Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009
Counting Crows, Michael Franti and Spearhead with Augustana at H.O.B.
Counting Crows, Michael Franti and Spearhead & Augustana on stage at the House of Blues in North Myrtle Beach. - photo by Derrick Bracey for Weekly Surge.
A musical free-for-all came to town, in front of a packed house, Aug. 20 at The House of Blues in North Myrtle Beach. Billed as the “Saturday Night Rebel Rocker’s Traveling Circus & Medicine Show” featuring Counting Crows, Michael Franti’s Spearhead and Augustana exploded onto HOB’s stage. Busting the old conventional format of producing the same old line-up with the crowd sitting through an opening act they’ve never heard of with their arms folded, afterward glaring at roadies for a half an hour as they roll up wiring and cords. Chugging drinks until the headliners finally waltz on stage, only for you to be too drunk to remember the show or for them to be a tired letdown. This traveling circus format had all the bands walking out together, a combination of openers and headliners, playing each other’s songs entwined with covers that accent the various players.
There were pitfalls, the evening boasted for the audience to come early and get ready for the show to start at 7:30 p.m. But it was almost 9 p.m. before curtains parted. But once the bands filed onto the stage, they did not disappoint. The mood of the night was egoless, with 18 musicians crowding the stage. They shared microphones. They shared instruments. They looked like they were genuinely having a good time and they did not step on each others’ vocals or playing in the least. They sounded like they were one band, polished yet ragtag enough to give it a loose feeling.
Each of the acts did have their moments to shine as individual bands, broken into small sets. Augustana’s Dan Layus wandered around the stage like an awkward kid looking to do something with his hands, from tambourine to guitar to piano, but when Layus crept up to the mike, he looked and sounded like Bob Dylan circa 1966. A restrained aggression that came out in bursts during hits “Sweet & Low,” “Stars and Boulevards” and “Boston,’’ but Layus’ performance was truly typified on Dylan’s “Like a Woman” accompanied by Counting Crows’ frontman Adam Duritz.
Michael Franti and Spearhead’s set was a head-bobbin’, foot-stomping, hand-clapping party that included sing-alongs, children and adult audience members on the stage jamming with the band, and one hell of a moonwalk by Franti to a Michael Jackson jam. Franti is still recovering from a ruptured appendix six weeks ago but you could not tell. He exuded joy and thanked the audience over and over for its support, both verbally and with his energy. Over the last couple of years, Franti has incorporated Cherine Anderson into Spearhead. Anderson’s smile was a virus that spread across the room and her voice reached over the crowd – soaring and often dwarfing all the male singers on the tour.
Counting Crows’ set, on the other hand, was directly juxtaposed with Spearhead’s. Duritz sang like he was in couple’s therapy with the audience. Screaming one minute and inaudibly whispering the next. His emotive vocals and biographical lyrics still seemed like a sore subject even after 15 years of singing them. The Crows are tight from the years of touring and the unselfishness even allowed space for an accordion solo. The set was highlighted by a touching rendition of “Long December” where Duritz took to the piano mid-stage and brought a satisfying resolve to the therapy session. The set was curiously void of the band’s biggest hit, “Mr. Jones” causing one to believe that the night was not about the hits but more about the overall landscape of the setlist.
The chemistry really boiled over when all the players were on stage. The cover songs were amazing and matched the strengths of the super-group. “Caravan” by Van Morrison, “Sweet Virginia” by The Rolling Stones, “Walk and Don’t Look Back” by Peter Tosh and Mick Jagger, “Delta Lady” by Leon Russell were all rousing with enthusiasm that can only be defined as teamwork. Especially on the set’s finale, a combo of Counting Crows’ tunes, “Why Should You Come When I Call” and “Hanginaround.”
The encore began with the Simon and Garfunkel cover, “Cecilia,” pulled off without a stringed instrument, merely a marching band approach to the drums and an 18-part harmony. Followed by Franti’s “Remote Control,” that had the crowd bouncing again, with an intro from Anderson belting out Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” It was a seamless transition to the Counting Crows’ “Rain King”, a song that allowed the musicians to go wherever they wanted, infusing a medley of a Joe Cocker-style “A Little Help From My Friends” and the Stones’ “You Can’t Always get What You Want.”
The night ended with a small speech from Duritz and Franti imploring the crowd to get involved with their community either by volunteer groups or nonprofit organizations. It was a running theme of the night having Charles Gillingham, keyboardist of the Counting Crows, inform the crowd of the involvement of Care Team at the show, a group that teaches and counsels people about being HIV positive as well as giving HIV tests with same day results and advocating safe sex. Franti is an activist that practices what he preaches by visiting impoverished nations as a CARE Ambassador. The atmosphere was enhanced in the night’s closer, “This Land is Your Land,” a classic folk song that received a rock make-over that worked to encapsulate the evening’s message.
As the crowd filed up the stairs to exit, everyone was going on about how great the show was. I heard a young man talking to a female companion, “the energy in this room is amazing!”