Sometimes we take a chance on concerts that don’t feature artist we know really well. We only have two albums by The Wallflowers, plus songs Jakob Dylan performed in the Echo In The Canyon movie about the musicians of Laurel Canyon in the 1960s. But, when we saw The Wallflowers were going to be in our hometown of Eugene, Oregon, we bought tickets.
The show was sold out at the 750-seat McDonald Theatre. We ended up sitting in the balcony. As you can tell by the marquee, the big draw is Jakob Dylan, the son of music legend Bob Dylan.
Jakob’s voice has always sounded a little smoother than his dad’s, but the similarities are very obvious. The first album by The Wallflowers was released in 1992, but it was their 1996 album Bringing Down The Horse upon which their reputation and career were built.
The album includes their best known hits… “One Headlight”, “6th Avenue Heartache”, and “”The Difference”. The only member of the group still active is Jakob Dylan, but that’s okay when he’s the lead vocalist and main songwriter. The rest of the band was made up of talented backup musicians who have been with Jakob for about five years.
Jakob Dylan’s profile sure looks a lot like his dad’s. As we watched the band, it was obvious how good all the musicians were, but there was a problem. The lead vocals were too buried in the mix. We could see Dylan was making an effort to convey the lyrics, but they were nearly impossible to discern, even for my wife, who has excellent hearing. Compounding the problem was our unfamiliarity with many of the songs.
For us, the evening was saved by a strong ending. “One Headlight” and “Who’s That Man Walking ‘Round My Garden” provided a solid finish to the main concert.
When the band returned for an encore, Dylan was wearing a hat, and we had the surprise of two excellent cover songs… “Wild World” by Cat Stevens, and “The Waiting” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Tom Petty, who often included covers in his shows, would probably have enjoyed another band covering his song. Then The Wallflowers closed the evening with their own hit, “The Difference”. That burst of five really good songs in a row made the whole concert worthwhile.