Jakob Dylan w/ Abe Reid

Neighborhood Theatre

June 5, 2008

By Anita Overcash

The Deal: The Wallflowers frontman, Jakob Dylan (also son of big daddy Bob Dylan), tours again (hitting Charlotte’s Neighborhood Theatre) after crafting a new album that is his first solo effort.

The Good: Local bluesman Abe Reid opened by jammin’ on his guitar and harmonica. His blaring bluesy folk rock delivered a lifter-upper of a show. He played his own Southern-flared love song “Fern Gully Lace,” among plenty of other vibes. At the end of his set, he told the audience that Bo Diddley is “the king of rock 'n' roll.” Then he went on to play his take on Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love?”

Jakob Dylan graced the stage in his brown fedora hat, playing most of the songs from his debut album Seeing Things (release date: June 10). This included “All Day & All Night,” “Something Good This Way Comes,” “Everybody Pays As They Go,” “Evil Is Alive & Well,” “War Is Kind,” “Will It Grow,” “On Up The Mountain” and “This End Of The Telescope”. For most of the show, Dylan had a back-up band, but they did leave the stage to let him play a few songs acoustically. Dylan played “The Beautiful Side of Somewhere,” “Here He Comes (Confessions of a Drunken Marionette)” and “From the Bottom of my Heart,” from the 2005 Wallflowers album Rebel, Sweetheart and “How Good It Can Get” from 2002's Red Letter Days. Dylan avoided playing his most well-known Wallflowers songs, but did play “Three Marlenas,” and “I Wish I Felt Nothing” off of his most successful album Bringing Down The Horse, released in 1996. He also played “Here Comes Now,” a song he wrote solo for the Six Degrees soundtrack. All in all, Dylan’s performance was everything but dull. Apart from his Wallflowers clutch, he seemed to be just as crafty as ever. His charisma was another highlight, as he made time between songs to talk directly to the audience.

The Bad: Some of Dylan’s newer stuff isn’t quite as catchy as his work in The Wallflowers.

The Verdict: Jakob Dylan delivered a nice performance. Because of his being solo, the show seemed to draw less of a crowd, but afterwards Dylan signed autographs and took photos with fans (fulfilling one of my own life-long dreams).