Counting Crows Play Headline Show

As part of their Australian tour with The Who, Counting Crows will play their only side show concert at Melbourne’s Palais Theatre on Friday March 27.

Headed by the enigmatic Adam Duritz, the seven-piece San Francisco Bay area band last played in Australia in 2004, but after a few dates the tour was cancelled due to the death of Duritz’s grandmother.

Counting Crows came to global attention with the release of their 1994 debut album August And Everything After which was produced by T-Bone Burnette, mixed by Pat McCarthy and Scott Litt (who both went on to produce REM albums amongst others)  and featured the smash hit single Mr Jones as well as some other great songs such as Round Here, Rain King, Sullivan Street and Raining In Baltimore. It was an album of its time and Counting Crows seized the moment admirably.

The band went on to sell more than 20 million albums worldwide across their career.

Last year they released a long-awaited thematic double album called Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, which debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard chart. The new album saw the band split their musical personality with the rock ‘Saturday Nights’ portion produced by Gil Norton (of Pixies
and Foo Fighters fame) whilst the more acoustic ‘Sunday Mornings’ portion had Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron and Wine) at the desk.

In Australia, a lead single You Can’t Count On Me from ‘Sunday Mornings’ goes to radio and video on February 9 to coincide with the Australian tour.

Counting Crows consist of Adam Duritz (vocals), David Bryson (guitar), Charles Gillingham (keyboards), Dan
Vickrey (guitar), Jim Bogios (drums), David Immergluck (guitar) and touring bassist Millard Powers.

Gillingham in particular is also heavily in demand as a session guest and has played on a number of significant albums. Adam Duritz has been a bit of a curiosity over the years, sometimes keeping a high profile on the celebrity circuit and other times appearing to be very uncomfortable in the  public eye. I got to meet him in the late 90’s when we spent an afternoon shooting hoops in the backyard of producer Tony Berg in LA. The point of that shameless name drop is to tell you that he’s a good bloke regardless of his sometimes prickly media persona.

TICKETS ON SALE TUESDAY FEBRUARY 3

From ticketmaster.com.au & 136 100

The full tour dates are:
March 21st – North Harbour Stadium, Auckland (opening for The Who)
March 24th – Brisbane Entertainment Centre (opening for The Who)
March 26th – Adelaide Entertainment Centre (opening for The Who)
March 27th- Palais Theatre- Melbourne (CC Solo Show)
March 28th-  Hope Estate Winery, Hunter Valley NSW (opening for The Who)
March 31st – Sydney Acer (opening for The Who)
April 4th – Perth – Members Equity Stadium (opening for The Who)

The Who In Australia

Legendary British rock band The Who will be touring Australia in 2009 playing stadiums around the country as well as at the Melbourne Grand Prix.

Supporting The Who everywhere other than Melbourne, somewhat incongruously, is Counting Crows.

Performing in their only Melbourne show, The Who will perform at the 2009 Melbourne Grand Prix to a whole new level with a spectacular concert to herald the conclusion of the opening round of the Formula One world championship. Melbourne band Dallas Crane will kick off the evening for them at that show only.

This follows the successful Kiss concert last year which did its part to stimulate the flagging Grand Prix brand. No concerts in other states have been announced as yet but the wording “only Melbourne show” suggests that there might be Australian shows in places other than Melbourne!

The Who is one of the most influential groups in rock music. Their progressive approach to the writing of albums and their exciting live shows are matched by few. The hard rock style they brought to England’s music scene was one that set the stage for other bands ranging from Led Zeppelin to The Clash, The Jam and later Oasis. Their influence crossed the pond as well bands such as Cheap Trick and The Raspberries, The Stooges and The Ramones in America and You Am I in Australia.

The Who has sold over 100 million albums and won every major award including Grammies, Brit Awards and Lifetime Achievement honours. The Who actually released a surprisingly small number of albums although Pete Townshend has a number of solo albums to his credit.

The Who albums are: My Generation (1965), A Quick One (1966), The Who Sell Out (1967),Tommy (1969), Who’s Next (1971), Quadrophenia (1973), The Who by Numbers (1975), Who Are You (1978), Face Dances (1981), It’s Hard (1982) and Endless Wire (2006), along with the essential live album Live at Leeds.

The Who has been inducted into both the US and UK Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame. All three versions of the American forensic drama CSI (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY) feature songs written and performed by The Who as their theme songs – “Who Are You”, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Baba O’Riley” respectively. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, are the last two surviving members of the original foursome. The band is rounded out by long-time members Simon Townshend (guitar), Zak Starkey (drums), Pino Palladino (bass) and John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick (keys).

“This is a special occasion for us to come and be with you guys at the time of the Grand Prix,” said Townsend. “KISS did it last year and we hear they played to big crowds, but we hope to see an even bigger crowd when we hit Melbourne in March.” “We can’t wait to get there,” added Daltrey, “we hope a load of you turn out to see us. It’s a bloody long way to go, but you’re worth coming to.”

Grand Prix Tickets

My Generation Platinum’ tickets – $225. This includes general admission entry to the Grand Prix on Sunday 29 March as well as admission to an exclusive viewing area for The Who immediately in front of the stage.

‘Who Are You Gold’ tickets – $175. This includes general admission entry to the Grand Prix on Sunday 29 March as well as admission to a premium viewing area, immediately behind the ‘My Generation Platinum’ viewing area and in front of the general patron viewing area.

Those who have 4-day general admission, grandstand or corporate tickets can also purchase a $76 upgrade which allows them access to the ‘Who Are You Gold’ area.

The 2009 FORMULA 1™ ING Australian Grand Prix is on at Albert Park at 26 – 29 March.Tickets are on sale November 3. For bookings or more information, visit www.grandprix.com.au 13 19 31 or call Ticketek on 131 849.

Other tour dates:

March 24        BRISBANE Entertainment Centre
March 26        ADELAIDE Entertainment Centre
March 31        SYDNEY Acer Arena
April 4            PERTH Members Equity Stadium