Last night, we ventured on over to the other side of the state for the Counting Crows/Maroon 5 concert that I have been waiting for for the past several months. I have loved Counting Crows pretty much since their first album dropped, and it is still in very heavy rotation in my music library because it is almost perfection (with the exception of the song “Time and Time Again” which I just don’t like and never have).

The only other time I’ve seen CC in concert was my junior year of college and it was an amazing show – somehow, in between then and now I hadn’t had the opportunity to see them live (last year they were in town – but the show was on Pumpkin’s birthday, and I just couldn’t bring myself to miss my kiddo’s birthday). I have purchased and adored every album from their first to their latest, “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings” (amazing, amazing, amazing – by the way), and I worship Adam Duritz’s song writing abilities. That man can make words do amazing things. When the show was announced, I instantly made plans to get tickets ASAP.

It’s an odd ticket – I have to say – because most people I know like one band or the other – either you love Counting Crows and are meh about Maroon 5 (like me) or the other way around. The audience of the show last night seemed to reflect that theory.

Upon arriving at the venue, we found out that Augustana was the opening act. I about peed my pants because “Boston” is one of my favorite songs (It’s in my top five played songs in iTunes), and the thought of hearing it live made my night completely. I enjoyed their whole set – and will (I’m sure) have more iTunes purchases to report by Thursday.

Counting Crows were up next (which I was relieved about). I wanted to see the whole CC set, but knew we had a two hour drive home and didn’t want to cut their set short. I happened to feel a little less guilty about ducking out of Maroon 5 early. They opened with “Goodnight LA” and followed with several other favorites, including “Mr. Jones”, “Mercury, “A Long December” and the Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil”. Oddly enough, the only song from their new album that they performed was “Washington Square” – and that kind of bummed me out. All in all, their set was pretty mellow – and I’d kind of been looking forward to hearing “1492” (or, as I jokingly call it, “The Tranny Whore” song)… and they didn’t play “Anna Begins” either, and that’s one of my all time favorites.

Between sets, I was checking email and playing on my phone and trying to update Twitter. The downside was that the more people in the arena, the slower my phone got (dang!), and it was crazy and impossible.

Maroon 5 opened their set with “This Love” (yay! A song I knew) and their lead singer was drenched with sweat by the second song – I’m talking serious pit-circles (ANTIPERSPIRANT? Hello??? At the very least, he’s surely able to afford those armpit Botox injections that curb excessive sweating). But despite my not being familiar with their song catalog, I really enjoyed their version of “I Won’t Go Home Without You”, during which the lead singer had everyone pull out their cell phones instead of lighters to light up the night – which was actually a very cool looking thing, and I wish I’d taken a picture.

Long drive home and not enough sleep and now I’m sleepwalking.