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Live Review: Counting Crows, Collective Soul and Live in New Britain, CT

If we were talking baseball, the Rock & Roll Triple Play tour of minor league ballparks that hit Connecticut's New Britain Stadium on Saturday (8/18) would have been two days past the All-Star break--the mid point on the tour. And, judging from the audience-pleasing performances turned in by the bill of Collective Soul [ tickets ], Live [ tickets ] and headliners Counting Crows [ tickets ], these guys managed to hit more than a few out of the park.

Before each set, the players even got to trudge across the vast open outfield to get backstage, the same route the relief pitchers would take to get to the mound. But centerfield on this occasion was filled with a hulking stage and sound system instead of a bunch of athletes in baggy uniforms.

By the comparatively early 6:30 p.m. start, nearly 5,000 fans who came out early to tailgate were heading for their seats, primed to relive their dormitory days, checking out some of the more prolific acts that were enjoying plenty of radio play a decade ago.

It appears that Collective Soul frontman Ed Roland learned a lot about stage presence from the many '80s hair bands that went before him, because his posing and strutting carried on nearly to distraction for most of the set. Nonetheless, his strong vocals were complimented by the stellar guitar work of bother Dean Roland and Joel Kosche, and solid backing contributions from bassist/vocalist Will Turpin and drummer Ryan Hoyle.

The Roland/Kosche combination was at its best on Collective Soul's renditions of "December" and "The World I Know," which gave Kosche a chance to break out his E-bow to inject some interesting harmonics into the mix. A couple of new tunes, including the band's new single, "Hollywood," fell flat thanks to their highly generic instrumentation and easily forgettable melodies.

The band recovered nicely, however, romping through hits including "Simple," "Gel" and, of course, "Shine," closing out the set with obligatory fist-pumping and shouting out during the tune's infectious hook.

If Collective Soul could be regarded as the starting pitcher, Live certainly worked well as the reliever. Ed Kowalczyk and company came out strong, re-engaging the crowd by opening with "All Over You." Donning an acoustic guitar for much of the rest of the set helped give Chad Taylor and another brother, Adam Kowalczyk, plenty of room to amp up their capable axe work.

Live also garnered consistant and enthusiastic audience response for the balance of about an hour, pushing more than a few buttons with numbers including "‘Selling the Drama," "The Dolphin's Cry" and "I Alone," wrapping up with an extended treatment of "Lightning Crashes."

Counting Crows served as perfect closers, although the headline set nearly exceeded the time both openers spent on the diamond. Adam Duritz seemed to be in a pretty upbeat mood for a late summer Friday evening, whistfully spinning around and hopping across the monitors above the crowd for much of the set.

Vocally, he was in top form, as were his gifted bandmates, who wove their unique combination of folky rock arrangements into a perfectly mixed package that will certainly have fans primed for a promised 2008 tour supporting a new album, "Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings." And, if a new offering wasn't enough to keep hardcore Counting Crows followers juiced, Duritz revealed the impending release of a deluxe version of the group's debut album, "August and Everything After," featuring a full-length concert DVD circa 1992.

Both of these products were adequately represented during Counting Crows' New Britain show, with the band stunning its hard-core followers with the most loyal to its original version of "Mr. Jones," I've ever seen over the course of more than a half-dozen shows over the years.

New material, including an upbeat but nontheless haunting "Cowboys," "Washington Square," and the REM-flavored "Insignificant," were planted among established staples like the tasty "Mercury," showcasing some fine slide guitar work from David Immergluck. Guitarist David Bryson was no slouch either, switching from crunchy rhythms to delicate, airy leads as he moved through the set.

Duritz interjected numerous observations, mostly about his ability to screw up relationships among friends and lovers alike. Before introducing "All My Friends," from "This Desert Life," he wondered aloud how many audience members were like him, watching their friends grow up around them while they seemed stuck in time, going nowhere at all.

A few songs later, Duritz delivered the lyrics to "Hard Candy," with such painful inflection you could almost re-live the moment he realized the love of his life was losing interest in him. "Miami" featured precisely articulated vocals and a sweet, tasty acoustic break courtesy of Immergluck.

Other highlights included "Holiday in Spain," "Goodnight Elizabeth," the pleasantly stripped-down and piano-intensive "A Long December," and a group of lucky fans who were invited to come up and dance around the stage to "Hanginaround."

While he is the obvious focal point, the effectiveness of anything Duritz had to offer was only as good as what his fellow musicians were willing to contribute, and each of them--Immergluck and Bryson, as well as Jim Bogios, Charles Gillingham and Dan Vickrey--all brought their hot bats to the ball park on this fine summer evening.