Rockers sing the blues at concert

Melissa Schorr

Friday, Sept. 19, 1997 | 7:50 a.m.

It was a throat-lumper of a concert, one that moved listeners to tears beneath their screams.

Adam Duritz, the Counting Crows' lead singer, confided his woes to last night's audience at the Aladdin Theater.

"I've been on the road a year now, which can screw any relationship in the ground," he reverbed. "This is a song about the first time we ever went on tour and the consequences of not coming home for a long time, and since it's happened again to me yesterday, I'm going to play it tonight."

Then, dressed all in black, he mournfully plunked himself down on a speaker at the edge of the stage, and launched into the ballad "Goodnight Elizabeth," as the crowd sat quietly in sympathy, a few holding up lighters of solidarity.

"I'm all alone...and you're not coming home," he finished, turning and disappearing back into the darkness.

It sounds like Adam Duritz is in for heartache yet again, which, while bad news for Adam, is probably good news for the Counting Crows, which consists of drummer Ben Mize, guitarists Dan Vickrey and David Bryson, and bassist Matt Malley.

That misery means material, which has driven the sale of six million copies of the band's 1993 release, "August and Everything After," and is equally as impressive in their follow-up, "Recovering the Satellites."

With Duritz, it is hard to know where personal anguish ends and his writing begins. But the pain seemed to ring genuine last night.

It was unmistakable in his syncopated performance of "Anna Begins," where instead of his usual plaintive wail, he spit the words out in a spiteful chant. "I am not going to beg," he sang defiantly. "I am not going to break. And I am not going to worry about it anymore."

During a medley based on his hit "Round Here," he sang sadly, "I got this gray sky and I can't get it out of my head ... Hey monkey, why you wanna leave me? Why...Why?"

And when he got to the verse in "Mr. Jones" -- "When everybody loves you, you will never be lonely" -- the truth of his ironic words seemed to overcome him, and each time he turned away from the audience.

Duritz showed an impressive range, from an intimate "Unplugged" piano version of "Raining in Baltimore," to the obviously cathartic rendition of the ebullient "A Murder of One."

The Wallflowers also wallowed heartily in misery with their crowd-rousing single, "6th Avenue Heartache."

The band, bassist Greg Richling, drummer Mario Calire, keyboardist Rami Jaffee, guitarist Michael Ward and singer Jakob Dylan, ably recreated their current hits "One Headlight" and "The Difference" from their album "Bringing Down the Horse" to a crowd that hardly considered them the "opening act."

Lead singer Jakob Dylan's raspy voice sounded less like his famous father, Bob, but unmistakenably similar to the Boss, Bruce Springsteen, whom he sang with at this month's MTV awards.

Dylan politely thanked the audience after each song, but seemed stiffly stuck behind his mike, making little small talk or venturing towards the audience.

It didn't matter to the teenybopper crowd. They shrugged at the rendition of the Beatles' "She's Got a Ticket to Ride," but still gave off earpiercing shrieks at every opportunity and waved madly when the strobe lights flashed upon them to steer Dylan's attention to row S.

"We love you Jakob," screeched the five high school sophomores in unison, piercing eardrums all around them.

"It is too bad he's married," it is remarked sympathetically.

"Married?" they repeat in horror, as all five bright shiny faces drop, and they too experience their own heartache of the night.