While the ASUC candidates were duking it out over god-knows-what in Barrows Hall, somewhere just out of earshot, the Superb Spring Concert rocked Lower Sproul Plaza. By the time the show started, most people knew that the “surprise” guests were, in fact, the Counting Crows, so we didn’t see anyone stalk off in a huff mumbling about how they’d heard William Shatner was coming.

If they sound familiar, but you can’t quite put a tune to a band name, the Counting Crows are most recently known for their Academy Award-nominated song, “Accidentally in Love,” but are much better known for their slightly-sporadic string of massive hits during the nineties. Whatever associations the audience had with the band, they all melted together into a big, steaming pile of love when front man Adam Duritz, a Berkeley alum, slurred fondly about playing on Sproul Plaza in the past, then later pulled on a Cal sweatshirt.

After the performance, which finished with a 4-song encore, the air was abuzz with raging debate about Duritz’s precise level of intoxication, as the crowd–largely comprised of an awkward combination of hipster students, and alumni from the nineties who brought their young children–dispersed. In Duritz’s defense, however, sources say that the jumping and wobbling lead singer had injured his ankle (or heel, or something … ), not to mention the guy did sound great.

Quite a few audience members also expressed displeasure at what they viewed as the band’s implied stubborn refusal to play their most currently recognizable hit, “Accidentally in Love.” But hey, if you wrote an over-played toe-tapper for “Shrek 2,” you might not feel like playing it all the freaking time, either.

Image Source: Alex Cohen
Earlier: The Daily Californian Elections Circus … er, Forum
Counting Crows [Wikipedia]
Counting Crows Mr. Jones Live From Sproul Plaza 4/4/08 [YouTube]