If I can find the time, I might write something between now and Tuesday about my recent discovery — not rediscovery, just discovery — of just how many decent Counting Crows songs exist, somehow. And/or about how Adam Duritz makes me feel so … ambivalent. I don’t know. We’ll see. Time is not something I have in abundance right now, and I’m not sure I can dedicate myself to an analysis of how Counting Crows makes me feel in 2012, y’know?
Anyway, Counting Crows are playing at Les Schwab Amphitheater on Tuesday. My colleague David Jasper chatted with Duritz last week about all kinds of things, including his attitude toward playing the band’s hits. Here’s an excerpt:
“I don’t think you owe it to your audience to play any particular song, but I do think you owe it to your audience to play really well, passionately, and not to phone anything in. And I think the best way to never phone anything in is to always play songs you want to play.”
So does that mean they might conceivably leave “Mr. Jones” off a setlist?
“Oh, we do,” he said.
Are people bummed when they do?
“It’s not a vote. I mean, it’s not a popularity contest. I just want to play a great show for them. I think people probably are bummed sometimes. I think it’s silly for them to be bummed. If they just wanted to hear something they could sing along with, they could have the record.
“The truth is, it’s not like we don’t play ‘Mr. Jones,’” he said.
Whew. That was close.
It’s a good interview. Read it all here.
Two other stories worth highlighting in today’s GO! Magazine:
– Boston-based Joy Kills Sorrow will bring its beautiful newgrass to Sisters tonight.
– The Deschutes County fair goes pop Saturday night with Hot Chelle Rae.
Elsewhere in this week’s music section: Dirty Dozen Brass Band, The Phenomenauts, Prima Donna, Lipbone Redding, Honey Island Swamp Island and The Calamity Cubes, plus local singer-songwriter Lindy Gravelle’s CD-release show and more.
Tags: Counting Crows, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Honey Island Swamp Island, Hot Chelle Rae, Joy Kills Sorrow, Lindy Gravelle, Lipbone Redding, Prima Donna, The Calamity Cubes, The Phenomenauts
