When Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers came out to the cheering crowd at Turning Stone on July 2nd, the electricity was in the air – people were ready to dance and sway in their seats. The Wallflowers set included favorites like, “One Headlight” and “6th Avenue Heartache”. They also covered a couple classics, first a Box Tops song, “The Letter”, early on in the set that the crowd really seemed to enjoy.
Later in the set they performed a Rolling Stones tune, “Loving Cup”. The sound was crisp and while Jakob seemed to be slightly on autopilot he interacted a few times with the crowd. Mostly seated the whole set, he encouraged the over-30 concert goers to get up and move a little. It took a little coaxing but by the time the last song of the set “The Difference” came around, most people were up and dancing.
Adam Duritz and the Counting Crows on the other hand started off with a bang. They came onstage and played one of their most famous songs to get things heated up in a hurry, “Mr. Jones”. This led into one of Adam’s chats with the crowd while the band changed up instruments. The music was flowing nicely and the crowd seemed to be on their feet for the whole set, except perhaps during the intimate “A Long December”, where Adam played piano under a warm spotlight. The Counting Crows also played a number of covers along with their big hits from the 90’s. One of the covers during the main set was extra special, “Return of the Grievous Angel” by Gram Parsons, with co-writer Thomas Brown in the audience at Turning Stone. The set ended with a long and powerful “A Murder of One” as seen in the video below.
When the set ended, Adam didn’t want to get off the stage and was milking every last minute he could. He talked about acting locally and the Greybird Foundation (greybirdfoundation.org). The Greybird Foundation was founded because people feel small as the world expands and they need to feel like they can make a difference. So, the Greybird Foundation helps find the people down the street from you who are trying to do their part to help. Typically at Counting Crows shows there are booths of local non-profits but the comfortable indoor seating that we were all thankful for wasn’t large enough or able to accommodate that part of the experience.
The Counting Crows wanted to stay on stage so badly that they did two difference two-song encores. The first included a cover of the Grateful Dead classic, “Friend of the Devil” and another well-known Crows tune “Hangin’ Around”. The second encore was Bob Dylan‘s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” followed by “Holiday in Spain”.
The festivities at Turning Stone didn’t stop when the show ended either. As with most shows at the casino, there is a drawing that every ticket holder is eligible for to win a signed guitar. This time it was autographed by the members of both bands, and the lucky winner was Cassie from Oneida (just down the road from Verona). It was a great night of music helping to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the casino. Many more great shows are coming up, be sure to keep an eye out for them.
Set: Mr. Jones, Untitled (Love Song) (The Romany Rye cover), St. Robinson in His Cadillac Dream, Hanging Tree, Hospital (Coby Brown cover), Colorblind, Start Again (Teenage Fanclub cover), Anna Begins, Hard Candy, Meet on the Ledge, A Long December, Return of the Grievous Angel (Gram Parsons cover), A Murder of One
Encore: Friend of the Devil (Grateful Dead cover), Hanginaround
Encore 2: You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (Bob Dylan cover), Holiday in Spain
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