Too much of a good thing can leave you feeling all sorts of ways: bloated, barfy, exhausted, or as in the case of the Counting Crows performance at the Mandalay Bay Beach pool area, lethargic.
With opening act Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket setting the mood, Adam Duritz and gang played an hour-and-a-half set comprised of top-10 hits and more obscure numbers. But even at their most energetic rendition of "Mr. Jones," Crows' songs can make Enya seem like a speed fiend.
The night seemed promising as Duritz opened with "Rain King," with David Immerglück playing mandolin as Duritz shed his shoes and socks, standing on the front speakers to hold his mike out to the sold-out venue. The band was creative, riffing on the end, and soon followed it with "Mr. Jones." Duritz played to the crowd, moving about the stage, and even the couple of people floating in the wave pool seemed to be enjoying the show. The by-the-numbers "Big Yellow Taxi," a copy of the studio version, itself a copy of Joni Mitchell, had the crowd expressing their joy with cheers and arm-waving.
But a couple of number later, Duritz harshed the buzz. Performing "Colorblind," he stopped, standing centerstage, hands in pockets. It worked. The crowd was as silent as 3,000 people can be. But when he finished and started in on "4 White Stallions," the night had gone from happy—well, as happy as you can get with the Crows—to somber. No matter what they did, Duritz Inc. couldn't bring them back. During "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby," the crowd managed to wave their arms about like writhing sunflowers when the white spots were flipped on, but as soon as the lights were off, the arms were down. Not that Duritz helped. Moping about, leaning against scaffolding, he was the picture of tortured poet.
It wasn't until "A Murder of One," the last song not counting scheduled encores, that the crowd and Duritz picked up, ending with him doing a Courtney Love with the mike stand. He tried to get the audience clapping along to the second encore song of the night, "Hangin' Around," but it was too little, far too late. Complaining twice about Mandalay Bay's "strict curfew" of 11 p.m., Duritz and his friends, whom he remembered to introduce at the very end, left. But I guarantee that they couldn't beat a chunk of the audience out the door.