Counting Crows offer live show downloads

Counting Crows fans can download a bit of concert memorabilia thanks to a new site, livecountingcrows.com, which offers recordings of the group's concerts.

The band's Sept. 29 show from Raleigh's Walnut Creek is currently available in MP3 and FLAC format, along with shows from Charlotte, Jones Beach and Boston. Subsequent concerts will be up a couple days after they happen but are available for pre-order.

At $9.99 for a full concert MP3 download it's not a bad deal. CDs are also available for $21, which seems a little steep unless it came with customized liner notes with photos from the show.

Though it will mostly be hardcore fans to purchase these shows, more bands should do this sort of thing. I'm still meaning to head over to playedlastnight.com and download The Swell Season's show at Meymandi Hall back in May.

Know of any other bands or sites offering this service? Let us know in the comments.

Once Counting Crows finish their U.S. tour in early October, they'll gear up for a round of European dates with our homeboy Ben Folds and The Hold Steady.

Dec. 2 Newcastle Arena (w/Ben Folds & Melee)
Dec. 4 Nottingham Arena (w/Ben Folds & Melee)
Dec. 5 Wembley Arena (w/Ben Folds & Melee)
Dec. 7 Manchester Arena (w/Ben Folds & Melee)
Dec. 8 Cardiff Arena (w/Ben Folds & Melee)
Dec. 10 BIC - Bournemouth
Dec. 11 Brighton Centre (w/Ben Folds & Melee)
Dec. 13 NEC Arena, Birmingham (w/Ben Folds & Melee)
Dec. 14 Sheffield Arena (w/Ben Folds & Melee)
Dec. 16 Brabanthallen - Den Bosch, Holland (w/The Hold Steady & Melee)
Dec. 20 The O2, Dublin (w/The Hold Steady & Melee)
Dec. 21 Odyssey Arena, Belfast (w/The Hold Steady & Melee)

Free music from Paper Route, upcoming show

It's Free Music Monday out here in the blogosphere, it seems.

Here's an offering from Paper Route, who will be dropping by Local 506 on July 10 with Brooke Waggoner opening. Tickets are $8/10.

Click here to download "All We Are Forgotten," off of the group's EP of the same name, out July 8.

"All We Are Forgotten" (mp3)

Ben Folds to rock Cary's suburbs tomorrow night

The summer outdoor concert season may have kicked off weeks ago, but we'll be getting our first taste of it tomorrow night with Ben Folds out at Booth Amphitheatre.

The State of Things caught up with Folds last week for a chat about life and music, which you can check out here.

Tickets to the show are still are still available (even a handful of seats in the very back) through Ticketmaster.

The last time he was in town, at Raleigh's Memorial Auditorium, Folds made some pretty good cracks on Cary just before playing "Rockin' the Suburbs." Can't wait to hear what he says once actually in the town.

Check back later for our review of the show!

On the road with Steven Fiore

Steven Fiore had church music on his mind earlier this week.

On tour with Jay Clifford, the Charleston-bred musician played Coffee Underground in Greenville, S.C., Monday night which has church pews for seating.

"It does make me want to play Jesus songs, but other than that it's cool," Fiore joked.

The duo is playing smaller, intimate venues on a tour that will bring them to Chapel Hill's Mansion 462 this Friday and Saturday.

Fiore recently recorded a full-length album, Etiquette, in a Raleigh studio.

"We went to this three story house in Raleigh with all this equipment. The nicest things you could imagine recording with," Fiore said.

He said he wasn't going for one sound or another on the album.

"I don’t really like going for anything when I write. When I try to go for a certain style … your manager will say 'Oh write songs like this,' then you try to gear yourself towards that style and it ends up coming out forced or contrived," he said. "The other stuff just came to me because it’s supposed to. The way I wrote this record was I took whatever came to me."

For a sample of music from the new album, check out "Why Do You Waste Your Time" on Fiore's MySpace page. Fiore said he expects to release Etiquette at a show at The Music Farm in Charleston on June 6 where he and his band, Steven Fiore and the Good People, will open for Slow Runner.

Tickets for the shows in Chapel Hill May 2 and 3 are $10 each and available through etix.

Hello Tokyo to play...Burlington?

To be completely honest, I wasn't aware that Burlington even had a rock venue. In fact, I thought the only nightlife the town had was the (now defunct) strip club off I-40/85.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when I got an email that indie pop rock band Hello Tokyo would be playing there tomorrow night. The band will play at The Raven, where the usual fare is southern-tinged modern rock. Hopefully Hello Tokyo can help breathe a little fresh air into the venue.

Check out a couple free songs from the band.

"Steady the Gun" [MP3]

"Kiss Me Goodbye (remix)" [M4A]

Ben Folds to play Booth Amphitheatre May 30

Cary's Booth Amphitheatre just announced that local hero Ben Folds will play the venue Friday, May 30.

Tickets are $25 for lawn and $37.50 for reserved seating and go on sale Thursday, May 1, at noon via Ticketmaster and the Booth Amphitheatre box office.

Avett Brothers on Booth Amphitheatre schedule

It's not on the band's website or MySpace page, but The Avett Brothers are apparently scheduled to play Booth Amphitheatre in Cary on Saturday, July 26.

The show is listed in the town's summer program guide. No ticket prices or other information is listed.

Free download: The Forms "Red Gun"

After a quick recovery from SXSW, Brooklyn-based band The Forms are back on the road for a tour with Cloud Cult that will bring them to Chapel Hill's Local 506 on April 21. Opening the show is local band Sweater Weather. The show is $8 and is schedule to start at 9 p.m.

Just for you, here's a track from The Forms' self-titled album.

"Red Gun" [MP3]

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame comes to Cary

Some very exciting news came out of Cary today — and I don't say that often.

Booth Amphitheatre will host a fundraising event presented by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum on Sept. 20. The concert will benefit the John Entwistle Foundation, which bears the name of the legendary bassist for The Who.

The foundation declares its mission as “to develop and manage a musical education, donation and training program at libraries whose patrons are most likely to be underprivileged children and adults.”

The show will feature "very well-known musicians from big-name bands behind the front men from some of rock ‘n’ roll’s most legendary groups" playing in an "all-star band."

Because I know you're wondering how in the hell this event ended up in Cary, a national trustee for the hall of fame, Rick French, lives in the town. For more details, check out this story in The Cary News.

The most interesting part of all this, of course, will be finding out who's actually on the bill. The only name mentioned so far is drummer Steve Luongo, executive director of the Entwistle Foundation.

Who would you like to see play this show? And how astronomical do you think tickets to the event will be??

Counting Crows' Saturday Nights best on shuffle

I have to say I'm a little puzzled by Counting Crows' new album, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, out today on Geffen Records.

The concept itself is simple enough. Half the album is electric (Saturday Nights) and half acoustic (Sunday Mornings). But it's in the execution where things get a little bumbled.

The album opens with the heart-pumping "1492." The tempo keeps up through the next five tracks, ending with "Cowboys" and its brain-splitting chorus before mellowing out with "Washington Square."

In interviews, Adam Duritz talks about the two halves as if they are two separate albums entirely. And maybe it would have been better off that way. While I appreciate the concept, as a listener I feel it's better to have a little ebb and flow with the pacing of songs versus two chunks of one or the other.

Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings has plenty of songs that I enjoy. "Hanging Tree," "Los Angeles" and "Insignificant" off the "Saturday Nights" half of the album are all well-written pop songs that could easily stand alone, as well as "Washington Square" and "Anyone But You" off "Sunday Mornings." But the album hits a wall near the album's end with "Le Ballet d'Or" and "On a Tuesday in Amsterdam Long Ago" which, frankly, bored me.

Of the album and its concept, Duritz said, “We make good albums. I don’t know that we’re a great 'singles' band. Now with the whole world going byte-sized, we felt, and still feel, like it’s more important than ever NOT to cooperate with all of that.”

Maybe they need a second take on this one.

Counting Crows will be at Walnut Creek with Maroon 5 and Sara Bareilles on July 29. Tickets go on sale April 4.