5th Street Stage, American Music Festival, Virginia Beach, VA 9/2/01

This is my totally unbiased review of the Virginia Beach show on September 2nd, 2001:

Wow!! This was my 2nd show that I have gone too by the Crows and I was blown away!! First of all, the setting could not have been more perfect! The show took place right on the beach, with a full moon behind the stage, and a huge amount of people that stretched as far as you could see (Seriously!!)!

Before the show was a little bit of a bummer, because I had to wait in line for a good 45 minutes to pick up tickets at will call, when I found out that I could have just bought the tickets at the show and been right up near the front of the stage instead at that time! But everything worked out well, and our seats were pretty good! By the way, there actually were no seats, just beach towells and chairs which was cool!

Virginia Coalition came out to play close to an hour set at 6:30 and they totally fuckin rocked!! Everybody in the band looked like they were having a great time playing! Plus there were some really kick ass drum solos in a few of the songs!! I would describe their music as a harder edged and more percussive Barenaked Ladies!This is definately a band worth checking out if you ever get a chance! After their energetic set, there was a break and they announced the winners of the Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon. Then soon after, the lights dimmed to a dark red glow, and the band came out!

Without saying anything, they rocked right into "Miami", which sounded great!! This song and "American Girls" really stuck out among the new songs to my Dad! Both of these songs actually got probably the 2 largest applauses from the audience tonight among the new stuff! But back to "Miami" - I think it would make an excellent single, but for some reason, I still think it sounds as though it is missing something! I might be wrong. Anyway, after that they played "I Wish I Was a Girl" followed by the next new song - "Richard Manual is Dead"! Adam had some mic problems before the song, so he didn't get a chance to talk about the song at this show! This is actually my 2nd favorite new song right now! It has a total Southern rock feel to it due to the lead guitar playing (which is actually very similar sounding to Lynyrd Skynyd's "Ballad of Curtis Loew")! After that Adam talked to the audience for the first time. He took a while trying to figure out what somebody's sign said out in the crowd and then mentioned that his grandmother was at the show and now lives in VA Beach. Then they soon went into "High Life", and an excellent perfectly played acoustic "Angels of the Silences"! Then they played another new song - "Inside of You" (aka: "Carriage") which he did not introduce at all, but it would have been great if he would have because it's a pretty good "behind the music" moment! Anyway if you haven't heard this yet, it's another really great song - very quiet finger picked acoustic guitar song! After that, Adam steped up to the piano and introduces the next song which is "Goodnight LA"! He mentions to the crowd that he has been suffering from insomnia lately and mentions that he didn't get to bed until "11 AM this morning"! I think he introduced it as a song about himself "not sleeping much and going crazy!" - something like that! Anyway, after starting out as one of my least favorite new songs, it has become my favorite (for now anyway!)!! It's a very slow moving piano driven song that climaxes during the chorus with everyone coming in and Adam singing with tons of emotion! This song has already become a favorite for me over "A Long December" as far as slow piano songs go! "Mr Jones" got a pretty large response from the crowd as the Crows went into the acoustic Storytellers version! Adam then walked to the front of the stage and introduced "American Girls", which would probably be my pick for the first single (from what I have heard) of the new songs! It's very catchy and probably the most likely to stick in your head for a while! Dan Vickrey came out with his banjo next to play the acoustic version of "Catapult" which was great as well! Then they went right into a song that I heard for the first time here which he said was currently untitled (aka: "Insomnia")! Since, I have only heard it once it's hard to judge it when compared to the rest, but it definately did hit me!! Charlie Gillingham opened the song right out with a very cool piano opening! Adam sang some incredible lyrics and he built them up with tons of emotion as the song went on!! This was one of my favorite songs of the night, but I would still have to hear it a few more times before I pass judgement though! "Round Here" was a very emotional version but still "pretty weak" when you compare it to most live versions from 97' to the present! The improv in this one was very short and featured the line "Shut Up, she said...." over and over again! There was a little more improv in the song as well, but that was all I remember! "Omaha" was a great version with Adam standing on top of the stage monitors with his mic held out during the chorus of the song for the crowd to sing along! "Rain King" was an easy highlight of the show and seemed to get the largest response from the crowd!! Adam was awesome on here and jumped around quite a lot!! It featured the "Thunder Road" improv thrown into the song! I've heard probably at least a 100 versions of this song with that improv, but there was nothing like being there to hear it and watch the band perform it first hand!! That was probably the best song of the night for me!! The band then left the stage, said goodnight, and then a couple minutes later, Adam came out on stage by himself and sat down at the piano! He announced to the crowd that "the rest of the band is backstage taking a piss, so I am going to go ahead and play you another song!". Adam then talked about the song saying that it was untitled and has to do with a weird relationship he had with a girl whom his friends hooked him up with! Anyway, it has been listed as being called "Boy From Texas" or "Good Times" on Counting Crows message boards and review forums! Adam did not play this song with the rest of the band (piano only), so I am wondering if the band even plays at all on this song!??! Personally, I think the song sounded kind of plain and a bit "weird" with just piano! Don't get me wrong it is a pretty good song and the lyrics are great! But if the song was meant for piano and vocals only, I see it as being another "Chelsea" or maybe released as a hidden track on the next album! Anyway, after that the rest of the band came out and they played "Goodnight Elisabeth" which I was dying to hear live after hearing one bootleg of it from a month ago! It was just awesome!! Adam stood in one spot with his hands in his pockets for pretty much the whole song and sang until he got to the improv in the song which was "I guess it's Christmas coming down.... I don't wanna be with you and I don't want to sleep alone.... So fuck your Christmas coming down.... Screw your Christmas!...."!! Adam sang the song with so much emotion it almost looked like he could have cried! The best part of the song was probably at the end of the middle improv of the song when he beat on his chest and shouted his "Hear my heart going Boom BOom BOOm BOOM" lines! He closed the song with some more improv which was awesome as well! I am so glad that I got to see this live!! After that, they closed the show with the usual "Hanginaround" which got the crowd clapping along during the song!! This was a really great version with lots of crowd participation singing along also! Adam was full of energy then ending with the "No Scrubs" improv which everybody got really surprised at when hearing it for the first time!! After that the band left the stage and fireworks filled up the sky capping off a great night of rock and roll on a perfect Labor Day Weekend!!

The set list was great and featured 7 new songs, 4 songs from "August", 3 from "Sattelites", and 3 from "Desert Life"! The new songs were all great!! I've heard 9 new songs now, ( all from bootlegs) and I really can't wait until this new album comes out ( which Adam said at the show will be done being recorded for Christmas and will be released in the Spring or Summer of next year!)!! The songs sound so awesome and I think this will be another great album of songs like "Recovering the Satelites"!! I like "This Desert Life", but I am soo glad that they decided to move away from their writing style of that album!! Anyway, tonight's show was great and ranks with the Black Crowes, Allman Brothers, and the Rolling Stones as one of the best live shows that I have ever seen!! I really didn't think that they would end up squeezing in 17 songs into the 1 and 1/2 hour slot that they were given to play in! I think they actually went a little over the 10:00 curfew in which they were supposed to stop at!! Anyway, the show was great, but if I could have changed anything - I would have asked for a better "Round Here" and more explanations about the new songs and of course as always a longer set (but it's really not their fault!)!! But nonetheless, it was amazing!! I did get to hear "Insomnia" and "Good Times" for the first time and a killer "Goodnight Elisabeth"!!!
Peace Out!!
John