Counting Crows, Maroon 5 clash in emotional styles

FOR THE INQUIRER

If ever there was a 180-degree contrast of passion, it was displayed Saturday at the co-headliner concert of Counting Crows and Maroon 5 at Camden's Susquehanna Bank Center.

The Crows and their growling anthems opened for Maroon's brand of silky smooth soul.

That was a mistake.

Maroon 5's polished tunes and crooner Adam Levine's high, handsome voice - filled with more hooks than a bait shop - shared none of the energetic angst of Counting Crows and its mouthpiece/lyricist Adam Duritz.

Duritz has long shared his problems, big and small, with his audience. He's been frank about nervous breakdowns and mental-health issues in interviews and within his frayed romantic lyrics.

On Saturday he struggled with a broken heel, but refused to play it safe. Instead, the Van Morrison-like howler and his brusque-sounding friends played every song as if it were their last.

Gripping his head, staring into the crowd with his wide, dark eyes, Duritz made you sense every emotion he felt. Every tender ballad (especially "A Long December") was anguished. Every full-bodied rocker (such as "Shame") seemed on the verge of careening.

Like The Band, Counting Crows provided a rumbling, tumbling, organ-filled and raucous ambience to its singer, allowing him to breathe new life into old songs. Duritz even added into the mix a passage from "Doris Day," a song from his past Bay Area band, Sordid Humor.

For all Duritz's frenetic forlornness, there was joy. Through the cigarette-stained hauteur and lullaby melody of "Goodnight L.A." and its insomniac sadness, Duritz found light: "I don't mind the dark discovering the day. 'Cause the night is a beautiful bright blue and gray." Yes it was.

Maroon 5 had introduced locals to their chic brand of soul pop in 2007 when their album,

It Won't Be Long Soon

, was new. That gave them a bit of a comfort zone for this show.

Levine hit the falsetto highs of "Makes Me Wonder" while the rest of M5 provided caramel-smooth harmony vocals worthy of Earth, Wind & Fire on "If I Never See Your Face." Levine's spirit and sadness came through louder and clearer than ever on his plinking piano in "This Love."

But Counting Crows was too hot an act to follow with the cool of Maroon 5.