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St. Cloud State University
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Crowd loves 'Crows'
By John Behling
Published:
Thursday, April 10, 2003
Media Credit: Blair Schlichte
Guitarist Dan Vickrey and lead singer Adam Duritz of Counting Crows entertain a crowd of 3800 Monday night at Halenbeck Hall.
Seventy-five eager volunteers unloaded four trailers of equipment into Halenbeck Fieldhouse Monday night for the 3800 fans who attended the Counting Crows concert. There was, however, one notable absence.
"There will be no bass solos tonight," vocalist Adam Duritz joked, regarding the absence of bassist Matt Malley, who missed the performance for personal reasons. The six remaining members alternated on bass and even enlisted Jason Oettel, of opener Blue Merle, for a couple songs, proving capable to surmount this difficulty.
"I've seen them three times and this is the best time I've seen them," said Nate Konklin of St. Paul.
The night began with Memphis-based Blue Merle, a rock act with the unique instrumentation of acoustic guitar, violin, mandolin, upright bass and drums. The band played a 45 minute set and returned during the headliner's encore for an extended version of "The Rain King."
The Counting Crows performed for a solid two hours, picking up steam early with their breakthrough radio single "Mr. Jones." The set spanned their catalogue playing tracks from the band's four albums, including 1993's "August and Everything Hereafter" and 2002's "Hard Candy." Singer Adam Duritz kept a casual relationship with the audience, joking in between songs and urging fans to sing along. Duritz smiled and apologized during a mistake in "Long December," to a warm crowd response before launching back into the song unphased.
"I thought it was amazing. Adam was really excited; he was really enjoying everything," said Maggie McQuillian of St. Paul.
The band's good-natured attitude was reflected by audience members who remained peaceful according to security personnel.
"Everything was pretty quiet," said Travis Borstad, Public Safety Officer.
"It's been a while since we've had a good band here (SCSU)," said Garrett Menard, Junior.
During a recent telephone interview with University Chronicle, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist David Immergluck shed some insight on the band's experience of over a decade in the recording industry.
"Touring the country as a musician, you really get a chance to still taste the rationality of the country, which a lot of people don't really get," Immergluck said on touring the Midwest.
"It's dying out. It's not what it was 10 years ago, and I'm sure when I started 10 years ago it wasn't what it was 20 years before that."
The overall trend towards a more homogenized culture, however, isn't without its positive effects.
"You can get good coffee all the way across the country now," Immergluck explained. "Where before, you could get really good coffee in the Bay Area and you could get really good coffee in New York, but that was it."
The band's newest release "Hard Candy," features "13 new flavors" including the upbeat single "American Girls," which brings a stark contrast to some of the band's previous work.
"We're always happy when a song comes out that's not downbeat," Immergluck said. "We're not generally walking around depressed."
Intricate compositions like the string arrangements in "Butterfly in reverse" reflect the band's musical literacy according to Immergluck.
"We're well aware of the history of record making," he said. Although the songs from "Hard Candy" at first appeared as if they would be difficult, touring has proven that "they simply haven't been," Immergluck said. Speaking with four successful albums and a decade of touring behind him, Immergluck imparts a word of advice to other musicians.
"Make sure you love the music you're playing," he said. "That's how you measure your own success. That's what success is, spending time doing something you love, not necessarily selling 10 million records or selling two million records... Make sure you love the music you're playing."
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