Counting Crows + Frank Turner – Enmore Theatre
Sydney Australia – 11 April 2023
It’s been a long 8 years since Counting Crows graced Australia with their presence and audiences could not have been more excited.
Tonight is the last stop on the Australia and NZ Leg of the 2023 Butter Miracle tour after playing at the Legendary Byron Bay Blues Festival and this being the second show in Sydney at the Enmore Theatre added due to massive demand!
All Aussies can agree, it’s not a night out at the pub, wedding, karaoke night or backyard BBQ without you all belting out at least one of Counting Crows classic hits and you can see from the excitement on the fans faces that they have been waiting every minute of eight long years to see them live again.
The crowd has arrived early tonight to see English Singer Songwriter Frank Turner in his first visit back to Australia since 2018.
He is an entertainer – there is no other word for it. Audience participation, great banter, jokes and appreciation for the crowd arriving early to listen to his “punk rock” anthems.
His lyrics are meaningful and beautiful, all tell a story and he lets us in on the stories behind a couple – being “Be More Kind”, written for his wife and Miranda – written for his dad after 10 years of being estranged. Frank is also not shy about letting us know that he appreciates everyone will have an opinion of the theme behind Miranda, but in PC terms – he doesn’t give a shit what anyone else thinks!
He receives a warm enthusiastic reception from the crowd and will be back in Oz in November for solo shows which I will be sure to check out!
Set list:
1.) If Ever I Stray
2.) Recovery
3.) The Road
4.) Be More Kind
5.) Miranda
6.) Get Better
7.) I Still Believe
With warm up tracks featuring one of Australia’s best rock bands (yes I am biased) – Gang of Youths blasting through the speakers for a number of tracks – you have to appreciate international legends promoting one of our own don’t we!!
The Enmore is crammed and bustling – standing room only as now – it’s time.
Counting Crows head straight to the stage, the spotlights focusing on each individual band member before Duritz kicking off with “Sullivan St”, “Hard Candy” and into the crowd favourite – “Mr Jones.”
There is know way you would know Duritz has just recovered from a bout of Covid 19 after the New Zealand leg of the tour – he belts out hit after hit in absolute perfection.
Banter with the crowd he explains how the basically spent from ages 20 – 40 playing drunk, which was “fun” but there is a lot of that time that he doesn’t quite remember, so it’s a sober Duritz we see tonight, which is evident when he leaves the entire theatre in silence during his rendition of “Colourblind” – which is absolute perfection.
The hits keep coming with the set list quite different to their 1st Sydney Enmore show which to the die-hard fans means the world – many who have bought tickets to this show as well after their knockout performance on Sunday night. A mixture of old and new stemming back from August and Everything After through to The Butter Miracle – Suite One which was more of a timeline of Counting Crows career than a ‘Greatest Hits” list.
Coming back after the encore with “Omaha”, they round up the night with “Hanging Around” and finally “Holiday in Spain” – bringing to a close a whirlwind Australian tour that was eight years in the making, but worth every second of the wait for Counting Crows loyal fan base who have sang, cried, hugged and danced through every single minute.
Band Members
Adam Duritz– lead vocals
David Bryson – rhythm guitar
Charlie Gillingham– keyboards
David Immerglück– guitar
Dan Vickrey– lead guitar
Jim Bogios – drums
Millard Powers– bass
Setlist:
1.) Sullivan Street
2.) Hard Candy
3.) Mr. Jones
4.) Colorblind
5.) Butterfly in Reverse
6.) Anna Begins
7.) Cover Up the Sun
8.) Round Here
9.) Blues Run the Game (Jackson C. Frank cover)
10.) When I Dream of Michelangelo
11.) Friend of the Devil (Grateful Dead cover)
12.) Recovering the Satellites
13.) The Tall Grass
14.) Elevator Boots
15.) Angel of 14th Street
16.) Bobby and the Rat-Kings
17.) Rain King
18.) A Long December
Encore:
19.) Omaha
20.) Hanginaround (with Frank Turner)
21.) Holiday in Spain
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