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THE WALLFLOWERS SETLIST
Maybe Your Heart's Not in It No More Encore: WILL DAILEY SETLIST
The Submariner AUG 19 Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City, IA
AUG 21 Chautauqua Auditorium Boulder, CO AUG 23 Belly Up Aspen, CO AUG 24 Riverwalk Center Adm Breckenridge, CO SEP 26 Academy Of Music Theatre Northampton, MA SEP 29 Hollywood Casino The Meadows Washington, PA SEP 30 Neptune Festival 2023 Virginia Beach, VA OCT 1 Oceans Calling 2023 Ocean City, MD OCT 3 Academy Center of the Arts Lynchburg, VA OCT 4 Bijou Theatre Knoxville, TN OCT 6 Mars Music Hall Huntsville, AL OCT 9 Longhorn Ballroom Dallas, TX OCT 10 Paramount Theatre Austin, TX OCT 12 KiMo Theatre Albuquerque, NM OCT 13 Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino Chandler, AZ OCT 14 The STRAT Las Vegas, NV OCT 15 Belly Up Solana Beach, CA OCT 17 Lobero Theatre Santa Barbara, CA OCT 19 The Guild Theatre Menlo Park, CA OCT 20 The Guild Theatre Menlo Park, CA OCT 21 The Guild Theatre Menlo Park, CA SEP 9 Fenway Rooftop Concert Boston, MA
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As much as a clinic from two expert singer-songwriters as a concert, the Jakob Dylan-led Wallflowers and Boston indie rock artist Will Dailey stopped into midtown Kansas City, to play the Uptown Theater.
The evening began with a well-received set from singer-songwriter Will Dailey, who even though being musically active for over the last two decades, could only recall one previous time playing in Kansas City.
WHM learned more about him ahead of this local appearance (interview found here) and were happily not surprised that the time and care he spent answering our questions, was even more evident and profound in his lyrics and song crafting.
His last full-length was the pre-pandemic Golden Walker, but there is newer music on the horizon, including his newest song, “Cover of Clouds”, which he didn’t play, but was instead available via a CD player and headphones at a listening station for whatever you could pay, and an invitation to share your thoughts, drawings and reactions, in an accompanying journal.
Dailey gained many new fans, earning a standing ovation at the end, endearing the crowd with a holiday song, “Christmas Of Course” though it was late August, humorously heading off catcalls as only a veteran performer could, and thrilling with a cover of the 1970 Allman Brothers Band hit, “Midnight Rider.”
Dailey mentioned first meeting headliner Jakob Dylan at one of the annual Farm Aid concerts (which he would go on to play four different times) and his final song of the set, 2007’s “Rise” lyrically looked back on a previous love, with a high-level purity as he sang, “Just like when you were falling, I will be there when you rise. In all kinds of weather, I will be there when you rise.”
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For Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers, it’s been on-again / off-again for the last several years, with Dylan the only constant member, in a lineup that’s included current Foo Fighter Rami Jaffee and former Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons, among many others over the years. Between family commitments, other interests, and the ever-changing lineup, the band finally returned during the pandemic with their seventh studio album, 2021’s Exit Wounds and a 53-date tour to support it, with a mostly new lineup (what else?) except for adept guitarist Stanton Adcock, the lone holdover musician from previous.
Regarding any concern about them being less musically committed when they opened up with the new album’s “Maybe Your Heart's Not in It No More”, the question was quickly put to rest as the band went from song to song without any pause, ramping things up with musical gusto and a well-rehearsed tightness. From songs that weren’t as well known, Dylan announced their breakthrough hit, “6th Avenue Heartache” as one that we all would know.
Songs from the new record dominated the early part of the set including “Roots and Wings” and “I Hear the Ocean”, with Dylan (wearing his familiar tailored black leather jacket) focused and in a generally good mood. More social on stage than his father, he stopped a song only briefly to say some side-aisle crowd activity was ok, and said he was particularly impressed by a few in the front row, singing along to every word of every song played.
He even dipped into his more intimate solo work, with the bigger band version of 2010’s “Smile When You Call Me That” and a Van Morrison cover done early on, would be book-ended with an even more musically exciting version of Richard and Linda Thompson’s “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight.”
In regards to the stage lighting itself, it was anything but bright lights, as the band’s setup was placed further back, the venue’s red velvet curtains were drawn in wherever possible, and lightning was kept to a muted primary color minimum, with Dylan himself getting a not-too-bright spotlight on him occasionally – all making for more of the intimate experience of a club setting.
The band’s other big 90’s radio hit, “One Headlight” was dropped in towards the end of the main set, with the crowd doing the honors on Dylan’s cue, to sing the chorus back to the band (another hit, “Three Marlenas”, was oddly not part of the set at all). The main set would end with a very energetic, “Who's That Man Walking 'Round My Garden” from the new record, a song about protecting one’s own sanctuary and the things held most dear.
But it was really the encore where the band seemed like they could musically “let their hair down” and play with the fun vigor of a club band, starting the four-song performance with a bevy of their songwriting and musical influences- not from the elder Dylan but instead the peace-loving folk of Cat (Yusef) Stevens and a double shot from maybe the band’s strongest influence and essence of American rock and roll over the last several decades, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers.
The evening would then end with the band’s third single from their best-selling Bringing Down the Horse, 1996’s “The Difference” with the crowd again singing along to its familiar chorus. Speaking of the crowd itself, on this night, it seemed more Boomer-aged than Gen X or Millennial- somewhat of a surprise to see ages closer to his dad’s demographic, than some of his own musical contemporaries. But all left genuinely satisfied from the performance of not one, both both acts from all the conversations we heard upon exiting.
It was Will Dailey’s last night on the tour, but he’ll be playing the hallowed ground of Fenway Park in his native Boston shortly after Labor Day, and The Wallflowers gradually make their way out West, ending with the three-night stand at a recently renovated 500-capacity cinema now music hall, in the Bay Area in late October.
(Coverage Note: Wallflowers management did not allow for any pictures of the band, so enjoy the additional Will Dailey photos.)
Click on any image to enlarge and see in full.
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| john c ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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