Review: Counting Crows celebrate 25 years of great songs - not biggest hits - at Denver's Pepsi Center show

There’s a reason that the Pepsi Center hosted a Counting Crows-Live twin bill on Wednesday night in Denver, and it was only part nostalgia that brought out a diverse crowd.

That nostalgia was found in Live’s set. The band – just recently reunited – stuck to the script, playing early 90s guitar riffs loudly- whether it was “Beauty of Gray,” “I Alone,” or “Lightning Crashes.” As one woman walking out of the Can proclaimed, “Live was so much better – I knew every song.”

Hence why this reviewer is going to skip over that set. Live didn’t do much for me in the 90s, and I’m certainly not running out to download their new single after hearing them last night. The Counting Crows though? That’s another matter, entirely.

The Crows – out on their 25 Years and Counting Tour – stayed away from most of their biggest singles and delivered a smorgasbord of samplings from each recorded album. Part of the fun of seeing a band like the Counting Crows – who change up parts of their set each night – on a non-album tour is the opportunity to hear the unexpected. The Counting Crows have always been an album band, so why not celebrate each?

Adam Duritz and his bandmates are also doing a really cool thing where you can request songs for each night by making a donation to their Greybird Foundation. The more money you donate, the more likely they are they play the song. Put all of these factors together and I was pleasantly surprised with the show. August and Everything After – the debut album that made them famous – made up four songs of the 16-song set, but “Omaha” and “Anna Begins” were wonderful unexpected treats. The Counting Crows also played three songs off their newest album, 2014’s Somewhere Under Wonderland. Every album in between was also represented.

Duritz has always talked too much for a front man. Wednesday night’s show could have included two more songs had he shortened some of his stories. However, he is so earnest, so sentimental, so engaging – the stories actually become part of the experience. When he told the audience that the tour brought back memories from each song’s history, it felt like the right time for story time. So Denver learned about “Omaha” and that no bandmembers had ever been there prior to writing the song, but that it seemed like the perfect city to use as a metaphor. And we learned that “Miami” was written waiting at an airport for an old girlfriend who Duritz still very much loves.

Musical highlights of the Counting Crows short set included “Colorblind,” where the crowd swayed to Durtiz’s weepy vocals and the hushed sound from the rest of the band. “Recovering the Satellites” rang through the Pepsi Center and seemed like an epic tale of the band itself – represented by that lyric about “a lifetime commitment.” Finally, “Holiday in Spain” closed out the night. A perfect closing song about taking a holiday after work is finished.

Here’s hoping the Counting Crows head back into the studio before that holiday. They’re plugged and tuned in on this current tour, which can only help the recording process. The Denver audience will be ready to celebrate that release, whenever it comes. And it will be singing along – just like it did last night to some of those celebrated deep tracks.

As the Counting Crows kick off their next 25 years together, let’s celebrate how they’re not a greatest hits revival tour. Also, let’s celebrate the fact they haven’t bent to peer pressure to play “Mr. Jones” or “Accidentally in Love” every night of any tour. Especially when it’s so very clear a segment of the audience wants just that after warming up to the idea with Live as an opening act.