Powderfinger wiped the floor with Counting Crows...

facepollution

I went to the O2 Wireless festival yesterday, I saw Goo Goo Dolls, Powderfinger, Ben Harper and Counting Crows (they headlined).

Goo Goo Dolls have to be one of the most boring live bands going. I have a couple of their records, and thought they could be pretty good live, but the singer barely put any effort in at all - like he didn't even want to be there.

Ben Harper was great as predicted - man can he sing live.

Counting Crows - it could have been so good, and to be fair, the band sounded great and Adam's vocals were sounding pretty strong. Unfortunately though, he has a really bad habit of completely wandering off the song's melody, meaning that any crowd sing-alongs were pretty much ruined. They did play some good songs, so it wasn't all bad. But the ultimate disappointment for me, was that instead of going out on a high note (which is what the night really needed - A Murder Of One would have been perfect), they ended with Holiday In Spain, which is average at best. I'm not sure I've ever been so let down by a gig.

On the plus side, Powderfinger were fucking incredible. I hadn't seen them before, but I'd seen a few videos on youtube and knew they would be pretty good live. But nothing quite prepared me for how good they would be. There was a really good interaction between the band and audience (half of which were Australian!). By the time they played Bless My Soul I was almost crying with excitement like a little girl! The singer's voice was dead on, seriously one of the best live singers I've heard. They're playing Oxegen and T in the Park this weekend, and I urge anyone who's going to check them out, you won't regret it.

Cropduster84

Sounds good dude, shame about the Crows....I've heard they're pretty patchy live, and the times Ive seen live clips Adam always changes the melodies, often stripping away the original emotion rather than adding anything new.....and yeah Holiday In Spain sounds a weak choice for closing....

Gonna check out some powderfinger now....

harmless_little_f***

facepollution wrote:

Counting Crows - it could have been so good, and to be fair, the band sounded great and Adam's vocals were sounding pretty strong. Unfortunately though, he has a really bad habit of completely wandering off the song's melody, meaning that any crowd sing-alongs were pretty much ruined. They did play some good songs, so it wasn't all bad. But the ultimate disappointment for me, was that instead of going out on a high note (which is what the night really needed - A Murder Of One would have been perfect), they ended with Holiday In Spain, which is average at best. I'm not sure I've ever been so let down by a gig.

Adam Duritz changes the tunes of his songs all the time, he never sings a song the same way twice. If you don't like that kind of thing, the Crows aren't your kind of band. You can't 'sing along' to them and he probably doesn't want you to.

As for Holiday in Spain, I think it's a fantastic song. Needing them to end on A Murder of One is akin to needing Pearl Jam to end on Porch.

Brain Of E

LOL, thats sucks you had to sit through the Goos. man do they suck. i remember i saw them back in 2000 with some chick i was dating who liked them and it was f-ing boring. she loved it though and she thanked me later, wink wink, so i guess it turned out ok.

facepollution

harmless_little_f*** wrote:

Adam Duritz changes the tunes of his songs all the time, he never sings a song the same way twice. If you don't like that kind of thing, the Crows aren't your kind of band. You can't 'sing along' to them and he probably doesn't want you to.

As for Holiday in Spain, I think it's a fantastic song. Needing them to end on A Murder of One is akin to needing Pearl Jam to end on Porch.

Dude I've seen them like five times before, some variation is great, and sing-alongs are surely good for band/audience connection? He looked and sounded drunk.

Holiday in Spain is alright, but hardly a closing song - there's loads of songs they could have closed with. I highly doubt Pearl Jam would close a really fun high energy performance with a random track like that - it's about being able to read the situation, and something upbeat would have tipped it over the edge.

Joe2TheRevenge

Note to music fans:

[insert band here] can wipe the floor with the Counting Crows

itsevobaby

i think c.crows need to put disclaimers on their tickets: "songs played may differ from recorded version", it seems to piss alot of people off that they can't their wee sing-song with adam. it's pretty well documented that this is how they play live, not to mention across two live albums. i personally love their live show.

Stephen Flow

am i the only person alive who can't stand the counting crows?

facepollution

itsevobaby wrote:

i think c.crows need to put disclaimers on their tickets: "songs played may differ from recorded version", it seems to piss alot of people off that they can't their wee sing-song with adam. it's pretty well documented that this is how they play live, not to mention across two live albums. i personally love their live show.

Like I said, some variation is great, but shoe-horning a random melody into a song that doesn't really fit, simply doesn't sound good. I wonder why it is that people give Counting Crows a free pass when it comes to that when other singers wouldn't get away with it? If Ed completely butchered the chorus to Alive people would rightfully be annoyed.

harmless_little_f***

facepollution wrote:

Like I said, some variation is great, but shoe-horning a random melody into a song that doesn't really fit, simply doesn't sound good. I wonder why it is that people give Counting Crows a free pass when it comes to that when other singers wouldn't get away with it? If Ed completely butchered the chorus to Alive people would rightfully be annoyed.

Yes but Adam Duritz has been doing it since the start of his career. You either like it or you don't, but it's what Counting Crows has ALWAYS been about, like it or lump it.

Eddie Vedder doesn't butcher choruses but he does allow his drummer to butcher Even Flow and whatever else he puts a fucking twenty minute rock-opera solo in the middle. That's a change of tack; Adam Duritz is doing what he's always done.

facepollution

harmless_little_f*** wrote:

Yes but Adam Duritz has been doing it since the start of his career. You either like it or you don't, but it's what Counting Crows has ALWAYS been about, like it or lump it.

Eddie Vedder doesn't butcher choruses but he does allow his drummer to butcher Even Flow and whatever else he puts a fucking twenty minute rock-opera solo in the middle. That's a change of tack; Adam Duritz is doing what he's always done.

Well he hasn't always done it to that extent when I've seen them. Some of the improvisations are amazing. I have an incredible version of Round Here that builds into something truly jaw-dropping. The problem is that sometimes those improvisations just fall flat, not even approaching other live versions or the album versions. When the rest of the band is playing so tightly it can just get annoying when he sounds like he's singing a completely different tune to the rest of them.

Re: Even Flow - I'm not that fond of the way it's played these days at all, same goes for Given To Fly. In all honesty I think the band have probably forgotten the original tempos. That said, they are still perfectly recognisable.

Irish Al

I've seen CC live loads of times and never been disappointed Shame it wasn't what you expected.

On another note, hadn't powderfinger before and am listenin to them now and have to admit I'm liking what I'm hearing. I've been on the lookout for some decent new bands that I don't know and I keep getting let down (last one to really grab me was scott matthews....well worth checking out!)

Thanks for the heads up on powderfinger!

facepollution

Irish Al wrote:

I've seen CC live loads of times and never been disappointed Shame it wasn't what you expected.

On another note, hadn't powderfinger before and am listenin to them now and have to admit I'm liking what I'm hearing. I've been on the lookout for some decent new bands that I don't know and I keep getting let down (last one to really grab me was scott matthews....well worth checking out!)

Thanks for the heads up on powderfinger!

Yeah I guess I just think a festival set should be a triumphant affair, and I was really expecting the Crows to deliver. Having seen them before I thought I did know what I was expecting......

It's a bit of a mystery with Powderfinger, they're massive back in Australia and have a big back catalog of great songs. Hopefully the festival shows will give them some exposure.

Anon

facepollution wrote:

It's a bit of a mystery with Powderfinger, they're massive back in Australia and have a big back catalog of great songs. Hopefully the festival shows will give them some exposure.

i've seen them quite a few times and they are awesome. easily in my top three bands. and yes they are wicked popular in australia. double allergic, odyssey number 5 and internationalist are their best albums

couple of links for anyone that wants to check them out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA_UobFY7Ss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0O-2ax6KUE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8lwZg7uozM

pdalowsky

Powderfinger are great, seen em a few times, and they never let you down.

Wobbie

Joe2TheRevenge wrote:

Note to music fans:

[insert band here] can wipe the floor with the Counting Crows

Bullshit! CC have put on two of the best shows I've ever been to!

facepollution

imalive wrote:

Bullshit! CC have put on two of the best shows I've ever been to!

Oh yeah, when they're on they can be incredible.

2-feign-reluctance

just now finding out about powderfinger...you have much to learn young music jedi!
one of the best bands out of australia, ever.

facepollution wrote:

I went to the O2 Wireless festival yesterday, I saw Goo Goo Dolls, Powderfinger, Ben Harper and Counting Crows (they headlined).

Goo Goo Dolls have to be one of the most boring live bands going. I have a couple of their records, and thought they could be pretty good live, but the singer barely put any effort in at all - like he didn't even want to be there.

Ben Harper was great as predicted - man can he sing live.

Counting Crows - it could have been so good, and to be fair, the band sounded great and Adam's vocals were sounding pretty strong. Unfortunately though, he has a really bad habit of completely wandering off the song's melody, meaning that any crowd sing-alongs were pretty much ruined. They did play some good songs, so it wasn't all bad. But the ultimate disappointment for me, was that instead of going out on a high note (which is what the night really needed - A Murder Of One would have been perfect), they ended with Holiday In Spain, which is average at best. I'm not sure I've ever been so let down by a gig.

On the plus side, Powderfinger were fucking incredible. I hadn't seen them before, but I'd seen a few videos on youtube and knew they would be pretty good live. But nothing quite prepared me for how good they would be. There was a really good interaction between the band and audience (half of which were Australian!). By the time they played Bless My Soul I was almost crying with excitement like a little girl! The singer's voice was dead on, seriously one of the best live singers I've heard. They're playing Oxegen and T in the Park this weekend, and I urge anyone who's going to check them out, you won't regret it.

Joe2TheRevenge

imalive wrote:

Bullshit! CC have put on two of the best shows I've ever been to!

they put on 2 of the most mediocre shows i have ever been to.

itsevobaby

Pj_Gurl wrote:

i've seen them quite a few times and they are awesome. easily in my top three bands. and yes they are wicked popular in australia. double allergic, odyssey number 5 and internationalist are their best albums

i prefer vulture st, i like that bit of rawness that's in there

Wobbie

Joe2TheRevenge wrote:

they put on 2 of the most mediocre shows i have ever been to.

Luck of the draw, I think. I got lucky , you did not :(. A buddy of mine walked out on them in Phoenix...

freewheelin3

talkling of australian bands (and im an aussie)

if everyone ho bought powderfinger records bought you am i ones instead, the world would be a better place.

ther eis nothing bad about powderfinger at all, its juts that you am i are incredible.

hi fi way and hourly daily (albums) are where its at for anyone interested in checking them out.

Jeanie

Pj_Gurl wrote:

i've seen them quite a few times and they are awesome. easily in my top three bands. and yes they are wicked popular in australia. double allergic, odyssey number 5 and internationalist are their best albums

couple of links for anyone that wants to check them out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA_UobFY7Ss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0O-2ax6KUE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8lwZg7uozM

They are brilliant and excellent live, I've seen them a couple of times at least I think, but you know I think they suffered from a little bit of over-exposure here for a while. I just noticed a couple of weeks ago that I had a hankering to hear them and I hadn't actually bought any of their albums on account for a while there I couldn't turn on the radio or the tele without them being on 400 times in a day. No need for the albums when that's going on. Might be time to go pick them up now.

catefrances

freewheelin3 wrote:

talkling of australian bands (and im an aussie)

if everyone ho bought powderfinger records bought you am i ones instead, the world would be a better place.

ther eis nothing bad about powderfinger at all, its juts that you am i are incredible.

hi fi way and hourly daily (albums) are where its at for anyone interested in checking them out.

yeah yeah yeah... and ditto with the drones.

catefrances

Jeanie wrote:

They are brilliant and excellent live, I've seen them a couple of times at least I think, but you know I think they suffered from a little bit of over-exposure here for a while. I just noticed a couple of weeks ago that I had a hankering to hear them and I hadn't actually bought any of their albums on account for a while there I couldn't turn on the radio or the tele without them being on 400 times in a day. No need for the albums when that's going on. Might be time to go pick them up now.

want me to burn 'em all for ya girlie?

Jeanie

catefrances wrote:

want me to burn 'em all for ya girlie?

Just the finger right? You're not gonna use it as an opportunity to try to get me all excited about them other blokes somebody above mentioned?

catefrances

Jeanie wrote:

Just the finger right? You're not gonna use it as an opportunity to try to get me all excited about them other blokes somebody above mentioned?

of course just the finger. sheesh... after seeing them the other week im still on a high thinking how amusing bernie is when hes pleasantly toasted. oh... and the music was mighty fine too. mmmm cogsy.

Jeanie

catefrances wrote:

of course just the finger. sheesh... after seeing them the other week im still on a high thinking how amusing bernie is when hes pleasantly toasted. oh... and the music was mighty fine too. mmmm cogsy.

Yeah, they're really quite something to see live.

Of course you'll be fighting Mum for them. Cracks me up that she objectifies them. Not sure what the deal is, because she doesn't normally do it ever. Could have blown me over with a feather when I realized she was hot for em.:D

red mos

I've only seen Counting Crows once and it was on the Recovering the satellites tour. I realize that was over 10 years ago, but I thought the show was pretty decent. Someone said Adam has been changing up songs since the beginning of their career and on the RTC tour, he really didn't. They did strip down Mr. Jones (actually surprised they played it honestley, heard they hate playing it). It was unplugged style with a piano and accordion being the main instruments. Kind of lost interest in the crows after "this desert life". A friend saw them years later and he said he almost fell asleep during their set. It was the tour they did with Goo Goo Dolls. I enjoyed the Crows when I saw them. Guess I'll have to see a recent show to judge. FYI: Bob Dylan rearranges his songs all the time too, and I do agree that can be really boring at times and yes, I'm a big Bob Dylan fan and I'm saying that.

threefish10

freewheelin3 wrote:

talkling of australian bands (and im an aussie)

if everyone ho bought powderfinger records bought you am i ones instead, the world would be a better place.

ther eis nothing bad about powderfinger at all, its juts that you am i are incredible.

hi fi way and hourly daily (albums) are where its at for anyone interested in checking them out.

meh, i never got into You Am I.

pjoasisrule

I saw Goo Goo Dolls at a festival once, probably the worst live band I have ever seen. I have been to alot of shows, including some bands I do not even like at all but these guys were just awful..........boring, vocals were shit, predictable set, and the guitars didnt even sound in tune at times.