Setlist Mr. Jones
Angels of the Silences
Rain King
Anna Begins
Omaha
Recovering the Satellites
Round Here
Hangin' Around
A Long December
Have you seen me Lately?
Murder of One
From: Ayappa Ponnappa Biddanda
To: COUNTINGCROWS-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: CC Woodstock Review
Hey Gang,
Well...my distrust of large crowds is once again reaffirmed. This
whole "let's-pack-in-250,000-people-together" mentality only seems to feed
crowd frenzies. The only bands that seem to get a decent reaction out of
the crowd are heavy bands that do nothing but cuss and use gimmicks to get
a rise out of the audience...Kid Rock immediately springs to mind.
....ooh, the setlist just got posted. i may recap it also...i
*am* glad i recorded it all on Short Play video, but i feel pretty bad for
the band. They didn't seem to be getting ANY vibe at all from the crowd.
The big finale was the rockin' "A Murder of One." At the "Get on up!"
part....Adam and Charley were the only ones gettin' on up...but, by the
end of it, Adam didn't seem to care and ended up almost doing some type of
funky jig.
Hmmmm...what else? Well, before they actually got on stage, you
could hear the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" playing. The stage was set
with a nifty mystical feel...lots of planets and celestial objects. Matt
was donning a throwback tie-dye shirt. David I. (whom the camera seemed
to like quite a bit--they keyed in on him many times) was sporting a
loud, yellow U.S. Postal Service shirt. It had me laughin' on the floor,
b/c it brought back my own memories of working with that lovely USPS
organization. All the reports of "big hair" were indeed well founded.
Adam was wearing a quiet blue shirt that reminded me on rolling tides.
Everyone seems to keep getting bigger, except for David B., who i don't
think will ever change in appearance (he reminds me of myself! lol!)
They started the set with the Byrds' "Rock 'n' Roll Star" intro
and launched into the electric "Mr. Jones" with David I. on electric
guitar and everyoe else at their usual instruments. "AOtS" featured an
extended guitar solo with Dan and David I. out front that was great to
hear.
"Rain King" had a nice breakdown and the "come on, come one"
addition like the Toledo show. For RK, David I. was at mandolin. That
was immediately followed by Anna Begins. At the end, the audience was
quite appreciative and seemed to applaud especially loud. Then it went
downhill from there..
They next played Omaha which is usually a *huge* hit at a Crows
show...when the audience is familiar with their songs and is there to see
the Crows in particular. This Woodstock gathering wasn't in that frame of
mind. Also, not having Omaha be a loud, overblown production "hurt."
(what's this world coming to when I have to say a sentence like that???--I
mean the audience was actually watching great music being performed in
front of them and they seemed to completely overlook it, they were more
interested in the topless girls crowd surfing and the drunk guys moshing)
Adam then made that comment about stepping back (which was alluded to in a
previous post) but tempered it by saying, "if y'all don't push, then we'll
come out there" and pretended to stage dive. But I think the audience
probably resented it, even tho' he was looking out for their interest.
RTS was next (a fantastic version in my opinion!), but it seemed
lost on the crowd. Now, David I. was playing the steel guitar...or maybe
it was the harpsichord...sorry, my musical knowledge is failing me!
Then came "Round Here" which could have been great, but by now I think
Adam was ticked at the crowd (i definitely was!). He tried to explain
the origin of the song as David B. played the intro chords. Again, hardly
anybody seemed to be looking at the stage, they were all distracted by
everything else going on. Then he improv-ed "How many people here? A
million..." (as kind of an offering to the crowd) and there was no
reaction one way or another. Then they incorporated more of "Rock 'n'
Roll Star" and parts of HYSML. The freakin' folks in charge of PPV
editing decided the middle of the song would be a good time to cut to
crowd shots and listen to what they were saying.
Next was "Hangin' Around" with members of the Gigolo Aunts joining
da guyz. (they'll be playing at 10:30pm on the Emerging Artists stage
tonight and Adam advertised for them) Then, as already posted, were ALD,
the semi-acoustic/semi-electric HYSML? (which i'm diggin' BIG time! ;)
and the "grand finale" AMo1. Other than having abolutely no crowd
response, the other thing that i couaght this time that i never noticed
before was that Charley wasn't playing any instrument...just standing at a
mic crooning along. It was grrreat to see him!
So. That's my version of how things happened. Maybe i'm
over-reacting a bit, but i was pretty angry at the crowd (tho', not really
surprised that that's how they reacted). i'm curious as to what folks in
other countried must be thinking of us Americans--a bunch of
exhibitionists who pay $150 not to listen to music but to get airbrush
tattoos, strip at the drop of a hat, flop around in the mud, and react
only to the bands that are overly loud and obnoxious.
...upset? who...me? Not at all... why do you ask? :/
Reviews
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 14:45:26 EDT
From: Brian Daniels
Subject: ccc: My woodstock review of the CC @ Woodstock experience
To: COUNTINGCROWS-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
AWESOME..... I just got back a few minutes ago, I smell, I am sweaty, I need
a shower, but I am writing this email. WOODSTOCK 99 kicked but, and so did
CC. I was to the left side of the stage if u are facing the stage, maybe 50
or 60 feet away from Adam, and 30 feet away from the swiffling camera pole
that is in the crowd. It was awesome, my first time seeing CC in concert.
You already have the set list, I have seen so I wont go over it, but it was
awesome the way they played. For you that saw it on ppv, you know that was
most rocking versions of the song, which seems appropriate since that's what
gets the crowd growing. Lets just say I got a sun burn on Saturday when they
played. Then I stayed for DMB who rocked too.
If that wasn't enough. I went to see the Gigolo Aunts, and I had a
feeling that Adam would be there. Guess what I was right. Was so cool,
first concert, and I met him. He came walking out from backstage after
introducing them and I was the first to greet him. I felt bad cause I asked
for a photo real hastily and he said he wanted to watch the GAs rock first.
So I watched as other people went up and took pictures, and I felt bad cause
I had bothered him. So as the GAs were finishing a song and Adam was walking
back to the backstage, I apologized for being rude and he said it was OK. My
friend said he got a picture then of me shaking his hand, but didn't get me
in it. When my friend gets them developed, if the pic is good, I will put on
my page. My friend also said he got another pic of just Adam, for all of you
who collect photos.
Dave(old dave) was also there, with some friends. At one point some
drugged out guy came up and said some incoherent thing to him and starting
swaying back and forth in a drugged out dance stooper. Dave and his friends
laughed, it was pretty ridiculous. I also have to add that the Gigolo Aunts
kicked butt. There songs are really good, and I am planning to buy there
album if I can find it. I also found out that all the emerging artist have
some sort of feature on www.amp3.com I haven't checked it out, I hope that
is the correct URL. Anyway after I apologized to Adam the GAs played one
more son and they were planning to have Adam go jam with them. Adam made his
way up, but some jerk with a cigarette in his mouth, I am guessing the stage
manager said nope, even though they were the last band of the night. People
started chanting A-hole, A-hole, but they didn't allow them to play cause
they had to set up the hanger for the all night rave(that was nuts btw).
I have to say that it was an awesome experience seeing CC there, and
also to find out about a new cool band, the Gigolo Aunts. I wish that CC had
played a few more new songs, but they only gave them an hour. I really want
to here Mrs. Potter Lullaby, since I heard it is good. Like I said I will
either post the pics to Lisa's site or put them on mine, if they are good,
but it might a week or two since my friend is getting them developed and
mailing them to me. I also might post other pictures we took. Maybe have a
weirdoes of woodstock 99 site.
It was fun, even though a riot started during/after the red hot chili
peppers. The whole place got looted. I also heard that some propane tanks
exploded, but I left before then when about all the fires that were set near
the east stage were getting high int he sky. If you guys post reply to this
message, requesting some general info about how crazy stuff got at WS,
especially after RHCP, I will post another message to the group. Probably
will be twice as long as this one though.
Reviews
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 01:24:44 -0400
From: Keith Bliska
Subject: ccc: woodstock review
To: COUNTINGCROWS-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
the heat was unbearable, and i had to to squirm, bump. push, and contort
my body in all sorts of different positions it's not accustomed to, in
order to stand some 30 feet away. you all know the setlist, so i will
skip that part of the review for y'all.
the crowd wasn't all that enthusiastic, and you had to expect it. i
was anxious to see how they treated the crows, some indifference, some
paid attention. some moshed. anyways, mr. jones was a great opening,
and i thought they did a great job, as did the crowd.
the only time the crowd came into play, despite being respectful for
the most part during anna, was round here. when adam was speaking,
people listened it seemed. funny, bryson's guitar could not be heard.
it was a weird situation, but ad kept on talking about being 'in you
middle 20s and not knowing were your going.' i held out my hands as if
to say, 'what's going on' to bryson (i was on the right side, and dave
was the band member i was closest to) and he smiled and shrugged. i put
my thumbs up and he laughed. it was kewl.
the crowd seemed to be singing along, at least through my ears and they
actually shut up, when he put his finger to his lips. :) that was cool.
the improv and last lines are so damn powerful, and took more importance
since he was holding such a bigger venue.
murder was cool, no one really jumped. which really sucked. 'i fuckin
played woodstock, and i am alll alone' rocked. i was the only one
jumping in my 'section.'
one more thing, i could not understand hangin around at all. i can't
wait to get a clear version. oh, not many clapped, which pissed me off.
--
