The Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in the northern Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, Georgia, welcomed Grammy-nominated band Counting Crows back to town on Thursday night. Built in 2008, this 12,000 capacity venue became the latest stop on their Complete Sweets! Tour, which included artist support from rockers The Gaslight Anthem. Noticeably, and for the first time in my recent memory, the facility actually closed down the rear general admission lawn and instead allowed fans to fill in any empty covered seating. While I suspect the demand for this show was impacted by the fact the Counting Crows were just here nearly two years ago, it could be more likely blamed on some concert fatigue from other major touring acts like the Goo Goo Dolls and Toto separately coming through town earlier in the week.
As the sun began to set around 7:30pm, Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz came out and introduced The Gaslight Anthem band to the early Atlanta crowd. Formed in 2006 and lead by Brian Fallon, The Gaslight Anthem began their night with “Autumn” from their sixth studio album release, History Books (2023). Flanked by Alex Rosamilia (donning an Ozzy Osbourne shirt), Alex Levine, and Benny Horowitz, the band delivered an enjoyable 11-song set that felt like a musical extension to the feels you get from the Counting Crows and their rock and roll contemporaries. While The Gaslight Anthem’s originals like “45” amazingly stood on their own, I particularly enjoyed the band’s cover selections in “Honey Bee” (Tom Petty), “Chloe Dancer” (Mother Love Bone), and “Mama, I’m Coming Home” (Ozzy Osbourne) as well, which highlighted their diverse musical talents and interests.
The Gaslight Anthem
Brian Fallon – Lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano
Alex Rosamilia – Lead guitar, backing vocals
Alex Levine – Bass guitar, backing vocals
Benny Horowitz – Drums, percussion, backing vocals
Current touring musicians
Ian Perkins – Rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Bryan Haring – Keyboards, backing vocals
Setlist:
1.) Autumn
2.) Positive Change
3.) The Weatherman
4.) Dark Places
5.) Honey Bee (Tom Petty cover)
6.) Mae
7.) Mulholland Drive
8.) Chloe Dancer (Mother Love Bone cover)
9.) The ’59 Sound
10.) 45
11.) Mama, I’m Coming Home (Ozzy Osbourne cover)
Following the backline equipment change, the stage was set for the Counting Crows. With the evening temperatures finally giving some relief to the humidity, Duritz and the band appeared at 9:00pm in front of their dedicated fan base and started off their night with “Spaceman in Tulsa,” a track pulled from their most recent release, Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets! (May 2025). Known for his casual demeanor and commanding soulful voice, Duritz then rolled the band into the tune “I Wish I Was a Girl,” followed by their 1993 breakout debut single, “Mr. Jones.”
Rounded out by David Bryson (guitars), Jim Bogios (drums), Charlie Gillingham (keyboards), David Immerglück (multi-instrumentalist), Millard Powers (bass), and Dan Vickrey (guitars), the tight-knit outfit formed back in 1991 continued to delight their adoring followers by taking creative and fresh liberties with their live delivery and stylistic modifications for many of their songs, which on Thursday night included a short acoustic set midway that highlighted “Washington Square” and “Angels of the Silences.” If you’ve never seen the Counting Crows live, the best way for me to describe them is poetry with a musically emotional backing track.
Throughout the night, the band featured a total of four newer tracks from Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets! that seamlessly flowed within the setlist, but it was the radio-friendly, nostalgic fan favorites of Grammy-nominated song “Round Here,” as well as back-to-back resounding performances of “A Long December” and “Rain King” punctuating the completion of their main set, that brought the entire audience repeatedly to their feet.
Disappointingly, the Counting Crows excluded their popular Joni Mitchell cover in “Big Yellow Taxi” from their night, as their three-song encore bookended a crowd-pleasing rendition of one their most recognizable songs in 1999’s “Hanginaround” with the new “Under the Aurora” to start while closing out with “Holiday in Spain” from their fourth studio album, Hard Candy (2002).
This current leg of The Complete Sweets! Tour will continue on through Saturday, August 23rd, where it will conclude in Englewood, Colorado, at the Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre. Then following a short break, the Counting Crows will head overseas, picking up the tour again on Sunday, September 21st, in Brussels, Belgium, at Cirque Royal.
Counting Crows
Jim Bogios – Drums, backing vocals
David Bryson – Rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Adam Duritz – Lead vocals, keyboards, occasional harmonica and auxiliary percussion
David Immerglück – Guitars, bass, pedal steel, mandolin, backing vocals, banjo
Charlie Gillingham – Keyboards, backing vocals, accordion, clarinet
Millard Powers – Bass, piano, rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Dan Vickrey – Lead guitar, backing vocals, banjo
Setlist:
1.) Spaceman in Tulsa
2.) I Wish I Was a Girl
3.) Mr. Jones
4.) Virginia Through the Rain
5.) Omaha
6.) Anna Begins
7.) With Love, From A-Z
8.) Recovering the Satellites
9.) Colorblind
10.) Washington Square (acoustic)
11.) Angels of the Silences (acoustic)
12.) Round Here
13.) Boxcars
14.) the 1 (Taylor Swift cover)
15.) A Long December
16.) Rain King
Encore
17.) Under the Aurora
18.) Hanginaround
19.) Holiday in Spain
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Elliott is a music photographer covering shows in Atlanta, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The highlight of his photography career was back in the early ’90s, when he sold Neil Diamond the rights to his negatives from a show and then purchased a set of tires for his 1979 280ZX during college with the money.
