HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Counting Crows and The Gaslight Anthem took the stage at The Orion Amphitheater over the weekend, with a night full of fun ahead for fans in the Rocket City.
Kicking off the evening was The Gaslight Anthem, a gritty rock punk band hailing from New Brunswick, New Jersey. Formed in 2006, the band consists of: Brian Fallon (lead vocals), Alex Rosamilia (lead guitar), Alex Levine (bass guitar), and Benny Horowitz (drums and percussion).
You may have seen the infamous video of Brian Fallon in 2009 singing with Bruce Springsteen “No Surrender” at Hyde Park live at the Glastonbury Festival in England.
Their set began with a nod to their New Jersey roots, entering to the theme song from The Sopranos (R.I.P. James Gandolfini), with the drum kit featuring an image of Carmela Soprano, portrayed by Edie Falco.
The stage setup included a large banner with the band’s name, wrestling action figures of CM Punk and (possibly) Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, as well as an Arnold Schwarzenegger figure in his iconic Conan the Barbarian look.
The Gaslight Anthem delivered a 13-song set, which included two notable covers.
Before launching into “Honey Bee” by Tom Petty, Fallon joked, “We’re playing a Tom Petty song and it’s not ‘Free Fallin’,” before diving into the lesser-known classic.
The second cover was “Chloe Dancer,” originally by Seattle-based Mother Love Bone. Mother Love Bone was the band before Pearl Jam. After the lead singer of Mother Love Bone, Andrew Wood, overdosed on heroin, the rest of the band got with Eddie Vedder and then formed what we know today as Pearl Jam.
The band closed their set with their most recognizable hit, “45.”
The Grammy and Academy Award-nominated rock band Counting Crows took the stage around 9:00 P.M. The band was established in 1991 in the San Francisco Bay Area, but exploded onto the music scene with their 1993 multi-platinum breakout album, August and Everything After.
The band consists of: Adam Duritz (led vocals), David Bryson (guitar), Jim Bogios (drums), Charlie Gillingham (keyboards), David Immerglück (guitar), Millard Powers (bass), and Dan Vickrey (lead guitar). In 2021, Counting Crows ranked #8 on Billboard’s “Greatest of All Time: Adult Alternative Artists” 25th-anniversary chart.
When Duritz asked the crowd to appoint one representative to answer what food we were known for, someone in the front of the stage yelled out “Bandito Burrito”, to which Duritz responded he found it hard to believe it could be better than the burritos in California. Towards the end of their set, Adam Duritz thanked the crowd, and said they were so appreciative that so many people chose to spend their night with them after 30 years.
Their 16-song set was a mix of new songs and classics, with three encore performances. They also covered two songs: “Friend of the Devil” by The Grateful Dead and a surprising yet compelling rendition of Taylor Swift’s “The 1.”
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