Counting Crows put on an old-fashioned, no-frills rock show and looked like they enjoyed every second on stage.
The set-list consisted of some close to the album renditions and complete reworkings of their most familiar songs. One of the best parts of the show was the complete breakdown in the before the last verse in A Long December. Adam went off-script and began talking to the band and the audience. Adam was having so much fun that he lost his place. The band (and Adam) fell back in sync and the crowd had a very funny "it's only rock and roll" moment.
Most of the songs played were from August and Everything After and Recovering The Satellites, making the crowd sing-a-long a noticeably joyful part of the show. Fortunately, Adam rarely let the crowd sing too many parts of song for him and chose to really show his ability to sing changed words and melodies that improvised some character into familiar songs. A few of the new tracks (all covers) from Underwater Sunshine made an appearance, namely the two Gram Parson penned tracks. They also covered "Mercy" written by their opening act Tender Mercies. Counting Crows made the most of their last concert for 2012 and it looked like they were genuinely having fun on stage.
The opening acts were both quite good. I would definitely see Tender Mercies as a solo bill if they played the greater LA area again. Many of the Counting Crows members played in Tender Mercies, adding some noticeable stage chemistry to the band. They had some really great songs and the singer had the raspy singer-songwriter quality that really paired well with their overall sound. Mean Creek were a little more on the harder side of rock, but both bands complimented the style of Counting Crows' array of sonic territory.
The Grove was a very comfortable venue with a decent bar and (regrettably) moderately high prices.