Review: Counting Crows, the Wallflowers deliver '90s favorites and then some at State Fair

Let's go back to when MTV still mattered, when Cities 97 was the coolest radio station in the Twin Cities, when the so-called AAA format (adult album alternative) ruled.

Hootie & the Blowfish were kingpins in the 1990s, but two California bands, Counting Crows and the Wallflowers, made their marks with alt-rock that crossed into the mainstream. Hootie's on hiatus while frontman Darius Rucker has become a country star, but Counting Crows and the Wallflowers have hit the road with new music to promote.

These longtime road warriors teamed up Friday at the State Fair grandstand — 25 years to the month after they shared a bill at Target Center.

Here's the headline news: Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz doesn't have dreadlocks anymore. Or a beard. And he's got a bald spot.

None of that diminished the powers of the Everyman-looking dude in the Velvet Underground T-shirt, jean jacket and torn jeans.

Duritz, 58, remains a compelling, charismatic original, a poetic storyteller whose songs are filled with vivid characters but not necessarily tuneful melodies or conventional choruses.

He's a sensitive guy, as he explained early in his 95-minute set. He was sensitive enough to accommodate his nephew's request (Duritz's brother lives around here) for the ballad "Black and Blue" and his girlfriend's request for the Broadway-ish "Butterfly in Reverse," which had been out of the repertoire for 20 years.

Duritz explained that his voice couldn't manage "Butterfly's" falsetto ending. And, after he flubbed the final high note, he declared, "I felt like I swallowed a butterfly."

That's the thing about Duritz — he's very in the moment, open and unpretentious even if his songs often strive for profundity. He asked the audience to sing "Happy Birthday" to lead guitarist Dan Vickrey.

The audience accommodated and Duritz gave his review: "You guys could never make a career out of that, but we still appreciate it."

Sometimes in the past, Duritz has come across as a self-absorbed, indulgent performer. At the grandstand, he was a magnetic, demonstrative singer, who got lost in the emotions of his songs without losing his audience of 10,735.

Never ones to rock hard, Counting Crows offered a couple of striking acoustic songs in mid-set as well as a four-song, Springsteen-evoking suite from last year's "Butter Miracle, Suite One." They wrapped up with more energy on the '90s hits "Rain King" and "Hanginaround" before Duritz thanked the crowd for supporting Counting Crows for 30 years. "Seriously," he announced, "we have no chance of getting other jobs."

The Wallflowers frontman Jakob Dylan has the same job as his famous dad, Bob. In a fast-paced hour, Dylan showed that he still smolders more than burns yet still rewards.

He offered three pieces from last year's "Exit Wounds," his first new album in nine years, but it was oldies that invigorated the crowd, especially "6th Avenue Heartache," the Tex-Mex seasoned "God Don't Make Lonely Girls" and his 1997 Grammy-winning smash "One Headlight."

Dylan, 52, sang with a dramatic dusky rasp, but he cut loose with a fuller voice on a cover of Tom Petty's "The Waiting" and his own, very urgent "The Difference." Like Counting Crows, the Wallflowers delivered three decades on.