Watch Noah Kahan Perform Counting Crows Ballad ‘A Long December’ With Adam Duritz in Kentucky

Music festival season has been bringing together some dream pairings of acts that wouldn’t usually cross paths. In April, Olivia Rodrigo joined No Doubt during a special reunion performance at Coachella. Then, just last week, Ed Sheeran fulfilled a childhood dream when he performed with the Offspring at BottleRock Fest. And this past weekend, Noah Kahan took the stage at Railbird Festival for a headlining performance, where he was joined for a duet with Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz.

When the lineup for the Lexington, Kentucky festival was first announced in March, Kahan reflected on his career trajectory on X (formerly Twitter). “Somehow headlining another festival,” he wrote. “And I get to watch counting crows play the songs that shaped my childhood? K sounds good.”

Counting Crows, listed on the second line of performers for the music event, performed on the Limestone stage at around 7:15 p.m., two hours before Kahan would take the stage as headliner. The band’s set featured 10 songs, including their 1996 single “A Long December” and a cover of Taylor Swift’s Folklore deep cut “The 1.”

When Kahan took the stage, he worked his way through 18 songs, one of which happened to be a cover of “A Long December.” Duritz returning to the stage for the performance was a pinch-me moment for the younger musician. “A full circle moment for me,” Kahan commented beneath a video Counting Crows shared on Instagram. “I am so full of gratitude for you and your music. Truly some of the best songs of all time.”

Kahan’s set also featured a special appearance from Hozier, who joined for their collaboration “Northern Attitude” and performed a headlining set of his own on Sunday.

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