The Wallflowers had plenty of surprises for fans at the Calvin Theater, including an appearance from Frank Black of Pixies fame
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The Wallflowers
NORTHAMPTON _ As it turns out Jakob Dylan did know something that Sam Cooke didn’t know.
The line from The Wallflowers song “Sleepwalker,” apparently discussed with a fan right before the band’s Friday night show at the Calvin Theater, was revisited on stage.
“I don’t know anything that Sam Cooke didn’t know,” Dylan professed, before launching into the song.
Not exactly.
He did know that Frank Black was in attendance, and we can assume that he knew they’d cover The Clash’s version “Brand New Cadillac,” to close out the nearly two hour set.
Dylan also knew the audience had fallen for Gina Romantini, fiddle player for opening act Trapper Schoepp and the Shades, bringing her out for several songs during the main set and the encore.
And Jakob Dylan knew if he wanted the audience to invest in songs from the band’s new “Glad All Over,” release, he’d have to wrap in the cloak of familiarity, woven from the hits of the past.
The Wallflowers did that to near perfection on Friday night, offering a two hour set that traipsed liberally across the new release but never strayed too far from home.
The band opened with new songs “It’s A Dream,” and “Devil’s Waltz,” before stutter-stepping through “Three Marlenas,” and tuning up the aforementioned “Sleepwalker.”
Romantini made her first appearance with the band on the new “Reboot the Mission” and stayed on as they started off a ragged jam on “Sixth Avenue Heartache,” that gelled into one of the highlights of the night.
Dylan playfully struggled to get a read on the audience, who at times seemed a bit too reverent for his liking.
“It is so quiet,” he exclaimed. “Am I making you nervous? Are you reacting to my seriousness? I’m not trying to be serious.”
He pulled out two more new songs, “Misfits and Lovers,” and “Hospital for Sinners,” the latter being the only song that made him sound like his famous father, Bob.
“Some songs are a bunch of words strung together and some matter more than others,” he said, introducing “How Good It Can Get,” and suggesting that song “was one that mattered.”
He went to the classic “One Headlight” before stunning everyone with the introduction of Frank Black and the wild ride through “Brand New Cadillac.”
The Wallflowers encore included “Nearly Beloved” and “The Difference.”
Opening band Trapper Schoepp and the Shades seemed a perfect fit for the bill, offering well crafted guitar-rock songs that resonated, particularly “Run Engine Run,” and “Pins and Needles” performed with Wallflowers’ keyboard player Rami Jaffee.
