Published in the Quad-City Times on July 6, 2024

At the John Deere Classic on Saturday, there was an obvious gap between the Counting Crows fans and the golf fans who were just there for a good time. 

But even that gap wasn’t quite as large as the one between the crowd and the stage. 

Clunky stage design put a damper on what was a mostly excellent set from the Crows, a California-born rock band that took the stage to their home state’s “Dreamin’” hit by the Mamas And the Papas. 

Even the closest fans in general admission felt like they were watching the concert through a television screen. The 18th hole, its accompanying pond, a line of security personnel and a little over 100 feet stood between John Deere Classic attendees and the stage. 

Only a small bunch of VIP fans got the green light to stand near the band.

The turnout overall was scarcer than last year’s Blake Shelton and Darius Rucker bills, according to the fans who saw both. 

But the Crows rocked on regardless. 

The band’s eccentric lead singer Adam Duritz took the stage in, ostensibly, a sky-blue bucket hat, black jeans and a black jean jacket. Though, with all that awkward distance and my ever-dwindling eyesight, you could talk me into it being a ball cap and a tux and I wouldn’t fight you on it. 

The Crows opened with “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby,” a long and winding stompalong ballad from their platinum 1999 record “This Desert Life.”

In it, Duritz stopped to greet each member of the band before the song’s hypnotic and circular verses. 

Despite the song’s status as a tertiary hit, few in the crowd sang along. It was fairly easy to spot the diehard Crows fans based on how comfortably they mumbled along. 

Braden Frazelle, a 22-year-old from Moline, was even easier to pick out of the crowd: he was rocking a Crows T-shirt. 

“I’ve never watched golf in my life,” he said before the set. 

Frazelle went to the show alone but made friends throughout the day. He said he has been a diehard fan of the band since 2020, when their songs hit close to home after he graduated high school during the pandemic. 

“They have more imagery in their songs than anyone I’ve ever listened to,” he said. 

Frazelle has a point.

The songs played on Saturday afternoon proved Duritz has a knack for writing about people (“Mr. Jones,” “Anna,” “Mrs. Potter”), places (“Miami,” “Omaha,” “Spain”) and the things that tie us all together, with deft and delicacy. 

Frazelle’s personal Best Counting Crows Songs list is full of deep cuts, and fans like him were probably satisfied by the set on Saturday, when the Crows dug deep into the catalog for songs like “If I Could Give All My Love -Or- Richard Manuel is Dead” and “Hard Candy.” 

Duritz threw his haymaker early on, jumping into ubiquitous ’90s rock hit “Mr. Jones” as the third song of the afternoon. It was clear that was the song casual fans were waiting for. Cheers erupted when he started on the verse.

But even though most of the crowd knew the words, it was tough to singalong on Saturday.

It wasn’t a tempo problem — the instrumentation was exactly as it sounds on CD, all the way down to the chimes on stunning ballad “Colorblind” and the twirls of Charlie Dillingham’s accordion on “Omaha.” 

It wasn’t a sound issue either. In fact, the JDC speakers were surprisingly crisp.

It’s that melodies are optional for Duritz when he gets on the mic. The singer hitch-hiked his way through verses with a scatting spoken-word cadence, and the hooks you know slipped away like a fly you can’t quite swat. 

At a typical Crows headlining set, that’s no problem, because the most diehard fans of the group are happy to watch Duritz engage with and adapt his own art on the fly. But in front of a crowd of mild fans, it didn’t land as well.

After “Mr. Jones,” some fans filed out to grab drinks and return later. Some never came back. Those who left, though, did miss out on a great back half of the setlist.

There was “Anna Begins,” where Duritz bent to a squat and got conversational with the VIP fans up front. There was also “Butterfly in Reverse,” which Duritz himself acknowledged wasn’t all that popular of a pick.

“But it’s a beautiful song, and it’s a beautiful day,” he said, so he played it anyway.

And he was right. The canopy of trees above kept the sun away, and if you closed your eyes long enough, the corporate feel of the golf tournament faded and Gillingham’s bluesy dive bar piano punches took over. 

All in all, the setlist had 14 Crows songs, 80 minutes of entertainment and three covers. Grateful Dead’s “Friend of The Devil” and Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” got the Crows treatment (though the latter missed its signature Vanessa Carlton bop-bop-bops). 

And the biggest surprise of the evening was a cover of “the 1,” a Taylor Swift song from her record “folklore.”

Duritz played the Swift cut on a big piano at center stage, fading its final chords into the Crows wintry singalong “A Long December,” which got a big whoop from the fans who stuck it out.

By the song’s end, a sea of hands, Michelob Ultras and toddlers were held in the air for Duritz’s “na-na-na” fina-na-nale. 

“Theoretically, we should leave and then return to uproarious applause,” he said afterward, hinting at an encore.

“But that sounds like a waste of time right now.” 

Those that did hang around got to hear “Hanginaround,” the biggest hit from “This Desert Life” for a reason. As the last big upbeat track of the day, it was one of the highlights of the set, cathartic for those who baked all day in the dawn-to-dusk JDC golf experience. 

During its last chorus, a father danced and dipped with his daughter, fans in the grass tapped along and a few gentlemen walking by on the concrete path pointed with fingers in the air. 

“This is a pretty beautiful place to play a show,” Duritz said before playing piano ballad “Holiday in Spain” as the show’s final lullaby. “It feels like summer.” 

The gap between the Counting Crows and the crow’s nest was a big one. But it wasn’t too large of a gap for Duritz & Co. to bridge, for those who stuck around to see the full show. 

“We’ll be back again,” Duritz promised before walking off stage to “California Dreamin’.”

I hope next time we can just get a little closer.