friendly southern rock sound. Slide
guitar + R.E.M. guitar hooks = Dan loves it. R.E.M. sound + hottie frontman =
Erin loves it. Extra points to Graham for wearing a Breeders T-shirt.
Buy their album now, while they’re still indie!

Counting Crows played next. An extended, downtempo, country-tinged
version of “Rain King” started off the set; the setpieces were
similarly low-key – tastefully swirling gobos and black-and-white
pictures of Americana projected on scrim (itself lowered over the
backdrop, painted with rolling fields and a roiling sun overhead), with
twinkling candelabras strewn across the stage. “Mr. Jones” was a
predictable offering, probably in the rotation to help out the
thirteen-year-olds wondering who these dudes are. “Yellow Taxi” made an
appearance in the middle of the set (quite a crowd-pleaser). Adam
Duritz felt the need to chit-chat with the audience from time to time
(explaining how his father had been a professor at UH, and how he had
lived in Houston and El Paso, and that’s why he’s “another boy from Texas”).

Adam: Don’t worry, John’s gonna play next, you’re gonna love him, and
he’s not gonna just ramble on, talking about nothing like I am.

Audience: [cheers]

Adam: Shut the fuck up!

Audience: [cheers and applause]

Adam: Assholes. You know, John’s gonna come out here, and he’s gonna
kick your ass.

Counting Crows’s set was entirely too short. (Adam talks about the set
length, touring with John, etc. in an entry on his website
from last week.) Other highlights included “Long
December”, a very nice “Omaha”, “St. Robinson in his Cadillac Dream”.

John Mayer took the stage last, with a small touring band: three
(seasoned-looking) musicians. Technically he was not the headliner, yet
it was obvious – when comparing the number of fans standing and
singing, butane lighters ablaze – almost everyone had come to see
John. They played a nice, solid set, with an encore finish of “1983”
including a little bit of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” set in-tempo.
John tossed off a little falsetto “Bennie! Bennie! Bennie!” during “No
Such Thing” that was, by all accounts, entirely lost on much of the
audience.