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E26: Face the Promised (OC) Land
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In this episode, we give a deep review and breakdown of CC's "official" bootleg Face the Promised Land, recorded almost 25 years ago (December 2, 1999 in Denver).
Special guest Rich Kulesa (who actually attended the Face the Promised Land taping!!) helps give us the quarter-century old "inside story".
Then, Eric and Zephry review the last show of the Oneness Tour, which was in "The OC" (Costa Mesa, CA), and featured Toad the Wet Sprocket). All I want, indeed.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:16
Speaker
Welcome to episode 26 of Sullivan Street. I am Eric Vogelsang, where we are going to talk about the official bootleg Face the Promised Land, the rest of the Oneness tour, and other Cannon Crows news and notes. But first, let's say hi
Summer Tour Wrap-Up and Future Focus
00:00:28
Speaker
to Chris Miggs. Chris, good afternoon. Hey, how you doing? I'm doing fantastic. this should This should be a pretty fun show. It's kind of like odds and ends. rap it's It's like the wrap up the summer tour. and you know And then we'll be moving on to the next stage of our podcast, if you will. Yeah, well, who knows it's a good.
00:00:44
Speaker
You gave me a good excuse. I've been listening to so much like recent
25th Anniversary and Special Guests
00:00:47
Speaker
Counting Crows. This was a perfect excuse to be like, I'm going to listen to a show from 25 years ago um and just kind of embrace like the fullness of of loving Counting Crows. Yeah. And you reminded me and we'll mention it in a bit that it is the 25th anniversary of this recording.
Guest Introductions and Fan Journeys
00:01:04
Speaker
We also have two ah a special guests today. First, let's welcome back to the podcast Zephry. Zephry, good afternoon.
00:01:14
Speaker
Good afternoon, Eric, Chris, and Rich. It's a pleasure to be here. Glad to be back. And Zephrey was on the recording of, I think it was Recovering the Satellites, right? Yes. When we did our review of that. Zephrey's also an actor, singer, et cetera, in the LA area who I met and very happy to, yeah, and we met and we'll talk about, we met at the most recent concert concert again as well.
00:01:39
Speaker
And then let's say hi to a new guest on the program, Rich. Rich, how are you? I'm really well, excited to be on. Thanks for having me. Yeah, so Rich, we have you on for a main reason, which we'll talk about in a bit. But first, why don't you talk about how you originally became a Crows fan. I know you've been listening to the podcast a bit and also what keeps you a Crows fan after all these years.
Unique Counting Crows Concert Experiences
00:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, I remember, I'm sure like many of you, first seeing that Mr. Jones video on MTV. And I remember being transfixed by it. It was like the music, the lyrics, the visual style, the video. I was like blown away by it. And then my friend Anthony was the first to buy the August album.
00:02:19
Speaker
And then he brought me to the show at the Beacon in 96. And between between that, I had just been hooked the whole time and listened to those first two albums in college quite a lot. Just just be on while studying those two albums over and over.
Official Bootleg Discussion: Face the Promised Land
00:02:35
Speaker
And then since that, I felt like I've been the Forrest Gump of fans for Counting Crows, because I've been at some of these really memorable shows, completely by accident, unplanned. And it's like, are they playing August all the way through tonight? And they are. um And Face the Promised Land is is another one of those shows. All right, thank you. Yeah, great great segue. So for the first half of today's show, we are going to talk about Face the Promised Land.
00:03:00
Speaker
which was an official bootleg released by the band. and And the three of you can give your take if you have any. We don't have our historian Jeff on today um about how or why they released this. ah But it was recorded December 2nd, 1999. So just a few, actually you said in the recording, right, that it's been out for a month. the um The Desert Life album, I think it was actually a couple months though at that point.
00:03:26
Speaker
And then they released it, ah this bootleg, ah six months later. It was one of two official bootlegs. The other one, by the time we get the Woodstock, which we will talk about at another one, at another episode, ah released on what what I laugh called Potato Dog Records, which I don't know if they released any other albums outside of these two official bootlegs. I mean, my guess about this, and I don't think this was a
Live Recordings and Fan Connections
00:03:50
Speaker
money-making thing. like and chris i don't know they only released it like online in a pretty limited run yeah i wasn't following that but i don't have i've never had i was i've never had a physical copy of this um obviously this became a pretty coveted sort of circulated
00:04:07
Speaker
piece of music that I think in part people felt comfortable sharing because it wasn't, ah but it's still not available on um Spotify or anything like that. So it kind of very quickly became, oh shoot, this is one of the things um that if you're getting deeper into the crows, you got to hear by the time we got to Woodstock and Face the Promised Land because they are pristine sounding recordings of the band at a pretty strong period in their performing arc.
00:04:37
Speaker
Yeah, and play not just the hits, right, which which which I thought was also a part of it. yeah I think, I'm guessing it was just like a kind of a gift to the fans, like you said, and and Crows were famous for allowing at the time, recording of bootlegs, trading bootlegs, and like, as li Rich said, off the air, like, yeah, this was recorded from the soundboard.
00:04:55
Speaker
and let's give it, and I kind of remember it selling for like $12 or $15, maybe plus shipping and handling. i I didn't buy it. I was overseas, because I'm saying it was released, what did I say? July 2000. Yeah, I was overseas, and I think by the time I came back, I was like, ah, not available. We'll never get it. And then i I have a friend who I mentioned before, Dan Buckler, who used to be really into the crows at this time, and then he sent me a lot of his leftover um uh you know bootlegs that he doesn't listen to anymore and he actually sent me the one time in the mail i thought i'd never a physical copy but here it is oh nice wow so um even though by the way for those for those that don't have it the insert is not much like there's there's no it doesn't open up or anything there's nothing
00:05:35
Speaker
just the track list but it is still cool to have the back has one of those weird like where it's like printed um you know and revert like hold hold it up to the mirror kind of thing um do you have anything chris to also add just about the release of it or any other trivia about it that you know of No, I mean, I will say again, I think it's part of you and the question of why I think the crows have done a great job over the course of their careers of marketing.
Bootleg Collecting Stories
00:06:01
Speaker
What is unique about them, right? And so stuff like this where you say, hey, you should listen to what we sound like live because that's going to sell you and that's going to create deeper fans. You go back to obviously across the wire, which we discussed in great detail, um but they've always really been good at that. I think this is a part of that right there. They were to point here where
00:06:21
Speaker
Unless the record company darlings maybe they weren't able to go release another live record on um on on Geffen, but they can go out and they can and again they can be like we're going to make an official bootleg we're going to get this out. And funnily enough, I'll talk about this.
00:06:37
Speaker
um We talk about some of the things that are missing. um I don't own Face the Promised Land, but I do own a physical copy of a different bootleg of the same show. It's called Black Hat. um I bought it.
00:06:58
Speaker
uh, at Generation Records, which is in the village near Washington square on Sullivan street, um, in the basement, in the base. So Generation Records was, is
Evolution of Live Performances
00:07:11
Speaker
still, it's still there. Um, a great record shop and had a lot of bootlegs, right? When I first got there, when I first got there, I mean, it was probably 2000, 2001. They mostly had like the, you know,
00:07:25
Speaker
all these bootlegs at the top and they had him had the new ones, right? So they were 45 bucks. I think I bought a ah Guns N' Roses show from Paris in 92 that I later found out was not actually the complete show. It was like missing two songs or something to fit on on the discs. But at start a certain point in the early aughts, they they set up in the in the basement like a used section. And that's where always where I'd go because those would be like five,
00:07:53
Speaker
eight bucks or something and so if I saw that I've got a crow's bootleg from Glastonbury and I've also got a bootleg of this show that has um it's only one cd I actually doesn't even have the whole that also doesn't have the whole thing um but it does have one song that when we talk about you know I think there's a a very awesome version of one song uh that is not that doesn't make face the promise land we'll talk about in a minute Um, but yeah, it's generation records. If you're in New York, go hang out in that basement. You would also bought down there, Eric, to your taste.
00:08:26
Speaker
I bought some smashing pumpkins bootlegs in that basement. That's unbelievable. Yeah, those are two of the most bootlegs. They weren't the most popular band. Obviously, they were very popular crows, but but there were certain bands that people were more into the... Well, with crows, it was definitely live recordings, and with ah pumpkins, it was the like the B-sides people were trying to collect and stuff like that. Interesting. um The only other things I have before we get into the show itself, recorded at Denver University,
00:08:53
Speaker
um And for what I understand was recorded in their hockey arena, which that they also use for concerts, and it fits about 8,000. Now, I don't know if 8,000 were there at the time. I'm guessing no, but but still a lot of people. um I don't know. You know me, I'm really weird on weird trivia. On the set, on the track list, on the back, for some reason, to hanging around is ah is lowercase, where everything else is...
00:09:17
Speaker
uppercase. I don't know why, because on on the on the Desert Life, it's uppercase. And ah this title, which maybe you can add more ah before, you know, Face the Promised Land, it's because, you know, mentioned in the Rain King, which will get to the alt. But that the but the one thing I don't know, Chris, and maybe might as well do it now because it's the name of the why do they say Face the Promised Land when the Thunder Road that they use is what case the Promised Land? It's an error. It's it's that I think that that's the joke. It's Adam misremembers the words because he's doing it pretty much off the top. of yeah right yeah And he just didn't he screwed up that word. It's okay. I thought it was him actually just adding a little bit of personal touch that he's not casing the promise when he wants to face the promised land and now you
Concert Stories and Personal Reflections
00:10:06
Speaker
of you know burst my bubble there. chris and
00:10:10
Speaker
It is a more, it is a more counting crows line. When you think about it, right? We're going to, we're going to stand up and like face the promise line. It's sort of, it sounds a little bit like, um, like it makes me think of like Mrs. Potters, right? Like standing up and, you know, yeah, you're not, we're not, they're not casing anything. They're just.
00:10:27
Speaker
Accepting it. thanks Thank you. for it Yeah, this is why you're on. We didn't pre-screen questions. I didn't ask Jeff. Maybe Bruce bre did it wrong. Face is better. Right. Exactly. Well, there was a thing recently where Bruce was on Jimmy Fallon and he was they were quoting the thing and they were looking at the back of the of something that like, what's the actual lyric? And he's like, nah, the back of the thing is wrong or or I've been singing it wrong for 40 years. So Bruce is not infallible either.
00:10:52
Speaker
I did look up, it's an interesting time ah that they started doing Thunder Road, and I don't know if this was in part the inspiration or maybe it was on Adam's mind for this reason, but this is actually right when the E Street band got back together. You know, they broke up in the late 80s, weren't together all the 90s, and this is right, they went on that reunion tour in 1999. I don't know if Adam saw them and was like, Thunder Road, and it just had it in the back of his brain, but that is an interesting, it's a ah topical reference, in a sense, in in the Rain King there.
00:11:22
Speaker
Thank you. So let's go to Rich. So one of the, I mean, we probably would have had Rich on the podcast at some point anyway. I guess Rich wrote me and he didn't know we were actually thinking about um covering these bootlegs fairly soon in anyway. And he said, you know, I've listened to these a lot. And I also listened to it live because I was there when they recorded ah this concert. So Rich, if you want to talk about the either some story error or yeah general experience there. Yeah.
00:11:51
Speaker
Set the stage for us. I'm going to set the stage. So ah I was 24 at the time. If you recall, Across the Wire had come out the year before, 98. And that's what really opened my mind to Crows because of how they reworked all those songs and the alts, everything you talked about on that podcast.
00:12:09
Speaker
And in that interim, I was just trying to find any sort of good bootleg you could get, like live at Fox Theater was one. So I was really excited about the show. This Doesn't Life had just come out, like I was into all the altos you could get your hand on, and it would be my second show.
00:12:26
Speaker
And I really didn't remember the first that much. um I was 24. I was a lieutenant in the Air Force. I was stationed in Wyoming and lived in Cheyenne. I was two years into a long-distance relationship, had just gotten engaged the month prior, and it would end up being a four-year long-distance relationship. And it worked out great. it's My wife's Kathleen. We've been married 23 years now.
00:12:49
Speaker
um But it was tough for both of us kind of being apart those four years why I served. So I get the tickets to the show. I was meeting a friend down there. It's a two hour drive. At the time, all I had was printed MapQuest directions because no cell phone.
00:13:07
Speaker
no No Google Maps. And I head out to the show, and I'm looking all over. I get to Denver, and I cannot find this arena. And I'm like starting to lose my mind. And then I realized MapQuest didn't recognize Magnus Arena, so they just pointed me to the geographic center of Denver. And I'm doing circles in the middle of Denver, trying to find this arena.
00:13:31
Speaker
So I remember going into a gas station, just like zooming into the parking lot. I'm getting a little frantic. The show is coming up. I run inside. I'm asking the clerk, do you know where this Magnus Arena is? No idea what I'm talking about. I start just like berating customers inside the convenience store.
00:13:51
Speaker
And finally, someone points me in the right direction because the ticket only said Magnus Arena. I didn't know it was University of Denver. It ends up the arena was just built in 99. So the locals didn't even kind of know it. So I get back in the car. I do find the arena. I pull in, I go look out and I realize I had my wallet in the middle of my car.
00:14:14
Speaker
And when I ran to the gas station, those two minutes, someone stole my wallet out of my car. Oh. And I had like two emotions hit me. One was, thank God I kept a ticket in my pocket and not my wallet. That was number one. And number two is all I wanted was like one beer at the show. And now I have no idea and no cash.
00:14:33
Speaker
Um, but you just gotta, you just gotta shake it off. Uh, ended up missing the openers, frankly, which I still regret because of just trying to find the place, but found my buddy, he bought me a beer and it really was a great show. He was an, Adam was in a great mood. The, the audience was, was really great. Um, it was a really good show. It was a good one to release. So where were you? So first of all, Eric was saying it's 8,000, holds 8,000 people. How, how full was it? Was it like?
00:15:01
Speaker
I remember being pretty full. So it probably was, it was, it was probably 8,000 because they, it's like 8,000 for, um, like a hockey game or basketball game, but they had the floor. I was GA a on the floor. So between floor and stands it's probably like 8,000 if I had to guess some murky. And were you, how close did you get? You got there late. I was late. So I think I was more, I try to make my way to almost where the soundboard area is because I'm kind of on the floor, but a little back and kind of see everything. I think that's where I was.
00:15:32
Speaker
That's a good strategy. and For listeners, you ever late to a show, just go for the soundboard and then just. Like just start from there. That's always my, that's the strategy, right? It's like, if you can get to the sound board, it's at least going to sound okay. And so then if you just kind of move forward, just like you walk forward and as far as like the crowd will kind of let you get, you just go. And if the crowd, and if it's like crowded and you're just stuck, then you're stuck and you just kind of stop. I know when the crowd surges forward and you get like a little space, you can walk
Concert Dynamics and Song Interpretations
00:16:02
Speaker
up. It's good.
00:16:03
Speaker
Was the crowd still like, I feel like late 90s, I feel like 90s crowds were more strongly surging forward in my opinion. Oh yes, for sure, yeah. Yeah, that is definitely, yeah, that ties into the whole, um you know, crowd surfing and pushing to the front. It's definitely, and I know partly because we were younger as well, you know, but um that's it. And Jeffrey, this ties into something we talked about, which is that they were playing at a lot of colleges. Now, this was a weird one in that Denver obviously is a big city and you didn't have to be a college student to attend, but that was kind of part of their strategy, I guess, at the time. And I just talked about that to to kind of, yeah, like, like,
00:16:41
Speaker
you know, get the public to go, but also be at a college where, right, if they were a big enough name that almost all the students would go, like even at a smaller school, that even a smaller school of 6,000 students or probably 4,000 will go to the concert um just because, you know, they don't get Counting Crows to visit them that much, you know, back in the 90s. And they were probably fans too. College kids back then were, now it's like, who's the Counting Crows? I'm like, oh, come on.
00:17:06
Speaker
but speaking with this funny I was actually thinking of this we were talking you know in our pregame ah before we started recording about you know certain heights of the crows I actually think that this was um Their apex in in obviously, it's not the record that sold the most there I doubt have been August and the hardcore fans. We were talking about you like this. What what were were the shows the three the three-day? well on all on um um right theater yeah but Um, but this one but but And again, the first show I went to was on this tour, but this was like the time that I think in a lot of way, Apex, because it was still a big deal when they released a single, like hanging around, as I said, it was on MTV. They had three albums of songs to choose from.
00:17:51
Speaker
they were a big enough name that people would go just to go like oh it's crows okay fine i'll see them and then they had they they so they had like the mainstream popularity but they partly because of a cross across the wire and because each album was a bit different is they also had those har the hardcore fans as well right that they weren't just like oh i like one album and now i'm on to other stuff There are people kind of developing this like deeper relationship with them. That's why we still have the podcast here decades later. So anyway, yeah, in some ways I thought this was kind of the apex of of the groats. It was it certainly it's ah the apex of like to your point that the intersection of them being like a big band, like a really big popular radio band, as opposed to more of like a cult band. And so you've got like,
00:18:42
Speaker
a big cult around this time, right? It's not like everyone's just there to see Mr. Jones, right? You've probably driven away like the most casual of fans at this point. But at the same time, they're still selling 8,000 people. It's still a big deal. There's still a lot of people who are counting Crows fans. Whereas they, as you get towards the early 2000s, they're getting much more towards being ah ah Again, they've they' and they've never been like a cult band in the really tiny sense, but like more more of a sort of a quiet thing. that's right Yeah.
00:19:19
Speaker
No, I think that's right. Yeah, I think that's right. That was the the phase that they were on here. So, OK, let's go into an if anybody doesn't have anything else without any further ado, let's move into the actual songs. And again, you know, maybe I'll mention the songs maybe my take and then, Rich, if you have something either, remember you listen to it a lot of times. so um Mr. Jones, I think we mentioned this once on the podcast. I forget why in brief passing when they did this um like the mix of styles, right? So they took the across the water version and mixed it with their regular electric version maybe your show eric right because it yeah the hammerstein show that you went to is not long before this and they they were using this as an opener a lot around that's what it was yeah and i love i always love this that they're sort of finding the middle ground between the two versions and creating this other whole new
00:20:09
Speaker
thing. yep That's one reason I think it's special. Rich, go go to you. I just thought when they started with, so you want to be a rock and roll star, and you like you know what's coming, for the diehards knew what was coming from across the wire. It was really exciting. and open with Mr. Jones with a more casual fan, maybe expecting it to be their closer, like turning it upside down. Yeah, that's true. It was was thrilling. Almost to the point where I thought they were almost prepping the audience like, you may not always hear Mr. Jones in a show because we have a big catalog. We have our third album at this point. Yeah. We got a lot to cover. It was a great, great version of it. I love how they put the Have You See Me Lately lyrics at the end of it. It was great, great version. I forgot about that.
00:20:53
Speaker
ah ze That's a really strong I always like the idea of like a mission statement at the top for them and that's it's an interesting mission statement to be like Here's mr. Jones. It's not gonna be too slow, but we're gonna we're gonna fuck the the shit out of mr. Jones to begin the show and And like get ready cuz here we're gonna go wherever we feel like here because we've we've played your favorite song But we played a weird version of it to start the show, you know Is that for anything to add or? Yeah, I love the so you want to be a rock and roll star. One of my favorite, I don't know if it's a bootleg it's on YouTube is the Woodstock 99 recording, which is also from the 90s, obviously. And um I just feel like there's not a lot of Counting Crows from 1999.
00:21:38
Speaker
like i've got a recording from south africa that was actually their next show after woodstock or anything i really like that erica's emmer was was new in the band as a touring musician you play on the first album so their sound was changing and their the way they were playing mr jones ohmaha some of these other songs was different as opposed to dan on mandolin with ohmaha and some of the other stuff so it was like The next phase of the band was like the desert life tour era. So if you guys know of more stuff, I love that that era and I just can't find that much from yeah Chris. And he officially did join the group. was was did They joined right after recording Desert Life. I mean, again, I've said it before, he's in the photo in Desert Life, but wasn't an official member. Yeah, this is where he is joined. the He's got very long hair at this point, yeah which for like
00:22:29
Speaker
Cause it's not that, I mean, it's like early 2000s, he like cuts the hair. So like, it's like 20 years ago. It's like very strange to see Emmy with the like really like full, like a top knot and just like hair down past his shoulders. yeah um But yeah, it does add interesting thing. I think there's a couple of other, there's some there's tapes around this time. There's not a lot of great tapes. There's a few other radio broadcasts, although I think a bunch of them, I think Boston,
00:22:59
Speaker
from this year's, 99 is a rate with ninety nine of radio broadcast. It's like a i Halloween, I wanna say. And then there's some radio broadcast from like early in 2000, where it's kind of this, still basically an extension of the same tour. um i'll I'll send you some links, Jeffrey. We'll take care of it. Because this is a good, I think this is a good era. Like the band is kind of firing on all cylinders in a lot of ways. Yeah, Adam adam introduces,
00:23:26
Speaker
emmer as david on the show i was going to put that as trivia i think or if i'm correct he might have said dave for him and for bryson i think he said david like i because i listened to it again but i just i actually had like five little trivia things and i was like because we joked with our other guests on the show um including like james campion that that like you know it's emmy emmer emmer gluck mike no calls him but But in this one, he calls him Dave, and then David, and of course now David Bryson, he says Dave, right? He doesn't say David. He says my pal Dave. Yeah, exactly. So i don't that caught thanks for catching that, Rich. I caught that too. um So maybe maybe we'll do a couple in in a row, ah like you know if you have any sense on any of these. So I'll i'll do the next three songs, Angels, I Wish I Was a Girl, and High Life.
00:24:13
Speaker
ah Angels, of course, to me, the highlight ah highlight ah is that they play it they play the rocking version, which I don't know if we're ever going to hear again. it's just something There's a skeptic in me that thinks that he's not going to do that. like If he plays Angels again, it'll be the acoustic. I wish I was a girl. I love live. and i didn't As I said a couple of times, I didn't appreciate it back then as much as I do now. I thought it was great.
00:24:37
Speaker
and High Life was amazing. And I think they even added some extra effects near the end, guitar effects that I haven't heard otherwise. But Rich, I'll go to you about those three songs. Well, I thought it was interesting. They opened the show with one song from each album sequentially. You know, Mr. Jones, Silences, I Wish I Was a Girl. um And I
Song Interpretations and Live Impact
00:24:58
Speaker
don't have much to add. I mean, Wish I Was a Girl, I do appreciate it more now. I don't know if you guys talked about it when you did This Desert Life, but it seems like a sequel to Goodnight Elizabeth and how he he speaks to her saying Elizabeth you know I'm doing it right these days. um It reminds me like all of us have had those short relationships when you were very young and you know they don't work out um but you just want good vibes to those people back and forth you just hope everyone's doing okay now.
00:25:24
Speaker
And that's why I thought it was a beautiful the song. But it's good to me it's always been good vibes with a little bit of jadedness. I always love ah thought, hey, I'm doing all right. And also you didn't believe me, right? So there's a little bit of like, you know, I i agree with you though about the about how, yeah, when you're younger, um those short-term relationships, if they're powerful, can really stick with you.
00:25:45
Speaker
And he says, one of those dreams you forgive me. Yeah. Um, but then he concludes it with kind of that insomnia theme from recovering the satellites that just kind of comes on over and over. I can't sleep at night. It's fascinating. That's true. Well, you can't have those dreams. He can't have those dreams if you can't get to sleep though. Right. You know, um, it is interesting that he's like, I'm curious, it'd be interesting to sort of trace trace that like, cause that is like, it's like five years after that relationship that he wrote for four or five years.
00:26:13
Speaker
um But it's interesting sometimes, yeah, those things where you're just like, you can't let it go. Is there anything about those three songs, Angels, that which was Girl in High Life since you hadn't heard many concerts from this era before? Yeah, I love Angels.
00:26:29
Speaker
um obviously just the studio recording, any live version, I love that song. But then ah another thing, because at this point in 99 was when Emmer joined, so they kind of he added some different parts to it and they do a little bit of harmonizing at the guitar solo. And so they change it in a way where they really add to it and it's really cool. It's such a cool addition, his parts.
00:26:54
Speaker
And with I wish I was a girl that songs grown on me too it's a pretty calm song until the end where I can't sleep at night and Adams just go and there's a version from like two thousand when they're at some festival in Germany and some stadium and he the crowd is just going and nuts at that park is he's just revving them up and and that's what I think when I realized this songs awesome.
00:27:16
Speaker
like it's you know sometimes the studio versions for me for the crows i love them but you just don't get the feeling adam always gives you that emotion live you could tell that he was probably feeling when he wrote it and recorded it so that's what makes it so personal is singing them either live or on youtube or whatever and really feeling like oh now i see this song is so personal to you yeah and i I was going to say, I don't know if you heard that, but I actually mentioned, I felt a little guilty, but I mentioned at the David Lowry that I actually thought that was the one track on Desert Life. I love it, but I didn't i think, that I don't know if it was the mix or the recording, but I didn't i didn't appreciate it until hearing it live. and I think that really got to what the song was trying to do um musically that that didn't come across necessarily on the recording.
00:28:02
Speaker
they yeah I do think it's true generally of that this Desert Life is that the production on that album is is great, but it's a very produced record. It's a very like thoughtful record and it's very intricate.
00:28:19
Speaker
And so there is something about them going out and playing those songs live and kind of being stripped back is, I think, ah maybe too strong a word, but there's less ornamentation just because there's less stuff they can do. There's only so many hands at one time. And it kind of gets those songs a little bit more to their essence as opposed to the the yeah the album is much more of a like a piece of music in many ways than the first even the first couple of records. It's it's more maybe and maybe any other record since, I would argue, but um of theirs. All right, great. ah let's move um Next time, i'm I'm going to take the slot of the next four songs, even though they're kind of all over the place, but you know we can just talk about them as a group. um So which would be, Omaha, Monkey, All My Friends in Four Days. Omaha, to me, sounds perfect, but maybe not that much different than other versions. Again,
00:29:12
Speaker
you know One thing that will come up, I might not mention it again, but with like Omaha, um St. Robinson, there's a couple other there's another song I just can't think of right now. um Obviously, Adam's voice is stronger back then and can do some some extra things and belt at the end of Omaha that maybe you can't do it the same way nowadays, I'm not sure, but that of course caught my attention. Monkey, which I get i don't remember if I ever saw live. I want to see live. I love, like like like you said, Rich, even then,
00:29:42
Speaker
they were, even though they were super popular, they weren't going to play the greatest hits. They're going to play not only a B side from the current album, but a B side from like the prior album, which had more singles,
Personal Connections to Concert Songs
00:29:52
Speaker
right? They could they could have played, ah they liked fading or something, but instead they played monkey. And by the way, dedicated to his current girlfriend, which was, is not the girlfriend that he has now. I know that. no no Well, Rich, how you feeling? You're saying you're coming in to listen to that show in a long distance relationship. Did that song like, because the intro, he tees it up. Does that song? Yeah. I mean, remember, this is the age of mixtapes and you're making mixtapes. It was hard to throw Cannon Crow songs on mixtapes to be hopeful. But Monkey was one that you could. With Monkey, he talked about having a girlfriend at the time and how this was the song he sang to her every night, because I'm assuming she wasn't with him physically during the tour.
00:30:31
Speaker
And so that version of Monkey, I find even more so than the album, was more optimistic and hopeful than the recorded version. So it's a great version of the Monkey. You know, I was always more optimistic about that song until Jeff Harkness joined the podcast and said that that was mostly about Courtney and she was like so toxic and everything. So so now even like let me say that was part of the Courtney part of the Courtney suite. It is. And it's and thinking about what actually took to a point about I wish I was a girl. Right. um Holiday in Spain is at least five plus years after Monkey was written and has a reference to
00:31:07
Speaker
monkey. Right. And not a positive one. Still thinking about it. Right. Adam on that one, too. Right. um That's true. So I agree. It is. I always thought of it as a fairly optimistic or at least playful. I thought of it as more playful, of course, ah but which has a sense of optimism. But yeah, ever since I think in a court, deal then ah whenever I hear monkey now, Courtney Cox is coming to my mind. and I never really watch Friends that much. Also thinking about just the idea that, again, this is it's at a college, you know, and then obviously that the amount of touring of colleges they did this time.
00:31:38
Speaker
a Accounting Crow song referencing Ben Folds is like the college trifecta at this time. Like if it could have thrown in a word that was like a Dave, like from a Dave Matthews song or something, like it would have just broken like the whole arena in half um for 2000s era college kids.
00:31:59
Speaker
it's It's funny you said that I was actually going to mention, and I almost forgot about it, but but with when he mentions Ben Folds, if if that that was another time to see what I mentioned before, and I think I'm right on this, like on this version, when they go got Ben Folds, it's just Charlie, Ben Folds on the radio, and it's just Charlie going, bu bump you know, on the on the piano real quick, where nowadays, ah um right, Millard and Jim,
00:32:24
Speaker
bang and stared each other on stage because they were both in Bendfall. So you also hear the drum and the bass in the current version and Jim like plays it so hard, bop, bop. Right. So anyway, just a little kind of crazy. That's great. Eric, when was the last time you remember they played Monkey? I think it was like 2015. They snuck it on the show fairly recently. I want to say like in the last couple of years, maybe even the last year they played it once. I think last year they might have played it once. Chris will look it up. It's not frequent, but yeah, I've seen it a couple of times in the last five years, even though it's rare. really um
00:32:55
Speaker
Yeah, so then while Chris is looking that up and then we got all my friends in four days which um I love all my friends and that the shock I mean I gosh I guess I put it number two when I did my ranking but under mrs. Potter but I was tempted to put it up and the the shocking not shocking such a more surprising thing to me about this one is was um and they haven't played all of my friends like we talked about for like 15 years or something ridiculous but when they used to play it all the time live they have that kind of extended ending right um that i ah that da right which i love and i always thought the um and i think we even said it once that the studio version should have been more jamming and when they play that extended ending
00:33:39
Speaker
that almost passes, Mrs. Potter. I just love it. I think the Charlie guitar and it's the, it's it's it's it's it's such, it sounds like cacophony, I guess the word, right? It sounds like just they're just like wailing on instruments, but it's so
00:33:54
Speaker
Musically, I don't know, sound and logical. It is not just random sounds. Like I think it's like beautiful, but lots of things going on. And anyway, I love that. But the point is they were doing that shortly. Like they had just released this desert life. And so they already kind of added that, I guess I'm gonna say alternate version or extended version that they played ever since. I always thought it was like five years later or something like that.
00:34:17
Speaker
um And then I'll move to you guys with with all these. But then in four days, um I don't know, that's always a nostalgic song for me, especially in the, I just like the song ah live. So ah Rich, for any of those, anything else with Omaha, Monkey, All My Friends, Four Days? Well, Omaha is funny, because if anyone's ever driven cross country, it's obligatory to play the song in Omaha. And this was the version I played in Omaha in 2001, Driving Across. But um I love that song, it was a beautiful version.
00:34:44
Speaker
uh with all my friends he talked about um getting to the age and being a bit envious of friends who are getting married or having kids and moving on and he he he called out two friends in the audience that night that were that were in that stage of life and it i feel like they always up at a notch when they know they got friends there maybe they have friends at both shows but like when they're calling out my friends are here tonight you feel like it's gonna be a great show um and he said In the song lyrics talk about being 33 and he was 35 at the time What does he do now? Did he still say 33 or oh, he hasn't played it in 15 years played it Yeah, I think he did play he did say 43 a couple times later. Yeah yeah ah But the piano playing at by Charlie at the end of all my friends it's Just gets right to yes. He's just banging those keys perfectly. It's beautiful.
00:35:34
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think I said it yet. One of the, and again, I've noticed this more, and I think I noticed in another live recording, but in the, or maybe something with a soundboard, I'm not an engineer, but Charlie is very high on the mix, I thought, here, higher than the albums, and I can hear him more. And of course, I love it. There's even more to Brain King that we can hear more. um And again, anytime that Charlie, um and I could be totally wrong, I always thought that Charlie on the mix is lower on like the first three or four albums, and then in the most recent albums,
00:36:03
Speaker
like Underwater Sunshine, Somewhere Under Wonderland, and Butter Miracle, that they do put him higher. and That's just me. I think I hear him more in the more recent albums, but this one too. Chris, yeah. Well, i will for first of all, I really hope they bring sometime, maybe in 2027, they can bring all my friends back so Adam can sing that he's 63. That'd be good, really interesting, different. yeah um And I just want, just to answer the question before, the last time they played Monkey was in 2022. The last time before that though was 2016. And weirdly, just looking at the different places they played it for some reason, frequently outside the US, don't know why something about being
00:36:42
Speaker
in Europe or Australia just makes them think of monkey. I think I mean, I've seen them like 60 times. I think I've only seen that song once based on this. I think it was wow Jones Beach in 2006, it looks like, um as I'm looking at the. just But yeah, they they because they played it, they played it, but they played it very, very sparingly. They never seem to play it for more than like three or four shows. And then they're like, yeah I'm good with this now.
00:37:10
Speaker
As much as I love Butterfly in Reverse, I'm like, let's play a different one on that album. Come on, guys. We're at three shows now. You know? They've really fallen in love with that song. I know. But like, i like for 20 years, they played it 78 times. Yeah, seriously. More than that, actually. Yeah. Jeffrey, I've been at 20 shows. I just had to verify. I was pretty sure I've never seen him play Monkey. I would love to love to hear that. Yeah, I'd love to hear that.
00:37:36
Speaker
Okay, so then we're going to go into two, and I haven't heard, I'll just let let Rich and Chris talk about this, but there are two songs, actually there's three, but there's two right here that for those that didn't know, and I wouldn't have known, that is excluded from the ah the tracks of the CD. The CD has 14 songs, but they actually played 17 in this concert. So the next two were round here, and everyone's favorite that never gets played, Amy hit the atmosphere. Rich, let's go to you first about those two or anything. Yeah. and with With round here, that version of it, I would just say any fan, go seek it out. ah find it it's It's out there online somewhere. I think it's a beautiful version of it.
00:38:18
Speaker
Being in the crowd, when that guitar starts and everyone knows what's coming, it's like the crowd gets to that collective Zen state where the hair stands up on the back of your neck almost at the beginning of around here, for me anyway. um I listened to that version around here, around Blue Sky, Baby, and it was right inside me all the time for years and had no idea that was a Dylan. It's a Dylan song. I had to Google it recently. I'm like, oh, that's where it's from.
00:38:49
Speaker
um But it's a really, really ah beautiful version. There was one tiny maybe misstep where he normally gets the part where he screams no, and he didn't, and it like jerks to the, kind of like skips it, I think, goes into the music. um But I probably got left off the album just for time on the physical CD. It's a 10-11 minute song, this version. ah But really, one of my favorites. Which Dylan song is that?
00:39:15
Speaker
I don't know, I googled it. I started googling those lyrics. And then on the YouTube, if you look at the face of Promised Land YouTube, in the comments, lots of people were talking about Dylan. So not to research it some more. Yeah. It's an incredible, I can't say enough about how good this version of this is. It's a very, first of all,
00:39:43
Speaker
um it's one of those versions where Adam gets it very, very quiet and gets it up. And I actually really like, there's a like the it's all all right part where he kind of gets the crowd singing with him, um which is pretty cool. um And like kind of bringing, cause it's a, he he takes the song to like a very desolate place and then to a very hopeful one.
Hidden Gems in Concert Setlists
00:40:06
Speaker
um It's a really, it's a really, really good version. I think there's a few, like, I think they use the blue sky thing
00:40:14
Speaker
variations on it um a bit around this time. So this isn't the only version of that is but it is. Highly, highly recommended. I think it's insane that they cut, I know it's 11 minutes long, they would have had to cut probably like two or three other things. I mean, for my taste, they should have done it. But it turns out to be, it's a bootleg, right? It turns out to be like this, I think it turns out to be like a fun secret, where yeah, I bought that CD in the basement of Generation Records, and I remember driving around with my buddy Adam,
00:40:50
Speaker
um And we were like, what is this? Let's listen to that again. Let's do it again. I want more. It's really, really good. We should have, I say I feel like that, we didn't do it on our round here versions. I feel like that was a miss, but that's another one added to the list of absolute classics of the round here. I was yelling to the podcast, listening to the whole episode, like, Magnus, listen to the Magnus version. I'm not perfect. We're not perfect. I don't know any of these. He had to bring these up to me. There's a lot. I used to remember more. Now, your mid-40s, it starts to blend together a little bit. With Amy Hits the Atmosphere, it would have been for sure the first time the whole audience heard that song played live and just hearing it live. It's a special song. I think it's a painful one for them though. Maybe I don't hear it as much. Yeah. Then they only played, I think we said that tour. They played that tour maybe even just that fall. I think they played it for four months and never played it again.
00:41:54
Speaker
Um, okay. So then we have St. Robinson. I don't have anything to add because I don't think it's much different than other live versions. What, what just, when we were talking here, um, and I'm going to say some stuff later about some of the banter and we've already talked about a bit, but you're right, Rich, he explains what high life was about. Um, I think even explain, I wish I was a girl, right? And he explained all my friends. He does not explain St. Robinson unless I missed it. I don't, Has he ever explained that? I forget now. I still ask someone. I need to know what St. Robinson's talent dream is. Who is he? i don't know Andrew Robinson? It's me up at night. like St. Robinson. Who is it?
00:42:30
Speaker
um And that's the list, if we ever get at him on this show. Who is Andrew Robinson? What the hell is St. Robinson about? What I was going to say, it's maybe one of the first songs where it's like less bio ah bio biographical and somewhere more recent work. It's not about him anymore. right and I was thinking that was St. Robinson's, but then it totally goes into his childhood and Maryland and Virginia. I'm like, I don't know, maybe he's mixing it together.
00:42:53
Speaker
We'd love to know. No, you're right, Rich, because even on the ones where he said Somewhere Under Wonderland, it's more that he's trying to do these, what, third-person stories, but he still mixes in. Like, right, we'll talk about it when we get to that album, but there's the line about his sister mentioning, hey, Adam, you know, so there is some autobiographical, but you're right. Maybe it was the first tease of that, where it was- Who's Carrie? He mentions Carrie in that song. Yeah, exactly. um Okay, so then, um We'll go to, I mean, hang on, well, hang around. Rank King. I was talking about Rank King. Which is um right where they face the Promised Land. um I just listened to it again maybe before. Anyway, I, as Chris knows, the one one reason I love him is having him on the show is I'm not as much of the the alt guy or the extended version around here. I like it, but not as much as Chris. But I do think that this probably is my favorite
00:43:48
Speaker
extended alt version of Rain King. I just think it's perfect. And I don't have anything else to add. So let's go to Rich and then Chris. Yeah. and With this one, I have a confession to make. It's really embarrassing. As a born and bred New Jersey native, when I heard this, I had no idea it was Bruce Spring State. I was a dumb 25-year-old. My history with Bruce started with born in the USA and went to like Tunnel of Love and Human Touch. I never got into the back catalog back then. It's not as easy as it is now. You're like, I'm going to go deep dive.
00:44:17
Speaker
on this artist on streaming. So ah when when I heard this and then listened to the boot for some time, I'm like, Adam's a genius. He's the songwriter of our generation that he is, but like,
00:44:29
Speaker
not knowing Thunder Road was Bruce. It's embarrassing. But it's still my favorite alt, just like yours, Eric. it's ah It's just so beautiful how he weaves it into the song. um And like like I said, maybe Bruce should update his alt, his lyrics to have Face the Promised lead.
00:44:47
Speaker
be the version he seeks. Well, Rich, I also didn't know because I'm just I have to admit I'm not a big Bruce fan and then I don't and then it's even though I know he's good that I have this thing where I'm almost kind of against it because he's so he got he got that had that Renaissance starting in like 2005 where he has these hardcore fans that go to every show. Right. And I'm like, No, forget that. That's a different group. That's not another Jersey group. I'm not part of that anymore or whatever.
00:45:13
Speaker
And ah yeah, it said I wear my Pete Yoren stuff and say he's the true Jersey guitar guy. and ah but yeah But I did know, but just to your point, then we'll go to Chris, that I didn't never knew it was a Bruce song until he actually mentions the word Thunder Road. And I knew that Thunder Road was a Bruce song, even though I didn't know much about it. So I'm like, oh, okay, this is a Bruce Springsteen song. Chris, let's go to you. Yeah.
00:45:37
Speaker
Well first of all it just interesting it's one of those things that that circle around in life ah buddy joe firstman from cordova's ah saw them a like week ago and is Ant was in town as a big fan. He closed the show with Thunder Road on piano. And it's just like a whole room full of people on the Lower East Side of New York just singing. Actually, no, Greenwich Village, honestly, about two blocks from Generation Records as I'm thinking about it. It's pulling it all together. But singing Thunder Road, um it's just such a great song. it's like It's a classic and it's better. I mean, it's interesting. i The original version is great. ah Bruce has a piano version that is spectacular.
00:46:14
Speaker
um I think, i'm I'm with you guys. This is, first of all, I think this is one of the first alts I heard um because I'm pretty sure this was a very popular, you know, Napster limewire song right around this time, right? This was the one where you were, if you were searching Counting Crow's Rain King, you were probably gonna turn up this version of Rain King and you were gonna hear it with Thunder Road and go, well, that's really fucking cool.
00:46:41
Speaker
um And I'm with you. i There's a lot of versions of Rain King I love. This is high up for me. This might not be my number one, but I do think it is a a really perfect marriage because when you think about it, I was thinking about like why this week and it kind of hit me. It never really hit me before. I've been listening to this for 20 plus years.
00:47:01
Speaker
um The narrators of both songs are singing very similar things. They are both sort of pleading with this other person about, can I come over? Can we be together? can we Where can we go? And it makes the Thunder Road section a very natural extension of what the narrator in Rain King is saying.
00:47:26
Speaker
you know You could very easily, if you really kind of like, and I didn't sort of sit there and go all the way line by line, but you could very easily can just continue the conversation into Thunder Road of like, you know, can I come in? Can we be together? I'm i'm writing now tonight. let's Come on, let's go face the Promised Land together. like you could It is a very, very perfect marriage. And again, it's something that apparently he just sort of hit him off the top of his head and obviously did a bunch of times once they realized it was awesome. um But it's just, it's perfect. one Again, i like ah one of the classic, I think whenever their career is done, you put together like the classic versions of songs. This is going to be one of them.
00:48:07
Speaker
Great. Zephyr, you have anything to add for any of the last couple songs we've talked about? Yeah. So building on Rain King, I think the first time I heard the Thunder Road version was the Live at Town Hall, actually. I think I had listened to that before I had found Face the Promised Land. And that one, you know, you can obviously see and hear. And he Adam's just like so into it. And it's just amazing. Like I don't know Bruce Springsteen that well, but I knew that was a song. And I mean,
00:48:35
Speaker
It's not easy to sing other lyrics too of a song two or a different song in another melody. I don't know if you guys have tried that. I've tried it and i even like songs you know super well, you're like, I can't even remember the word. So it's amazing how he does that and how he gets so into it. and and But in the Town Hall version, he's like almost acting out the different parts and it just seems like the band rehearsed that. but And they maybe did a little bit, but like a lot of that is straight improv and it's just impressive. and For me, that one's great. I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee. That one ah was, oh, Susanna, that was one of my favorites. And there's a few when he's gone into Mr. Jones and reigning in Baltimore in the middle. I really like those two. There's really not a bad version of Rain King. Even on the show, we saw Eric where he basically just goes right back into the verse like the recording. you know Even that is fine. there's just there's To me, there's really no bad version of Rain King.
00:49:30
Speaker
Yeah. these There's a great story about when they did the town hall thing, they had decided like a week before they were going to play all of August. And apparently they had a moment backstage where they realized that because like ah Millard had never played Electric Rain King. So they had to like teach it to him because they'd been playing at Acoustics and he joined the band in 2000. So they had to teach it and they basically had to learn He'd like never played the Thunder Road part. He'd never, they were just like, oh, we should do Thunder. Well, let's do Thunder Road. But yeah, they basically, for Millard at least, it was very, very fresh. but Like literally was like, we're going to do this. Yeah. Oh, that that's funny. That's oh great.
00:50:08
Speaker
So um then to end the main set, they ended with hanging around. I don't, there's not a lot for me to say, except that he does mention the opening acts, which, cause I think we're both of them on his label, Jigaloyance and Joe 90 on the E. Pleblorus Unum, which eventually we'll talk about on the podcast.
00:50:30
Speaker
So, um and then the encore was a fourth song encore, the first being Colorblind, which is omitted from the track list, which again, i that does not bother me at all because I've heard it a lot. I think it's interesting because that was one of the popular songs and I'm glad that they knocked that out and didn't knock out like four days or whatever. I liked hearing those other ones.
00:50:52
Speaker
um And then I'll let you guys talk about this and also, which maybe is, if you were a fan, how to be the most surprising song that they played, which is as an encore song, played Kitten Things. And I think it sounded great. And that's, I think I put that as my least favorite song in Desert Life. I still like it, but um it's I would love to hear that live. Rich, let's go to you.
00:51:13
Speaker
Yeah, with Kid Things, he joked that he was going to play something hidden hidden we never play live. Oh, right. And then jumped into Kid Things. I caught that. And being a big fan um and knowing about the hidden song and it coming, it was like, I can't believe Kid Things. And it's a very fun song. It's kind of less tortured song compared to what normally he had in the first two albums. So it was really thrilling to to hear about that, to hear it.
00:51:41
Speaker
Did we talk about Long December yet? We didn't get no that yet. No, that's next. All right, I'll wait. Zephyr, anything about the last couple of songs, Hanging Around, Kid Things? Yeah, it was in Hanging Around. I always love like the banter in between songs. I love how he said, I think it was before Hanging Around where he says, the other bands have already gone. you know they're We got to go to Salt Lake City tomorrow. They're driving through the snow. i just like Things like that are just cool, you know yeah like little time stamps. you know But Rich, one thing I wanted to ask you before I forget,
00:52:10
Speaker
in four days i know there's a live version from probably ten something years ago where millard plays the electric guitar part and emmy's playing bass do you remember was matt playing electric guitar and matt was there but i can't remember he was probably on base i just can't remember okay for sure yeah i'm just curious how they played that back then before i don't know that left ah ah zephy I was going to mention it before, but I also like, you know, of course, if there's too much banter, you might skip it if you listen to the CD a hundred times. But I like the banter here and I liked it when you said the timestamp. I actually I didn't talk about it yet, but there was um I guess it was for.
00:52:50
Speaker
Wait, was it for I Wish It Was A Girl? I guess, right? When he talked about um leaving messages. Four days. Four days, sorry. Yes, yes, yes. Leaving messages on the answer machine. but but but But the equivalent now would be if you text a girl like a couple times, she doesn't text back and then you wait a couple more days and you text her more. That's what he was basically saying. You have to rename the song from four days to three dots. Exactly. magic yeah But you're not getting the dots. Right. That made me laugh. ah Chris, anything with you with hanging around or kid things? No. OK. So then we ended the song. ah the the the we'll We'll do both along December and walkaways. And I'll let Rich talk about along December. i I know I like.
00:53:34
Speaker
Now I can't, I should have wrote better notes. I think the beginning of the song is a little different than he plays it now, right?
Concert Closers and Emotional Impact
00:53:40
Speaker
And I liked it. Cause now he basically plays that the same way. And of course I get super nostalgic and we've talked about it a couple of times. I would love if they started ending some shows with walkaways, but yeah anyway, Rich. I mean, just what a killer ending to the show. ah That intro, this version along December is is really my been my favorite and there are lots of great, great, amazing versions, but that intro with,
00:54:04
Speaker
It was a bad month in September, October's good to hell on me, lonely November, December's where I want to be, and he goes in the long December, ah the crowd lost their mind. It's always special listening to this song when it's actually December too, it was December 2nd when they're playing it. And yeah know we touched on it, but at the time, um my wife, ah my fiance then, like We were doing great but it was really hard and like you're both kind of just holding on waiting to like for me to finish my my Commitment and duty and then I was gonna move back and then we're gonna get married um And this song just touched me in that way of just keep holding on and then also maybe because Living in Wyoming at the time and those in the Midwest can relate but it's been so long since I've seen the ocean it Like it's a really strong way because it's true like it's been a couple of years ah since I've seen the ocean
00:54:59
Speaker
Um, but really beautiful version. Uh, I'll never forget the the line, the way that light attaches to a girl. Um, so that's why I have to say about long December, I'll hold on walkaways. If you guys want to talk more about long December.
00:55:14
Speaker
It's a beautiful, it's a really beautiful, vert that intro is is really wonderful. um You know, we talked ah in the last episode about, or a couple of episodes ago now, about how you can draw, you know, these threads of like Adam's intro in long December. And this is kind of one of like the first ones where he was doing this kind of extended thing to open up the song. um And you can draw a thread from this all the way properly to the one. i It's, yeah It's great. If you haven't heard this version, again, highly recommend it. You can go find it on YouTube. and um that like This in the ranking in the round here, I think, are like the sort of strongest recommendations of like if you haven't heard these versions, it's worth going and checking them out. Yeah, I agree. Rich, let's get your thoughts on walkaways.
00:56:00
Speaker
I agree with you, Eric. It's still my favorite closer. You should just add it on the holiday in Spain even today. Just like takes a minute and a half. Just do it all the way at the end of holiday in Spain. um Dan Vickery on guitar is just beautiful. it's It's the perfect ending, even if it's a bit sorrowful. It resonated deeply with me because I was going to experience if we would see each other maybe every maybe every two months for like a week. um And then it was like, okay,
00:56:29
Speaker
Gotta go, someday I'm gonna stay, but not today. It's just heart wrenching. ah And so ah just beautiful end to the concert for sure. Yeah, I agree. As as i've I think I said on that Recovering the Satellites review, my favorite, clearly my favorite, is that what it is, 90 Seconds? So I was going to say my favorite less than two minute song of all time. yeah I challenge you to give me another one, less than two minutes pop song that says good. um Yeah, I agree. It's one of the best. I mean, Holiday in Spain is a great closer. Walkaway is amazing.
00:57:01
Speaker
i I thought once I saw Murder of One close, but maybe that was during the regular set list. And whatever, in my mind, whether it happened or not, that was a surprisingly good closer. Or maybe I've seen some live concerts where they did end. Was that on the deluxe version of August when the the Paris show they closed with the news? Yeah. Right, right. And also, I think the one in Devore that's online, they might have ended that. I can't remember. But but that Murder of One, if he's going a little nuts, you know and jumping around, which, again, he was in maybe in his 30s then, so it's not as easy to do. It was a great closer.
00:57:31
Speaker
um any Anybody, Zephry, or anybody else, any other thoughts about this concert? I don't have any, but please, Zephry, we'll go to you. Yeah, um it's one that I listened to maybe five years ago and then re-listened to it again this past week. um And it does just kind of have a very, like,
00:57:51
Speaker
like just sacred feel to it like it's just like an emblem of the crows and it just belongs like over here in this corner like this is just a great show and and I wasn't even there but it just has that certain ring to it that is one of those shows i was actually looking on ebay before we started there was two copies and they were both mint like in the plastic and they were a hundred bucks each i'm like okay well if i wanted i guess i'm gonna have to spend that because it would be cool to have the cd of that and and because on the youtube version it stops and then the next track kicks in and that a cd would probably just go right through so it's just i don't know it's a really special special time of the band and they captured it so perfectly at that show
00:58:31
Speaker
Fantastic.
Counting Crows' Live Show Evolution
00:58:32
Speaker
Chris, ah for Face the Promised Land, before we go into the next segment of the episode, let's end with you.
00:58:42
Speaker
You're muted, I think. It's a classic. um It's a measure of a really, it's talked about, a really interesting period in the band's evolution. um One of the things that's interesting about it is that if you look at
00:59:02
Speaker
relative to now, um I was kind of interested in like looking at the, I was like went back and I was looking at the setlist after I listened to the show, but I was also looking at like the tour stats for 1999. And they played, you know, it's, setlist FM is really messy to look at for 1999, because people broke out the alts in different ways, but they played and um somewhere in the range of like 35-ish songs that year.
00:59:31
Speaker
um but And logical, I mean, they only had three records at that point. They were doing some covers and um it's a similar number to the number of songs they played this year. And I think the other thing that kind of comes, kind of look at the shows altogether, right? There, any of the shows in 99, 2000, they're not that different from one. and Like most of the songs are relatively similar to each other. But what really drives the reason I'm like I've listened to a lot of these shows is the alt right that these this was a really special time in the evolution of around here.
01:00:10
Speaker
um Obviously, very much so in the evolution of Rain King, right? I mean, absolutely. This is really where Rain King goes from being a five-minute song to an eight-minute song and really like a springboard for them doing all sorts of cool stuff. And even long December, right? Even this is where they're starting to play with these things. um And I think similarly, having listened to a lot of the shows from from this year,
01:00:34
Speaker
what was most interesting was when they were going off in a different direction, in particular and this summer and around here. um And so it is interesting, you know, 25 years ago, but the band is still, and the band has evolved a great deal since then, um but you can still kind of find these connections.
Counting Crows Covers and Future Podcast Ideas
01:00:53
Speaker
There's still this thread to a different time. Obviously with a whole different batch of songs though, as you talked about, there's a bunch of songs on this record um that,
01:01:02
Speaker
like don't get played anymore, haven't been played in a decade or have been played like less than 10 times in the last decade.
01:01:12
Speaker
Oh, Eric, you're muted. Well, thank you. I hope our fans have appreciated our review of Face the Promised Land. And yeah thank you for telling me that it was a mistake about the the Bruce reference. So let's go to that. We spent the entire last episode talking about, well, first of all, let's have we we do have a little bit of news. So as of mid-September, this might be released in a couple of weeks, but ah two pieces of news. ah Chris, first of all, you wanted to tell us about Counting Crows covers, not them covering songs, but people covering the Counting Crows. Please talk about that. The other, we've had a few things drop on Spotify over the last ah week or so. um It seems that, um based on a couple of posts about them, that some of Adam's friends, as 60th birthday presents, covered some of the band's songs, and a couple of them have made it up to Spotify now.
01:02:05
Speaker
um Steven Kellogg did Elevator Boots. It's a nice version of that song, an acoustic take on that. um And Sean Barna um and his collaborator Dave Drago did a really, really cool version of Mr. Jones. That's actually the one of any of the ones I'm talking about. That would be my highest rec because it's a really fun reimagining of that song. Kind of looking a little bit like this um version from Face the Promised Land, that it's kind of like a middle ground between the sort of extremes of of the slow and the fast of the song. um They kind of find a very cool way to get into it. um Highly recommended. Also Noah Gunderson, we talked about last year, he'd been covering around here. ah version His version um is now up on Spotify. um Nice clean recording of that if anyone wants to check that out. And he's going on tour this fall if anyone wants to go i'll check him out. yeah
01:03:02
Speaker
ah Rich, you had a comment about that. I just recently came across another really good cover, I thought, which was Wesley Schultz, who's the lead singer of Lumineers. He put out an album of covers and did a version of Mrs. Potter's Lullaby. That's really interesting, very different, um but worth checking out. yeah we might have yeah well I was talking to Chris earlier today, we might have to do ah an episode about other people covering the crows mostly just to get, you know, other people to know about, like, I don't know about that. So if we could, we'll just talk about them briefly, and maybe list list them and link to them in the show description, etc. I actually was not aware that was a thing that happened either. So
01:03:43
Speaker
Thank you for breaking your news, Rich. I listened to the Elevator Boots one. It's good. Maybe it's not as good as some of the other, but I always love when people, and I know that was a ah single in the adult contemporary, I guess, chart or whatever it is, but I love when people cover, right, there's been a lot of different covers of Mr. Jones out there, or YouTube, if you but I love when people cover either not as popular songs or B-sides. Yeah, I heard, I actually saw there is someone, I saw i found another,
01:04:09
Speaker
I think it's Amy Hit the Atmosphere. I was finding somebody else on a piano recently who covered, like ah I think it was Amy Hit the Atmosphere, but at other Crow songs. I'm like, I love this this. This is great. Okay, so the other big news that happened yesterday, well as we're recording this, is they played um chris a ah ah pre, some kind of Packers festival, but ah we thought it was noteworthy because of the crowd size, which looks like, I don't even know how many thousands, but Jim has the Facebook photos and it's it's huge, the crowd.
01:04:39
Speaker
Yeah, and good for them. Yeah, they played like a whole headlining set at this Green Bay Packers kickoff festival. And I saw that. I was like, Oh, that's kind of interesting thing to do, but, um, looks, looks fun. Um, if you can go and take a look at the pictures on Jim's Facebook page.
01:04:55
Speaker
And it is people as far as the eyes can see, like a large festival looks like. Yeah, it almost looks like Pig Pop or something, right?
Toad the Wet Sprocket Performance Reflections
01:05:02
Speaker
The crowd. I'm not saying it was that big, but that's how it looks like in the photos. So that's fun. So good for the people of Green Bay. You've got good taste.
01:05:10
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, they they do have a good taste of music there in Wisconsin. and ah Great. So let's then transition to, ah we're going to do some final thoughts on the Oneness tour of 2024, just the overall Crows summer season tour. And we use this time because Zephyr and I met up and went to the official last show of the tour. And even though it was part of the Oneness tour, they did not open for Santana in Costa Mesa.
01:05:38
Speaker
they were the headliners. Toad to what Sprocket was the opener. Toad has opened for them before, what did we say, like 15 years ago? And they even mentioned that. Yeah, which makes sense, right? They're kind of, I like both. temporary yeah yeah i i told sephria you know when i went home separate actually, probably cuz i've been thinking about crows too much the last two years after starting the podcast that i actually thought about total week to be honest cuz i had seen them only once live and i forgot that there is a point in my life for toad,
01:06:11
Speaker
They might have been like my third favorite band for a couple of years. I kind of almost forgot that and kind of, I don't want to say rediscover them, I know that, but but anyway, for the week I got into them. They they played 10 songs. um So I guess we'll start with the Toad. I have other things to say about the show, of course, but ah let's start with Toad. ah And they basically played, if they played 10 songs, I think, you know, four were from fear and four were from, now I forget how to pronounce the name of it.
01:06:37
Speaker
Dulcinea, or three were, and then they played The Good Intentions, the friend song. Acoustically, though. Remember, they changed the arrangement of that. Absolutely, which I thought it was cool. Yes. That was a great version. And then they played, um I guess, one from um Pale, I think it was, and then one which, which again, I can talk about some of these songs, but they played one from not their newest album, but their second most recent. New Constellation, I believe, the 2014 song.
01:07:05
Speaker
And the song is California Wasted, which I think was their second single. But we're in California. They're from California. I guess they're from Santa Monica, which I didn't know. I had to look it up. Santa Barbara, I think. Santa Barbara, sorry. Yeah. Which you were, that's what, sorry. we were You were north of, Rich, were you north of Santa Barbara or Santa Monica?
01:07:23
Speaker
Just North of Santa Barbara. yeah sort thought yeah yeah so that's why yeah But you're right, they're from Santa Barbara, which I had kind of forgotten. And anyway, it's a great song, California Wasted. And I thought they were great. I mean, I know they basically played their greatest hits and you know there's no real surprises.
01:07:38
Speaker
um But yeah, California Ways to the Grid. So i I invite, you know, this this band, they're pretty interesting. I mean, this is the time, I guess, to talk about them. I'll never talk about them again on this podcast. But but there was like a, ah I guess he doesn't really love his first album, which was kind of a low release. And then even the second one, which sold fairly well, I guess he is he's tepid about. But they had like three, you know, I guess, right, three then albums in a row and they were all quite successful. And each one has,
01:08:07
Speaker
what I call to be like singles that stand the test of time, kind of like Mr. Jones, right? You know, there's a lot of songs like, I don't know from the spin doctors or something that was in your mind at the time. But if you hear it now, you're like, oh, you know, whatever.
01:08:20
Speaker
but um But, you know, all I want from, you know, the the one album and then something's always wrong and calm down. Those were three singles and three albums in a row. And I think they're fantastic to to this day. ah You know, and people don't I guess Zephry Jeff, I'm interested to take Zephry. He said he just kind of discovered them fairly recently because he's, you know, two decades younger than us. But um I thought that was neat because they do have a crossover and and except we didn't know that the lead singer ah ah Glenn Phillips he he um you know, they they they broke up over creative differences and um They didn't you know get back together for was it like 15 years or something like that and he released released like five or so solo albums and other projects which were fine, but they weren't and
01:09:07
Speaker
had They weren't, I guess some people when they go solo, they're good, but it wasn't as good and a little softer. His versions are a little softer. Not that that Toad, the wet sprocket has any edge. They don't really have, oh sorry, they don't have a hard edge. They don't have like the angels of the silent song. but But having the rest of the band, they have a little more you know guitar and a little more of an edge that I think balances Glenn's softer view and voice. So just overall thoughts about um Toad at the show and Toad in general's effort.
01:09:37
Speaker
Yeah, well, I'm only 27 and I was one of the younger people there from what what I saw. I was talking to this couple in front of me and they were, you know, probably my parents' age and they're like, what? Like I was singing to every song by both bands. They're like, how do you know this stuff? I'm just, I don't know. It's just, it's what I like. And yeah, I discovered, I'd heard of Toad, but I didn't really know anything about them until maybe two or three years ago.
01:10:02
Speaker
And i started listening to some of like walk on the ocean some of the the earlier hits i'm like oh this is pretty cool and then i discovered dulcenia and i listened to that whole album like a million times i was like this is amazing and then coil and then new constellation and they just i don't know they just glenn phillips voice is just so like like like Adams in the sense that it's just very poetic and very soothing it's and obviously nothing like Adams voice but it's his own very specific voice that you hear it and you go that's Glenn Phillips or you hear Adams voice oh that's
01:10:33
Speaker
That's Adam Durrett. So there's just something about that band. I love their songwriting and I love the messages in their songs. and And you said, Eric, they played 10 songs. I knew all 10 songs. Oh, that's great. It was pretty cool. I know it's funny because I and i think he grew up Jewish, if I remember correctly, I say this because in some ways, I don't know something about the overall. sphere like message and spirituality ah of the band reminds me of like almost Christian rock if it was like just something about the right I don't know it always just gave even though it's it's it's obviously not um yeah I i said i I think I even texted Zephry that I said I think Adam has more range and can do more creative things with his vocal might be more talented in some ways or worked on it but if I
01:11:17
Speaker
could have the voice of any singer of the last 50 years, I'd actually choose Glenn Phillips. like I'm yeah very jealous of his singing voice. I can't explain it. I said something to Zephry, which surprised me, at just i don't because I don't think I have too much else to say about Toad, um except that one of the things I was going to say about this, which I told Chris and Jeff that um I enjoyed the concert. um I didn't have as good seats as I had before, and the crowd around me wasn't as good, and there were a couple jerks near me, and there was like two different types of jerks. But one guy was a kind of, I think, fairly well-to-do jerk, you know, about my age behind me with his wife. And the funny thing was,
01:11:58
Speaker
He he liked i just love it i mean by the way they werere like super drunk so i hadn't been in a show with that many drunk people for crows and i don't know maybe like ten or fifteen years so that was part of it it's kind of at least around me it was a drunk scene but that guy was funny because and i told zephrey surprisingly people don't realize about the crow about toad given how like kind of I don't know how to describe glam, but very gentle, soft, right, kind of, I don't even know, maybe even somewhat feminine in some ways, I don't know, or a feminized masculine guy, is that they were kind of popular with like frat boys, just like Dave Matthews was it was, but in that genre, which is a surprise because now I wouldn't see that. So the guy behind me was like complaining about all their songs, but he's like,
01:12:42
Speaker
play beep beep beep walk on the ocean that's what i would i'm just laughing like he's not seeing the irony of uh of yeah his frat boy attitude towards glenn phillips and uh and their songs right and play the hits well he was playing the hits but uh the whole show Yeah, that the whole show was the hit. so But anyway, that that's my ah thought on on Toad. And Zephry, before we move on, the one thing I had as a little side note is that speaking of bands that you either adjacent to the crows, I guess I want to say, is that I was explaining to Zephry right before we tailgated for a little bit, and right before the show I explained ah who a Big Star was.
01:13:24
Speaker
And I said, I did not know them at all until actually underwater sunshine and the Battle of El Guido. And he was like, oh, that's kind of neat. And he's like, I heard. And I said, yeah, every so often you even see somebody with a big star logo on their shirt. We walk in the front gate and right there with a guy holding like two beers. And he's like, I got into them because of the crows.
01:13:44
Speaker
It was instant, too. We walked right in. You're like, yeah, look at that guy's shirt. I don't know. Yeah. Anyway, Rich, being from the generation, do you have any thoughts on either Toad or Big Star? I mean, Big Star. I feel like I haven't caught up. I liked Toad when it was back and those albums came out, and I just kind of lost touch with them. They're going to have to reconnect again. Yeah, the Coil album, which some people say is their best, but it made me think about the Crows a lot, actually, because ah The only difference is the Crows, their first album was a huge hit. And Toad, it took them a couple. and Maybe I'll look up how many albums they sold. It's more than you think. um But when Coil came out, it was almost like, oh I don't even know the equivalent. Maybe it's their equivalent of um
01:14:28
Speaker
of of recovering the satellites in that they wanted it to be harder. It just didn't have the hit single like long December. But I guess besides that, recovering didn't have. But I think and but but but but it didn't do as well as maybe they thought it was going to do. And then they and that can cause a band to break up, even if it sold quite a number. And I have thought that sometimes about like crows like the hard candy, for example, didn't sell a ton of albums. And I thought, oh, maybe they'll break up. um So By the way, Chris got me thinking, you know, we talk about the greatest hits and we'll talk about this Hard Candy. You know, the Crows are playing the greatest hits. They're playing all their singles. Maybe not Daily Spaded. You know what they're not playing is American Girls. Never. I haven't played that in forever. For the longest time. Which is their single, their hit single in quotes from Hard Candy. Although Big Yellow Taxi was, I mean, that's true. That was really the gigantic single, really, from that record. I actually thought, though,
01:15:24
Speaker
Well, two two things, but if you ask about like big star Big Star rules, everyone should go listen to Big Star. There's not that much of it to listen to. like It's not that hard to listen to the entire discography of the band. that right ah It's worth a worth a an hour or two. um But I do think why it was one of the interesting things that like that the criticism of the Crows this summer was, oh, they're playing like the greatest hits. And I'm like,
01:15:46
Speaker
Are they? I mean, yes, they're playing like Mr. Jones and around here. They're playing hanging around. lot They're like hitting some of the singles, but they're not playing accidentally in love. They played big yellow taxi sometimes. We're playing American girls. but I mean, I think a lot of it is just they were playing what the, you know, the songs that are kind of the bedrocks of their shows hits or not. Right. I mean, like Omaha is not really a hit, but like,
01:16:12
Speaker
You know, it's a, it's a bedrock song for them. but they They played it a lot this summer. So it it felt more to me like they were playing like a. Maybe like a best of, right? Like, like here's the sort of essence of the crows in concert, um, kind of stuff and not really, it wasn't really about that fact that they were the hits, but so much as the, like, these are kind of the songs that are, again, are big.
01:16:35
Speaker
are classic concert songs, you know? No, that's right. All right. So before we move on from Toad, I'll just give the fun facts about it, because I didn't realize it, because some of these were slow burner albums, kind of like August was.
Concert Atmosphere and Venue Description
01:16:45
Speaker
But Fear and Dulcinea both did go platinum. um But Fear, again, because it was kind of a slow burner album with with All I Want and Stuff, we're only top 50. But Coil yeah debuted in the top 20, but didn't go gold. And that was enough to have to break them up, basically, I think, is what happened.
01:17:02
Speaker
So it's just interesting how the standards can really change. And now they're staying together and producing new albums, even though they're not selling really any at all right compared to back then. So it's interesting how we change as as we get older. OK, so let's ah talk about the actual concert itself. I mean, it's not too much different to set lists from the other ones. I do have a couple side. um Again, Chris, like you predicted, they did start with Sullivan Street as a tribute to me.
01:17:30
Speaker
Yeah, a thank you you thank you to to whoever in the band's team, probably not the band himself, but whoever in the band's team is a listener and keeps suggesting that they open with Sullivan Street when we're in the crowd.
01:17:43
Speaker
did um Oh, here's another just like I'm for those of you who that actually made it all the way to this podcast through through this podcast episode Just like I declared August 1st to be counting crows day. We must always acknowledge it as such The official so I noticed that Chris had a recovering the satellites t-shirt on today um It doesn't say recovering satellites, but it's a shooting star No, but it's a logo from the end. Yeah. And as I said, I bought it last year. I talked to somebody this year at the concert who had this. um And I'll mention that in a second. But I'm officially declaring now the shooting star to be the t shirt of the hardcore fans. So like, if you like, that's, that's an opening. If someone's wearing the shooting star shirt at a concert, you are allowed to go up and talk to them. You're either a fan of the podcast or And I went to, it was ironic. It was actually, Zephyr, the concert, I don't know if you listened to the episode, but the concert I met you, I also met Zubia and her daughters, and I interviewed them on a podcast episode. This one I actually, on the way to the bathroom, saw two women in the shooting star shirt, said hi, we talked. It was another woman and and her daughter, about the same age. ah But again, she kind of convinced her her daughter, all sorry introduced or introduced the crows to them, and now they both,
01:18:56
Speaker
I love that. So, yeah, we talked about, ah ah yeah, we we talked about the shooting stars there. All right. It's a good logo in the 90s are in, guys. The 90s are very in right now. I saw a band recently open for the Gaslight Anthem that was really doing like going deep into the 90s stuff. And I was including crowdserving. And it's just like, yeah, the 90s are back in, which means that the 90s Counting Crows logos are in, which means get out your shooting stars. Exactly.
01:19:25
Speaker
i don't Again, I'm not going to talk about every song on the set list. You can pick up what you want. I did mention in the beginning I was a little worried because I have a feeling I could be wrong, Zephry. I thought he was a little sick. I think he kind of got over it near the end. um I think I looked up that they had played three out of either something ridiculous like four out of six nights definitely they played the night before in san diego i know for fact because i met some people that went there um i just thinking you know when you get near the end of that show too maybe his body was starting to break down a bit even in the second song it was insane robinson he actually screwed up the lyrics a little bit in the beginning um he also correct me if i'm wrong there's only two videos on youtube there's a washington square which i thought was great and um him doing the one but he's basically wearing pajama pants right
01:20:13
Speaker
Yeah, they were like those purple stripes. It almost looked like if the Joker was wearing bell bottoms. That's pretty much what it was. I think they were pajama pants. So pajama pants. I think they were structured. I think he was just going very like 60s mod. I think I've seen this, but yeah. Okay. Because part of me was like, maybe he's been in bed, doesn't feel good. But as the show progressed, they were fine. I was just a little worried in the beginning that maybe he wasn't feeling it. And then they played Mr. Jones.
01:20:44
Speaker
The Colorblind, the Butterfly in Reverse, which we've talked about what we like, but they've played a lot. I want to play a math thing here with color with with Butterfly in Reverse. I made a joke earlier. They've played it 78 times. That's incorrect. They've played it 132, according to Setlist FM, um which now makes it um It's surpassed a number of the songs on Hard Candy. It's now like fifth from the bottom, which is, if they play it next summer, it's gonna catch a bunch of things. I wonder if it's because he considers it one of his most beautiful songs. He said his girlfriend said that. His girlfriend liked it, and she said to play it, and now he wants to play it all the time, and he forgot about it. It's kind of the same thing that he said about Monkey, right? Oh, we forgot about this, we didn't play it in the last tour. I'd rather you're a monkey. Yeah. Maybe it's not as bitter as the other one. I don't know. But he said he likes singing it. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. But I noticed when they played that song, everybody sat down.
01:21:51
Speaker
like everyone was standing the whole time which is that was like the fourth song or whatever right there really casual and that's kind of my yeah of that crap it was more of the drunk um we know the hits it definitely was not um Yeah, like I don't know. When they played that song in England, for example, nobody was sitting down. They just like went with all the songs and they and and they liked it. Can you guys describe the venue for me? Because it's labeled the Orange County Fair. And so I asked Eric before the show like what he was going to eat like he was going to eat like
01:22:22
Speaker
a hamburger on a donut or something like that, fried butter, and he's like, A, the fair's been over. The fair's not happening. well chris it's but What's the venue like? Yeah, it's kind of like the Greek theater a little bit. It's like an outdoor theater. it's not a like I guess it's it's called the Pacific Amphitheater, but I think of an amphitheater like you've got the indoor Thing the cover and then the lawn although Eric I think you said or somebody said that it used to have lawn at the very very back There's some grass and apparently back in the day. That was that was lawn. There was yeah I don't think I said that but I think somebody had told me that as well wrote to ah a person that I had a show with one of my bands last weekend and they said that they know people who knows Adam and he said 20 years ago and Add or this guy was backstage at the Pacific camper theater talking with Adam and some other people I thought that was kind of interesting and he said back then that place held about 10,000 and now it's like eight because they got rid of that grass Seating or whatever. So it's it's a really cool place and it was packed I looked around a couple times and so cavity drunk fans are not it was packed. Oh, it was absolutely packed I mean Chris, it's so weird because I've gone to now for well, I guess it's the only time I've only been to four shows in the LA Metro. They were all in the last
01:23:39
Speaker
16 months. So I saw the Troubadour show. I saw them at the casino here locally. I saw them in LA at the YouTube theater where I met Zephry and now in Costa Mesa, which is Orange County, which is a little different, right? You get the, I guess you'd call it inner suburbs and the rich, you know, OC, I don't know, housewives of OC, whatever. um They, the crowds were so different. I mean, the Hollywood, the Troubadour show was handful hardcore fans mixed with music execs and sales reps and friends of the band. And then the casino show was very
01:24:11
Speaker
quiet but very attentive like there were people that maybe didn't know and surprisingly not drunk for casino it was almost all these people like free show free tickets and they were watching it like you would watch a broadway show they were watching very intently and hanging on every word but It didn't feel like a concert in some ways, but it was great when they were playing Angels of the Silence Acoustic and Ballad of El Gudo, where you could catch every note and it felt so, um even though i it wasn't that close to the stage, I guess moderately close, it still felt intimate. um And then the YouTube theater show, i don't know that was a good crowd too. I thought the YouTube theater was was good and it was indoors, of course, and a little less drunk. And this was more out this was an outdoor show, which is one thing that
01:24:53
Speaker
um Is a little different one guy told me to and I'll say there's somebody had been to the show before I didn't catch it But he said one of the problems was that he thought the mix Was really bad that somebody was messing it up I didn't catch that. but but yeah and Somebody said it on the way out too. so two I heard two people say it. Anyway, i'm I'm not close enough to catch that. um so Then I did Omaha. Zephry, you got your Miami. Zephry asked for Miami and he got that. Because I didn't hear it last year when I sat front row and I wanted to hear that song front row. so
01:25:28
Speaker
someday I think I mentioned it, but last year, just to reiterate, Zephry was featured on the Jumbotron last year. Or so I was told. I don't remember seeing it. He wasn't the only one, but they suddenly showcased a couple hard fans that were sitting in the front row last year, and he was one of them. um And that was, of course, one of my issues, too. I was ah i was a little further back, I guess. this I thought the highlight, well, not highlight, maybe the highlight, because it was um they don't play it that often anymore, was Washington Square.
01:25:57
Speaker
I like that song and yeah I lived in New York, that meant a lot to me. and they they' playinging when he went into I was listening to the show, when he went into the the banter about that, I was assuming he was going to be like, I get to go home soon. He did say something about that, but he did also talk about how LA is still a home to him because he spent so much time there and lived there. yeah um That was kind of nice that it's like we you know the two ah two homes, um washington two places that Washington Square fits.
01:26:21
Speaker
Yep, absolutely. absolutely a Friend of the Devil, which i I guess they don't play as much as they used to. I went to them and they were playing it a lot. And I'm like, oh I've heard this so much, but they don't play it as frequently anymore. It was a good version. ah So then we get in the big yellow taxi, which we found out later replaced um Angels of the Silences acoustic.
01:26:45
Speaker
which is kind of a, you know, for whatever reason, they were supposed to play Angels of the Silences acoustic there, they scratched it and added baguilla taxi, which they weren't originally scheduled to play, so. How did you find that out?
01:26:57
Speaker
Somebody got a copy of the setlist. And it was that was the other song was on there was in fact, I was gonna say there was another song which was recovering the satellites, they totally dropped. So that one they didn't replace. But but someone had a copy that they you know, yeah up in the front, right? Everybody has copied the setlist. Oh, and then sometimes they give it to fans after the show. And those were two things. I'm guessing recovering the satellites was dropped because of time.
01:27:21
Speaker
Um, I don't know why they would replace, uh, big yellow taxi with angels, but I think it's more of a hit probably for that crowd. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe that was it. Um, so, uh, round here, which, okay. So I'll get Chris again. yeah He knows me. I'm not a huge all. I actually thought this was a pretty good all around here. I, even though I'm not a huge round here guy, this was one of the highlights of the show, I thought. Yeah.
01:27:48
Speaker
Definitely when they go into September fades into November. I like that version. It's I don't know. It's kind of feels relatable because it kind of feels like somber, sad, but there's like a hope or something almost like he was doing into his birthday right in August. So he was mentioning August a lot, right, Chris? So that was part of it, I guess. There's some August I remember and some August, you know, and some that I just forget. Yeah.
01:28:09
Speaker
um You know, and but yeah, it's, it's a very, well, especially I think, cause you guys, I mean, it was the last day of August, right? And you guys saw them. And it's really, it's fading into fall, right? yeah Moving, you know, that every every summer fades into September. Yes. yeah Nothing more true than that. Right. It's like, li but starkly, very starkly true. And I think it's, uh, I think it's, it's got its place among some of the best round here. Also, I think that's what they were doing this summer. That's what I was saying. I think.
01:28:38
Speaker
If you were looking like, if you were looking at these shows and you're like, okay, that's cool. That's interesting. But like what was really like interesting on the sort of the every night was like, what's he going to do in the middle around here? I think that was really the one of the highlights. and i think it It's interesting. It ties back almost to that long December intro from 99. And then we talked, he went through month by month and he's kind of brought that in around here now with these, with this all. Yeah.
01:29:03
Speaker
uh great yeah rain king which i i don't remember it being particularly memorable but of course rain king i love because no matter what the crowd is well especially a crowd like that a crowd like that actually will get totally energized by rain king right because they're there for the fans the hits they're pretty drunk and they went a little nuts about it. Do you agree Zephyr, that was a good? Yeah, that's that's always at the end of the set. It usually comes after, well lately it's been, I think it's been coming after a long December, I think, where usually they would do the the encore of Palisades Park, Ring King, Holiday in Spain. They did that for like eight years, that exact same encore. It's like, guys, come on.
01:29:41
Speaker
But, um, they, um, so they were getting the one in law. I guess this is the other time that I'll mention that like, and again, and don't worry. I was not traumatized by this experience, but it made me laugh. Like that was around all these kinds of douchey people. So the guy behind me that was complaining about toad, but even though he was a toad fan, but then like next to me, when I came back from bathroom next to me was, so that was kind of like the rich.
01:30:00
Speaker
yeah d bag behind me and then to the left of me was kind of like the working class d bag like so the different kind of d bags from like high school this guy was like this kind of working class and then you're gonna love this he was like why are you here alone man like what's what's what's wrong with you you didn't have anybody to break by the way he's there with his date like you can't cut and then ah I can't keep my mouth shut, so I said a couple of lines to him too. but was but but but then But then next to me was the good drunk people, they were totally drunk, but they loved, for some reason they got really into, they were the opposite, right? He thought I was weird and he was kind of making fun of me, and they thought I was really cool that I was there by myself, and they were asking all these questions. By the way, the one, in between set lists, not a bad idea, this one girl brought
01:30:43
Speaker
80s trivia and wanted to play it with people around her in the stands, which was not bad. And I did pretty good. I was impressed by that. But here's this, this is hilarious. So the one of the women next to me thought I was the coolest person until she still thought I was cool. But what actually because then when she was asking the pros, oh, you like them so much, you've been to a lot. When I said that I had a podcast, she was like, oh, well, that's a little bit intense.
01:31:13
Speaker
So that cracked me up. So that was like, she was impressed by my nerd scale until I said the podcast. That was a little too much for her, so. um just But the podcast, it's not a shrine. I don't know. I guess she thought, don't you have anything better to do? But the one thing that made me laugh is the guy next to me, who was, um I said the kind of the blue collar gooseback, he, um one thing interested comment, because he, um he only got into the four or five songs that were hits. The other ones he was either texting people or fighting with his girlfriend. But when they were playing the one,
01:31:42
Speaker
He was like, oh, I know this is going to lead to long December. But it was interesting. He he was like, this must be one of their new singles. So he caught the one. Yeah, I thought that was interesting. Um, so anyway, I love the one, you know, it's the fan favorite. He'll probably be doing that for a couple more years going into long. It's a great addition. It's great. It's great. Yeah. Yeah. And he really does it does sound like it's coming out of Adam's voice. Yeah. Yeah. And Chris, I'd have to go back because I'm not a hundred percent sure. Cause one thing we talked about offline was
01:32:15
Speaker
I think he was part of it by not much, but I think this year, Zephyr, you correct me if I'm wrong, Dan is adding a little more to the one. yeah He was standing there last time, but a little more guitar and a little more vocals. And I think last year he added less. And I think Charlie's playing accordion and Yeah, he did that both years, though. So he was always OK. And I think I think was any playing mandolin, too? I think they started adding more of the band members to smite some other things that I'm not sure about. Maybe. Yeah, I know that has been saying harmonies and plants and little licks and stuff.
01:32:50
Speaker
Yeah, so so that so that was great into long December. Now long December of course was fairly normal except I've mentioned it briefly on the podcast once, but I'm glad that Zephry knew it. I go nuts when they add that extra 30 seconds at the end.
01:33:06
Speaker
Do you know what I'm talking about, Chris? Where they, na na na, yes. And then they kind of stopped, and then they jam out for that, they and then he's like, hit it hit at the gym, and they do that extra 30 seconds. I don't know why I could listen to that 30 seconds all. It reminds me of the last part of all my friends. It's so great. Yeah. It's so good. It's great.
01:33:23
Speaker
they should play that it's just like ending some of those other ones i'm like that should be every time no matter what uh but anyway but i think that's what makes it so special yeah exactly that's what makes it that's true and you and i probably knew it was coming when he was holding the oh yeah chord at the end i was doing those like quarter notes i'm like oh i know it's coming Yeah, no, he's gonna do it because I thought he kind of had retired that because he definitely did not do it at all last year that I know for a fact did not do it in 2023. So I thought that that was kind of retired. um And that's it. And then hanging around and holiday in Spain. Anybody? Chris, there's every any other just comments about the concert at all.
01:34:00
Speaker
um Yeah, it was just great. I mean I hadn't seen him in a ah year at that point I wasn't really Santana's fine, but I didn't really want to see the crows as an opener So I didn't go to the forum show and when I saw back in February when I bought these tickets that toad was gonna be opening for the crows I was like well that sounds amazing so and it lived up to exactly what I thought it would because I saw them at the same specific amphitheater two years ago and and they played fine but something just felt really kind of rushed about their set and I remember walking out like when the show was done not walking out so the people next to me left after five songs they were like this sucks I'm out of here I'm like okay wow that's interesting
01:34:39
Speaker
But ah I remember when I was leaving, somebody next to me was like, that was the worst concert I've ever been to. Like they actually said that. And I was like, wow, that's a little intense. But they they played fine, but it just didn't have that passion. It felt like kind of just, I don't know, something was off that night. And maybe, you know, because they're so creative and emotional that they can't bring it 100 percent every time. So but I thought this time and and when I saw them at the YouTube theater,
01:35:06
Speaker
They were phenomenal. So it's just that was interesting to have that experience Yeah, I will say that and I usually only talk I mean except for people around me I've only I only maybe every show maybe I'll talk to five fans. I will say Chris that so far I've never had anyone actually know of the podcast right and most people have been really they're like Wow podcast just about the crows um There's only it they've always been very positive reactions like one right away like looked it up like oh, this is such a a great idea. Yeah, you're doing the right thing. There's the only one who was weird. And I think she was kind of drunk was this older fan that she had a troubadour show. And then I said something and it she's like, you need me like one of the you you should have me on I'm the biggest fan like I'm like, okay, great. Like you didn't sell yourself. and like yeah She's a big fan. So
01:35:54
Speaker
Or what about, you said some guy was going to start his own Crows podcast. You said you met somebody else. Yeah, that was last. We've talked about that of before.
Fan Interactions and Tour Notes
01:36:01
Speaker
But yeah, there's somebody else that had tried. They they last, yeah as far as I know, the last that is defunct. yeah um i did mean yeah I'm not going to mention any name or detail. i did Even though I try to recruit people to listen, I met somebody at the end who I think, as I was kind of waiting for the crowd to die down near the entrance, who I think knows, let's just say I'm very positive, knows Adam very well.
01:36:23
Speaker
a close friend and then, and then his wife was kind of trying to take him away. But even I just, it was so weird because I'm usually very outgoing, but I couldn't cross that line in that situation. Not cross the line, sorry. I, I decided not to bring up the podcast, even though a little bit, I um either wanted to talk about ask it, just randomly ask a couple of questions like, Oh, you know, Adam from this, what about this? Or even just mentioned the podcast. But to me, I was like, yeah, yeah I don't want to come across this, whatever.
01:36:52
Speaker
at least at this point, too stalkery. So I just ah yeah said have a great night and left it at that. but So anyway, um so Chris, any other thoughts about, um and then we'll we'll go to Rich, but any other thoughts about or closing things about the podcast at all, the tour, anything? Well, a couple of tour notes, right? And for those who are kind of following along, um they did introduce into the sets in the last run of shows, a few songs. um So we talked like last time about how relatively few songs had been in in the mix. They added God of Ocean Tides, Black and Blue and Good Time um towards the end and did mix it up again. They added some interesting other stuff, too, although they opened a lot of the last run of shows with Hard Candy and Richard Manubal back to back, like three, at least three or four shows. They went with that as as the opening, too. Also, interestingly, so I think we'd know last time that
01:37:48
Speaker
um Carl Parazzo from Santana's band had been playing up with them on Hanging Around. One time, that San Diego show the night before Santana came out and played guitar, Carlos Santana played ah guitar with them on umm Hanging Around, and that is worth listening to. ah Carlos Santana, I don't know if you've heard this guys, very good at guitar.
01:38:11
Speaker
Very, very good. Very famous. as We're playing guitar. Something else entirely with Santana on lead guitar. and And that version is worth listening to. Adam yields out, hey dad, in in the middle of it. It was really funny.
01:38:26
Speaker
you know I asked if we were talking about the the show that we would have went to with the opening would have been at the Kia Forum, I guess it's called, right? um Which again, if we had this other choice, i wrote I wrote on Reddit, like how was the crowd? And someone wrote, they were all there for Santana, but they cheered very loud for the crows, which was great.
01:38:45
Speaker
um By the way, the Costa Mesa show, Zephry, I think people have commented. There was one other person that said what I, most people were very positive about the Costa Mesa show, and and I generally was too, but there was one other person that said, like, I didn't write anything about my experience, but somebody else complained about the drunk, you know, they just said, oh, these were just people, you know.
01:39:04
Speaker
I don't know the yacht rock crowd that were just there the drink or wine and from Newport or whatever yeah i can Imagine they're talking the whole time just ruins the show it does this area yeah it had a mix had a mix But rich any other thoughts of closing thoughts as we wrap up the episode No, you guys covered it really well. It's just really appreciate his honor to join you today. Thank you great and we and we appreciate hearing your story and um and we're glad you got to ah make it to the show because it probably, it would have broke your heart, I guess, to miss one of their classic shows. but and Because you didn't know that they were going to record their, you know, bootleg from it and stuff, so.
01:39:45
Speaker
That's great. And you hopefully you did you did eventually find your wallet. Yeah, yeah it was gone. life Life lesson that day. Don't run in, leave the car unlocked with your wallet, just hang it out in the middle. ah But, you know, it's a wallet. The worst things in life got over it. You got to the show, and that's really... Yeah, there you go. andre yeah painful on your wallet at the time And who would have known 25 years later, here I am, getting to talk to to you all about it. It's great. Oh, that's fantastic. Well, for Zephyr, Rich, and Chris, I thank you for listening.
01:40:13
Speaker
and look forward to seeing you down here on Sullivan Street. Goodbye.