Mobile and the surrounding area have two huge annual events coming up — the Reese's Senior Bowl and Mardi Gras season.
Newly added is a free concert. Counting Crows will perform in Mobile on Saturday, February 3, on Senior Bowl Saturday.
The seven-member group plays at about 8:30 p.m. that night after the Senior Bowl and the day's Mardi Gras parades have wrapped up. They play at Mardi Gras Park in downtown Mobile. No tickets or reservations are needed. Just show up. First come, first in.
Mardi Gras Park is at 104-148 S. Royal Street. It fronts Government Street to the north, Royal Street to the east, Church Street to the south, and St. Emmanuel Street to the west. It was established in 2016 on the old Mobile County Courthouse site.
Counting Crows is an alternative rock band famous for energetic live performances. This will be their first visit to Mardi Gras season and is expected to be a treat for the band and the audience.
Counting Crows formed in San Francisco in 1991. Their first album, "August and Everything After," sold 7 million copies. They were awarded two Grammies in 1994.
The free concert is provided by Reese's Senior Bowl and Airbus.
The Senior Bowl committee described Counting Crows as follows:
“For more than two decades, Counting Crows—made up of frontman Adam Duritz, Jim Bogios, David Bryson, Charlie Gillingham, David Immergluck, Millard Powers, and Dan Vickrey—have enchanted listeners worldwide with their intensely soulful and intricate take on timeless rock & roll. Exploding onto the music scene in 1993 with their multi-platinum breakout album, August and Everything After, the band has gone on to release seven studio albums, selling more than 20 million records worldwide, and is revered as one of the world’s most pre-eminent live touring rock bands.
“In 1996, the band's double-platinum sophomore studio album, Recovering the Satellites, debuted at number one and further solidified their growing reputation as one of the leading American alternative rock bands in the world. A follow up to their early success; Counting Crows went on to release This Desert Life (1999), Hard Candy (2002), Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (2008), Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation) (2012), Echoes of the Outlaw Roadshow (2013), Somewhere Under Wonderland (2014), and “Butter Miracle: Suite One” (2021).
“In 2004, Counting Crows recorded the chart-topping ‘Accidently in Love’ for the animated motion picture Shrek 2. The instant success of the track earned them an Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Original Song’ at the 2005 Academy Awards, a Golden Globe nomination for ‘Best Original Song’ and a GRAMMY Award nomination for ‘Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.’
“In 2021, Counting Crows ranked #8 on Billboards’ ‘Greatest of All-Time: Adult Alternative Artists’ 25th anniversary chart.”
Some attendees are expected just for the free Counting Crows concert. Others will come after the noon Senior Bowl concludes. Others will come after the day's Mardi Gras parades in downtown Mobile are over.
Parades earlier on February 3 in downtown Mobile include:
1 p.m. Mobile Mystic Revelers
6:30 p.m. Maids of Mirth, Order of Butterfly Maidens, and Krewe of Merry Mates.
Then, Counting Crows cranks up. The band members have been invited to attend the Senior Bowl and a Mardi Gras parade or two before their last sound check.
Counting Crows first started their career with "August and Everything After."
Jim Zeigler is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at ZeiglerElderCare@yahoo.com.
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