GREEN BAY – If Steve Miller’s performance in the team’s 100th season in 2018 is the benchmark for the Green Bay Packers’ kickoff weekend concerts, then the Counting Crows are hot on his heels.
Exactly 31 years to the day after the release of the band’s debut album, “August and Everything After,” singer Adam Duritz & Co. sounded just as good at Lambeau Field on Saturday night as “Mr. Jones,” “Round Here” and “Rain King” did when they were first heard in the ’90s.
In case you need a reminder of how long ago this decade was, Duritz mentioned the band’s appearance on “VH1 Storytellers” to illustrate the point.
The Packers’ traditional concert in front of the stadium on the eve of the first home game is inevitably a party. The fans are hopelessly optimistic. The weather is always perfect, as it is at the end of summer. The crowds are huge. And the price is right: free.
What kind of party it is depends on who’s playing. Jake Owen set the mood that was a cross between Titletown and Margaritaville beach bum vibes. Train was the wedding band, belting out every crowd pleaser imaginable, including ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” and the Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” Big & Rich was a veritable pep rally, from “God Bless America” to “Baby Got Back,” disguised as a concert.
Counting Crows eschewed any predictable hurrah moments and instead delivered a more nuanced 90-minute performance that focused on the band’s lyrically rich catalog and went down in history as one of the best Kickoff Weekend concerts since their formation in 2017.
Duritz was never wearing a Packers jersey (it wouldn’t have matched his fabulous purple-and-black striped pants anyway), but when he sat down at the piano for “A Long December,” he somehow made the sea of people stretching across the parking lot on the northwest side of the stadium and streaming into the Titletown District feel like they’d just walked into an intimate venue.
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The band never inspired a single “Go Pack Go” chant from the crowd, but their adventurous acoustic arrangements of “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Angels of the Silences” were cause for cheer. The night’s accidental cover was not a party anthem, but a glorious version of The Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil.”
And who needs a cheesehead when you can pull out an accordion, mandolin and tambourine? (Though Duritz regretted not bringing his sunglasses, as he stared directly into the sun during the performance. “I didn’t want to bring it up. I was afraid everyone would throw sunglasses at me,” he said. “Don’t do that. It’s OK.”)
Despite the Crows’ effortless relaxation before the excitement of the Packers’ game against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, “Hanginaround” and “Rain King” also brought plenty of good cheer.
It was the Counting Crows’ first appearance in Green Bay in 20 years, but it wasn’t Duritz’s first time at Lambeau. The 60-year-old frontman said he’s been to many games at the stadium (and never experienced a loss, by the way), but playing there for the first time was “pretty cool.”
“As a football fan, I grew up in Oakland and was obsessed with the Raiders. If you’re a Raider fan, you’re a Raider fan and there’s nothing you can do about it. Believe me, our team didn’t belong to us. They just go wherever the (expletive) want them to go. It’s really annoying, but you love them,” he told the crowd.
“Then I got to come here and watch this team play for many years, and I have to tell you, it was an absolute pleasure. What a cool, legendary place to hang out. To be asked to play here tonight is the coolest thing.”
“As a sports fan, I was just so excited and thank you so many of you for coming. I had no idea there would be so many people here. It’s just amazing. I can’t tell you how much this means to us. Thank you so much. I hope you have the best year ever.”
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and features writer for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Reach her at 920-431-8347 or [email protected]. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
