Counting Crows @ Red Rocks

WHAT A TIME w/ Counting Crows at Red Rocks on September 25, 2023 in Morrison, CO. Definitely nostalgic for me. But the highlight was hearing “Vindicated” live, obvi performed by the openers of the show, Dashboard Confessional.

Dashboard Confessional

Singer/songwriter Christopher Carrabba became the poster boy for a generation of emo fans in the early 2000s, having left behind his former band (the post-hardcore Christian outfit Further Seems Forever) to concentrate on vulnerable, introspective solo musings. Armed with an acoustic guitar and soul-baring song lyrics, he christened his new project Dashboard Confessional — named after a lyric in “The Sharp Hint of New Tears” — and began releasing material in 2000. By the 2001’s, The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most, Dashboard Confessional had evolved into a full-fledged band, but Carrabba nevertheless remained the focal point of both the group and the rejuvenated emo genre.

The band hit its mainstream peak with mid-decade releases A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar (2003) and Dusk and Summer (2006), releasing two more studio albums before retreating from the spotlight for almost a decade. Their only 2010s effort, Crooked Shadows, was issued in 2018. By the time they released a greatest-hits retrospective in 2020, they had become respected scene veterans with decades of earnest, timeless tracks. In 2022, following pandemic lockdowns and a major motorcycle accident, Carrabba returned with All the Truth That I Can Tell.

pulled from All Music

Counting Crows

With their angst-filled hybrid of Van Morrison, the Band, and R.E.M., Counting Crows achieved mainstream success almost overnight in 1994. Behind their breakout single, “Mr. Jones,” the Bay Area group’s debut album, August and Everything After, went multi-platinum, earning a slew of Grammy Award nominations and setting them up as one of the more prominent acts of the mid-’90s. Their roots-driven approach to alt-rock struck a chord with fans of classic rock, and they’ve managed to carry their initial success well into 21st century with albums like 1996’s chart-topping Recovering the Satellites and 2002’s Hard Candy, as well as the 2004 hit “Accidentally in Love.” While Counting Crows’ recorded output slowed somewhat in the 2010s, they still managed a certain amount of prestige and respect, thanks in part to 2016’s well-received Somewhere Under Wonderland. After a six-year gap, they delivered the 2021 EP Butter Miracle, Suite One.

pulled from All Music