back where we started

November kicked off on a nice note: Out of nowhere came the news (in Rolling Stone, no less) that one of my favorite bands, the Wallflowers, is reuniting, years after most of us in the fan community had given up on ever seeing them together as a group again.

I can’t do what I do in the Wallflowers without them. I miss it. I’m happy to put the acoustic guitar down. That was something I wanted to do, but I never planned on hitting the road and just being the guy with a guitar out there. That never has been exciting to me. I came up loving bands and I want to be in one. — Jakob Dylan, to Rolling Stone

Awwww.

I miss it, too, Jakob. I know I’m not 21 anymore and will never again be able to do what I did in college (go to Wallflowers concerts anytime, anywhere, with little consequence except maybe missing a few classes or picking up a cold). I don’t hang out on their message boards anymore. I don’t trade their concert bootlegs anymore. I don’t sign band members’ online birthday cards anymore. I even like some other artists a whole lot — even just as much. But those were some special times, and — as I’ve mentioned before — this will always be a special band to me.

From the vault, here’s a concert review/travel log from one of those shows in 2005. This was the finale of a mini Philadelphia-Wilmington-Balimore roadtrip with a couple friends. It’s long and slightly bizarre, but it’s cute. Maybe even shockingly innocent. Not to go all Almost Famous on anyone, but yes, were always 100% there for the music.

June 13, 2005 — Baltimore, Md.

We wanted to get out of Wilmington right away, so we packed up (the suitcase was getting harder to close — must have been that one new t-shirt that did it in), checked out, and hit the road, vowing to stop to eat at the first place that offered some hint of civilization. A sign for a diner said that they were serving breakfast, but inside, they told us they weren’t actually serving breakfast. Oh well, lunch would be fine. The place was funny: freedom fries and misused apostrophes on the menu, and the most horrible music imaginable over the speakers.

The drive to Baltimore wasn’t too long. In some town in Maryland along the way, we stopped at a grocery store to buy dinner/snacks for waiting in line and one shiny red apple since they’d performed WYOT the first few nights, and yes, it’s not creative anymore, but we wanted to be generous. Or the two of them were just amused by how much I could fit in my huge purse. The hotel was a little bit out from Baltimore itself but fine. We settled in with our grapes and Teddy Grahams (two of them were stuck in a kama sutra position; Michelle got a photo) and turned on the TV.

In between prep for the announcement of the Michael Jackson verdict, the news showed a story about the sad death of a dolphin at the Baltimore aquarium. Wait a second, what head-bobbin’ bassist was mentioning yesterday just how excited he was about going to the aquarium…and then we were just gone for several minutes. Greg killed a dolphin!! Number one on the “guess you had to be there for it to be funny” moments.

But it was hilarious at the time, and then hilarious again later that night at the show. We came up with the newspaper headlines, which, of course, would have to say “….bassist in the Wallflowers, Bob Dylan’s son’s band…” and “…the Wallflowers, who had the hit ‘One Headlight’ in 1996…” We figured the show would be running late that night because Tim would have to go bail Greg out of jail.

Then for the last time on the trip (tear), we headed over the venue. Having remembered for the first time to bring snacks and slather ourselves with sunscreen in preparation for the hot wait, we were surprised but somehow not surprised that they were letting us wait INSIDE the air-conditioned building! It always works out like that. The dual discovery of being able to wait inside and hearing GSNB coming through the walls from soundcheck the moment we walked, er, ran, in was blissful.

We met Bonnie and her mother in line next to us, talked to them some, then tried to find out the camera policy. “We are, as of right now…undefined on cameras,” the woman told me. I asked her when they might be defined, but she couldn’t give any more information. Lightning was flashing outside as Hillary and I went over to the car to get the cameras, a trip we had to do twice because I do stupid things a lot. (Huh, you mean we’re supposed to take the cameras out of the car when we go get the cameras?) They played GSNB again, then “All Things New Again” and a few other songs. It was like hearing a whole extra concert through the walls.

There was a brief entry scare when we saw that people who’d come in long after us had formed a separate line at a second entrance to the place. These things always bring out our aggressive fan streaks. Happily, when it came time to go in, the other line wasn’t allowed in at least until after we’d been let in. And then after Anna Nalick had finished, the lead microphone was moved closer toward us.

This time, they opened with “Empire”, not one we’d guess for a first song but cool. The main set seemed incredibly short. When they left the stage for the first time, I couldn’t believe when I went back and counted in my notes that they’d played 15 songs. The acoustic segment is always a highlight because it shows the quality of the songs, that they can be stripped down that much and still sound full and amazing. HGICG was wonderful to hear again for the first time in a while, and half-and-half “Sleepwalker” is just beautiful, especially when you get so caught up in the song that you don’t notice the other band members slowly making their way back on stage to join in. Balanced with rocking out on “The Difference” (let’s pretend we’re in the music video!) and “Back to California”, it was once again a great time. But what else is new?

And then the encore was the best yet. At the end of each song, I kept getting the momentary sadness of “this is it, now this is really it”, but then they’d start another. “Shy of the Moon”!! Anything from the first album is so surreal to hear because it’s almost like hearing something by another band (wait, maybe that’s because…it sort of is. haha) The two covers that weren’t on the original setlist were so much fun; if I hear “Bring It On Home to Me” much more in concert I’m going to start thinking of it as a Wallflowers song. Love their version. Unfortunately, for the first time in the three nights, no WYOT, so the smuggled produce had to stay in my purse, no “Delivered” again (we were getting spoiled with that!), and no GSNB.

But there was EWAB, of course, which I recorded on two sheets of paper labeled Secret Spy Stuff. The funniest part to us insane folk was when Jakob talked again about the aquarium in connection with Greg. After that, I couldn’t even look in the general direction of Greg for a while without laughing. There was something about the Orioles and Fred, too, and stories about how Greg was mean to Jakob all through high school, and they’d had lunch on a boat with Greg’s mother that day. He talked about Baltimore some (“it’s really a place where we can bring out our feelings…it’s good to talk about our feelings”) and said it was a good thing they didn’t call it Balt-i-less. The venue had about three levels, so Jakob wondered if it was a shopping mall (“we’ve played malls before”) and where the Bed Bath and Beyond was.

Apparently, Steve the sound engineer really wanted them to hurry up with the show so they could watch the NBA finals on TV (the game was indeed on later in the bus). Before the show, we’d groaned when noticing the front. row. center. guy was wearing a shirt with a giant Bob face on it. Ugh. No need to worry, though; Jakob made him the one who was totally uncomfortable. (“It’s not your first show, is it? I’m not just saying that because you’re a little gray…I have one of those shirts, too, I just know not to wear to it others’ shows!”) Mr. “Skin-like-a-Rhino” (according to him) didn’t lay off Bobshirt guy for a while; ’twas great.

After the show and after leaving my new bleeding cowgirl shirt inside the venue but luckily getting it back from security, we did our last wait and meet by the bus. I told Rami how this was my milestone 10th time meeting him, and his response: “It could have been eleven!” Haha. So I went over yet again how at Disneyland he was with his family and I didn’t want to be creepy. At this point we can safely say that if I ever see Rami in a non-concert place again, it’s okay to say hi. (Definitely not making the same claim for others.)

Pink monkey discussion again, and then he tried to remember where in the park the engraved Disneyland stone he’d bought for his daughter was, since I told him my father had also bought one and was told the coordinates of it. Dangerous folks, those rawkstars! We talk about…Disneyland! And then once again, Fred is SO nice. And so tall. (You really can’t say one without the other.)

Soon, Greg came out, wine in hand, and I heard him giving one of his always interesting, articulate talks to some fans, this one about the state of radio. He spotted me and immediately said, “I owe you a setlist.” *Greg love swelling* He smiled and told me to stay right there, then disappeared into the bus for a second, came back out and presented me with a legal, signed, official setlist. Proof #1 that band member promises are stronger than people’s competitive standing position tactics! So, yes, Greg is now my hero even though he killed a dolphin.

After getting my picture with Greg and the setlist, Michelle actually asked him about the dolphin killing, casually wondering if he’d made it to the aquarium because we’d heard on the news that a dolphin had died. His eyes got wide. “Oh, but I love animals!! I would never kill a dolphin!” Uh-huh, that’s what they all say. It was adorable, though. Then he actually apologized to Michelle for not playing GSNB this show. The layers just weren’t coming together yet or something. Can he be any sweeter?

Once they were all back on the bus, Tim started waving a flashlight back and forth (he does everything!) to direct the bus and the Anna Nalick bus back and forth, having them go onto another road and turn around. We couldn’t figure out if they were actually leaving, so since it was the last night, we decided to just stick around for a few more minutes.

Then when we were finally walking down the road back to the car, we noticed a head and arm were sticking out the back of the bus window. Hey, look, it’s Jakob. Most people were gone by this point, and someone asked him if he’d come out of the bus, but he told us “I’m just so tired” with this look of such sincere vulnerability it almost made me cry. There was something about the way he said it. Proof #2 that band member promises are stronger than people’s competitive standing position tactics: he handed Hillary the guitar picks he’d promised. Awww. Then that low-life thief made off with her Sharpie! We dug out the WYOT apple and told him how we were going to present it during the show, and some people took pictures and tried to hold hands with him, and then the bus drove off.

Back in Baltimore, after getting just a little lost, I left hoarse voicemail #3 for the mother, we all marveled over how great all the guys are, tried to wash off all the sunscreen, then collapsed. Next morning was airport and then back to Connecticut.

— — —

Those times aren’t coming back, but it’s nice that the band is.