Print
Email
Share
On Wednesday evening, renowned alternative rock band, the Counting Crows, played the second show of their two night stay in Montclair, New Jersey. The Wellmont Theater was the host of the Counting Crows’ Traveling Circus & Medicine Show, a three hour collaborative performance with friends and fellow musicians, Augustana.
The Counting Crows’ Traveling Circus & Medicine Show was literally a musical circus. The Counting Crows were certainly the ring leaders of the performance, but the show wouldn’t have been much of a show without the help of Augustana or the rapper Notar.
Throwing all concert performance rules out the window, the Counting Crows and Augustana walked out together and started the show off ‘big band style’. The show consisted of lots of a plethora of guitarists, well thought out percussion and plenty of backing vocals. Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows and Dan Layus of Augustana were both the ring leaders of a concert that was made up of equal parts originals and equal parts covers. The energy was relentless throughout the evening - all band members pushed through the first half of the set towards an intermission.
Adam Duritz, wearer of many hats and also many t-shirts throughout the night was definitely a sight. Duritz made great use of the stage, perambulating from one side to the other, checking out all of the band members as they showed the crowd that they are in fact, masters of their craft. The near sold out audience was equally as energetic, singing along and dancing - many fans had gone to the show the night before and were raving about the performance.
Although this collaborative style of touring that they seem to have perfected is well over a year old and the actual band is almost two decades old, both remain incredibly popular amongst fans. The Counting Crows were able to combine so many different elements, whether it be personalities, musical stylings and instruments, that will allow this circus to continue to tour and hopefully make its way back to New Jersey in the near future.
