CityLife

Flying visit as Crows wing in

THE 1993 debut album, August And Everything After, from Counting Crows, quickly became a word-of-mouth favourite.

Here, it seemed, was a band who, with their musical mix of roots, rock and a floridly poetic brand of lyrics purveyed by striking-looking frontman Adam Duritz, represented the antithesis of the nihilistic grunge or death-metal bands then occupying the commercial high ground in America.

Nobody could dislike them, and they genuinely had some pretty terrific songs, so why should you want to try?

But then things went a bit pear-shaped. The second album, Recovering The Satellites, not only took three years to appear but was also, essentially, just more of the same.

What's more, Duritz's high-profile liaisons had made him something of a fixture in the gossip pages, and not only had their live shows turned out to be rather tedious and indulgent affairs but they had also made the tactical error of proving so with a non-event live album, Across A Wire: Live In New York.

Subsequent studio efforts This Desert Life and Hard Candy have had their moments and the recent compilation record is an enjoyable collection, but the impression remains that they are a band who've run out of great ideas, an impression that's not exactly assuaged by the supremely unimaginative notion of branding this outing as a "Greatest Hits" tour.

Counting Crows, supported by Josh Ritter, play at the Manchester Apollo, Ardwick Green on Friday and Saturday, February 20 and 21. 7.30pm. £18.50. Call 0870 060 1768 for availability.

The Counting Crows gig on Friday will be reviewed in the Manchester Evening News the following day.