The concert was soooo awesome. i don't think I've ever had so much fun. let me
try and recap the entire day......
Arrived at The Patriot Center at 1:00 PM. Saw two backstage members (staff) and
ran down to the loading dock to talk to them. We asked if they could get us
backstage, and they said, "How much are you willing to pay?"
So we said, "One hundred dollars!!!" And we handed him the cash. We were
supposed to get sound check tickets and backstage passes for the $. So, we just
sat around by the loading dock until 3:30, when The Wallflowers were supposed
to show up. (It's about 30 degrees outside and verrrry windy, so we were
freeeeezing!!) Okay, 4:30 rolls around, and still no word from The Wf's, so we
continue to wait. A manager comes out and tells the staff guys that the wf's
were stuck in traffic, and sound check and the DC101 dinner was cancelled. So,
they gave us back the $100. But, they were sposed to be there any minute, so we
still waited. Maypole and the Jayhawks were already there. At about 5:45, the
wf's tour bus (black and silver stripes) casually comes rolling in, and we look
into it, and see Greg standing up stretching. He waved. They parked, and one by
one they all came out, and walked into the center. They each waved, and said
hello. We were still waiting out there to get our backstage passes, and Mario
came out about 15 minutes after they had arrived to say hello and sorry for
being late, and to sign like five autographs. He signed one of our posters, and
I got a hug. He was wearing a bright red satin jacket!! And I think tennis
shoes, but I'm not sure what kind.
At about 6:00PM, we walked up to the doors where they let you in, and met some
people that said they'd hold us a place in line so we could go stand by the
tour bus entrance. We asked the staff guys if our passes were ready yet, but
they still weren't. So, at 7:00, the doors opened, and my friend Amy and I ran
down the arena seats to the floor. When we got there, and got all of our stuff
set up, and our 8 (!!!) posters all lined up in the order we were gonna hold em
up, she ran up to buy necklaces and tee shirts. At 8:30, Maypole came on, and
they were soooooo sooooo great. I loved them! The crowd was so pitiful at this
concert, cuz no one jumped around our screamed or anything. We held up a poster
to them, and the guitarist (HOT HOT HOT!!!) came over and gave us his pick. And
then the drummer came and handed us his stick and the lead singer gave us a
tape!! So, that was the first of many things to come. We screamed and danced
thru-out the whole thing because they were so good.
The Jayhawks came on at about 9:15. They said they were from Minneapolis, so I
screamed, "Minnesota!!!" and they all laughed. The were okay, pretty good beat,
but we were waiting for the Wallflowers. They handed us a pick, but it fell,
and the security guard gave to some other guy. Oh well.
At about 10:00, The Wallflowers finally came on, the crowd screaming and
freaking out. Jake was as drunk as I've ever seen him. It was hilarious!!! He
was wobbling and laughing. It was great!! They started off with "Tonight's The
Night" and then played the entire BDTH, and Brand New Cadillac and Tears Of A
Clown, Sugarfoot, and Ashes to Ashes. He talked thru-out the entire setlist,
making jokes, and hanging bras that were thrown on stage onto Rami's hat. Rami
made a paper-airplane out of the setlist and threw it out into the crowd. We
were in the front row on the floor, so Mike saw all of our posters and
responded. Greg and Rami laughed about them too. And Jakob made comments about
them. In the middle of 6th Ave I think, we held up one that said, "Do you like
our posters?" and Jake said, "Yes, we love the posters, in fact, go back one or
two to that pretty glittery one!!" So we found it, and held it up, and Jake
says, "Hey, can we get some light on that? Turn around and show EVERYbody!!" So
this huge spotlight comes on the poster, and the crowd all went crazy. It said,
"We're so JAZZED to be here!!!" The "JAZZED" was in silver glitter, and the
other words in blue and green and black. Jake says, "You know what? I think
this guy over here, can play a mean Jazz solo. Greg Richling!!! Play us
something jazzy!!" So Greg goes into his solo, and then Jake says, "You know
what, boys and girls? This guy, Rami Jaffee is gonna do the most amazing thing
you've ever seen. He's gonna play all five keyboards at once." So Rami does his
solo, and Jake raises his arms up to make us all clap and stuff, and he asks
Mario to do his. "This guy back here, Mario damn Calire can play one mean drum
set, so let's hear it!!" And Jake walked over to Mike while Mario was doing his
solo, and he took gulps and gulps of beer. They both were laughing so hard. The
crowd was screaming at Mario and everyone was throwing bras up on stage. Then
after introducing the band, Jake says, "You all know that I'm not a big fan of
the newspaper. And in today's newspaper, I did a big interview. Well, it kinda
said that I'm sick of playing this one song, but really, I'm not sick of
playing it. How could I be? Everybody likes it...,,,don't you?" And he went
into "One Headlight". The crow went wild, and at that point, I lost my pager
from jumping up and down so much. The lights were so cool. They had all these
psychadelic lights and "W" symbols, and stars. It was sooo cool. Jake made all
these monster faces and funny faces and everyone was laughing. Rami was acting
kooky. Someone threw a piece of foil that was kinda in the shape of a rose up
to Jake and he handed it to Rami and Rami started sniffing it, and Jake said,
"You know Rami, it's not what you think it is." And the whole band was cracking
up. Jake said, "Do you guys like us? Cuz we sure are glad to not be playing in
that 9:10, 9:20, what's it called? 9:30 CLUB!!! anymore!! this place is sooo
much better!! Do you think you'd come back if we came again?" And the crowd
started clapping and screaming, and then he says, "Well, you know what? Here's
what's gonna happen. After this show, I'm gonna go backstage, and I'm gonna
call up the agent, and book us here very shortly again!!" And of course, once
again, we all screamed. We asked for a pick, and we got one, and then we got a
bracelet Mike was wearing. Jake made a comment to the entire band when he'd
read a poster of ours, and they'd all look over at them and smile and Mike
commented on a lot of them. Greg smiled the hugest goofy smile at one that
said, "You guys are bringing down the house!!!" And Jake said, "Yep, I guess
you could say that!!" So, after the last song, the guards were all getting us
out of the arena, and helping us get our stuff cleaned up, and helping us look
for the pager. We never found it!
We got everything cleaned up and walked out to the busses where they came in,
and waited around for about another 30 minutes. By this time, it was about
12:30AM. We walked over to the guy's that were sposed to give us backstage
passes, and they finally gave them to us. So, we ran back into the arena,
looking for a amanger to take us backstage, cuz we missed the first group, and
he took us upstairs to where Maypole was standing around. We got all of their
autographs, and then we went running to find the wf's. We ran back outside and
grabbed a few markers and posters, and waited for the band to come out. They
wouldn't let us backstage anymore, cuz it was too late. So, eventually, Rami
walked out, and we asked him to sign a few posters, and he said, "Do you have a
marker?" So we gave it to him, and he signed a few things. I asked him if I
could have a hug, and he said, "I can't! I'm sick, and I wouldn't want you to
get this horrible sickness!" When we asked him if he'd sign our Absolut
Wallflowers poster (it said Absolut Wallflowers at the bottom in black letters,
and then it had a huge vodka bottle in the middle with the wf's logo on it, and
then flowers posted around the edge with "w's" in the middle of them all) he
said, "I'd like to have a sip of that!!" And we laughed and said something.
Then, Mario came out and signed everything again, and we got more hugs from him
and told him howmuch we loved the show. He said they'd be back soon! The whole
time, we could see Greg just sitting on the bus, so we knew he wasn't coming
out. Then Jake walked out and came over to us first and said, "Hey! It's the
poster girls!!!" And we got hugs and lotsa signatures and talked briefly. He
was completely drunk by now, so he was really giggly. I ran down to the end of
the line with new things for him to sign, and by the time he was half-way thru
the line, Mike came out, so I ran down to the beginning and asked him to sign a
few things. He was pretty mellow, and didn't really talk much. Oh yeah. Jake
was wearing a brown vest and suitpants and a purple l. sleeve shirt to perform
in, and the rest of the band looked as usual. After the show, he was wearing a
tanish, brownish sweater v-neck, with no shirt on underneath and black jeans i
think, and these FUNKY shoes. We're talkin' FUNKY!! They were like light
brownish orangeish, and they had those yellow leather shoelaces. They were
boots. My brother had met up with us then, and he was wearing sunglasses, and
Jake says, "Hey man, why yuh wearin' sunglasses? I know what you're doin! Don't
think I haven't done that in a while!!" And he shaked my brother's hand and
signed his ticket. It was really funny, cuz a lot of people thought my brother
was famous cuz of his sunglasses, and he looks a lot like Bob Dylan, so he was
talkin' like him, and pretending to be famous, and he signed a couple
tickets!!! It was hilaroius!!!! I then ran back down to the end of the line,
and had that huge Unlimited mag picture of Jake, and I enlarged it and enlarged
one of the band, and got them laminated. Jake came along, and I handed them to
him, and he grabs my hand and says, "Look honey, (and he got everyone's
attention) I can't sign this, cuz you might be working for a professional that
wants you to get my signature and then you're gonna go sell it on the
internet!!" And I was like, "What? I got this done at Staples for like $3.00!!"
And he says, "Honey, I just can't believe yuh, you might be some bootlegger,
and you might make money off of my picture!! I'm so sorry sweetie, but don't
you have a ticket or somethin else I can sign? Cuz you know I'd LOVE to sign
those. Especially tickets or CD covers!" He was so drunk I was laughing so
hard, and he was laughing too the whole time he was saying this, so I was just
standing there saying to myself, "Jakob Dylan just called me a bootlegger!!!!"
So, he finished signing everything, and said sorry really silly again, and
walked onto this bus. He waved on the way back to it. So, I walked back to my
friend and she got Mike to sign her backstage pass. Then, we stood on the side
of the road and held up our two famous posters and the bus honked and flashed
it's lights at us. And off they went.~Becky
My best friend Abbey and I got lawn tix like 3 days b4 the show. We got there
at like 5:30 to get a good seat on the lawn. (We got first row) Anyways- we
went and bought tee-shirts of the band for $25 each and little leather
necklaces with the "W" sign on them for $10 each. We read magazines while
waiting for the concert to start. Then "That Dog" came on and opened up. After
they sang- the WF's were introduced and they started off with Angels on my Bike
then One Headlight, Bleeders, Three Marlenas, 6th Avenue Heartache (I cried
when that came on), Driving Old Dixie Down (Great song), Laughing Out Loud, The
Difference, Ashes to Ashes (sounded so good) and Brand New Cadillac (by The
Clash). I danced for most of the concert and screamed "Jayyykob!!!" and
"Wallflowers!" thruout it. I have never had so much fun. They sounded so good-
almost better than on the album! And they looked so real! Beautiful!! I think
about it all the time. After 6th Ave Heartache, Jakob said, "Well, we're the
WF's and we hope to see you again." and they walked off stage. People encored
them, so they came back, and Jakob had on his suede tan cowboy hat! When they
left for the second (and last) time, my friend and I went down to get lemonade.
Counting Crows came on, and we walked over to a few girls and started talking
to them, and they said that this is where the band members come out sometimes.
And then out walked Mario Calire. My gosh is he skinny! And short! He's only
23. He signed my tank top and my ticket stub, and then walked off into the
crowd. Then Greg Richling and the CC's pianist walked out together, but didn't
stop to sign auto's. After standing there for about an hour, Abbey decided to
call her parents to come pick us up. So she went to the phones, and I saw
Jakob's head peek out from behind a wall. He was smoking and wearing a John
Deere hat which is what surprised me most. I was shaking- I couldn't beleive it
was him! He came out and gave hugs and autographs, and after about 30 minutes,
he went backstage again. I asked him about his necklace, and he said, "It's
just a piece of leather." I said something like, "What's up with your shoes, or
didn't you wear those for your US mag shoot?" and he replied, "Yeah i did. I
really like these though. I really could use a new pair. They're really
comfortable." I told him he looked alot like his dad when his dad was young,
and he said, "Thank you very much!" This big lady was hugging and hugging him,
and he was facing me, and he made this "Eeeewww, get her off of me" face! I
laughed so hard! When he was getting ready to go backstage again, I ran up and
said, "Can I get a hug?" and he says, "Sure!" (He was singing along to "A long
December") and i said, "Good luck!" and he yelled back "Thanks!" I walked out
of the ampitheatre floating. I could not believe that i had just hugged Jakob
Dylan!!! Now I know what all of the girls at the Beatles concert felt like when
they saw the Beatles. I'll never forget it, and I'm gonna buy any ticket as
soon as I hear about it, to get good seats. In fact, I'm seeing them again
November 26th!!! Feel free to email me if you have any questions!~Becky
Sent in by: NATHALIE
On September 5th I got to see the Wallfowers in concert! I the song list and list of orders that things
took place goes... They opened up with Ashes to Ashes, the my friend caught Mike Ward's guitar
(did I mention we were 5 ft away from Jakob!) one the front it had a W with a star and on the back
it said "Lone Star", then they played "God Don't Make Lonely Girls Cry", "one Headlight" before
they started it Jakob said "Boy it's a great night for a rock concert lets start a light show" and they
had all these lasers going. Then "Bleeders", "3 Marlenas" in the begining of "3 Marlenas" some drunk
guy got on stage and tried to hug Jakob, but Jakob just ignored him! then they played that Dixie
song and Jakob introduced it as "One of the bands favorite songs." After the Dixie song I threw up
this huge bauquett of flowers near Mike's feet he saw, smiled at me, picked 'em up and smelt 'em!
Next was "Laughing Out Loud" and "6th Avenue Hearthache" then they left..... but everyone was
cheering for and encore and they all came back out with big smiles on their faces! Jakob was
wearing his cowboy hat, and they played "Invisible City" and "The Difference" during this I noticed
Mario sings along to chorous while he drums! When they left I had some guards pull me out of the
crowd cause we were front row and I ran to the backstage entrance just in time to catch Mario!
Okay, I remember saying Mario, and he turned around and mumbled just a minute, then he walked
over to me and my friend! I held out my cd and asked him to sign it and he did, but I guess he saw
how I was nervous cause he smiled.. so cute. Then my friend told him they rock, and he said thank...
Has anyone ever heard him? He has the hottest voice.. I think he sould speak more often. ~Nathalie
Sent in by: BETH
my friend and i got to the concert on aug. 30th in rockford, il at about 7:00
only to find that the wallflowers weren't going to be on until 10:00 so we
stopped to look at the concert t-shiets. i bought one that has the band on the
front in a pisture from the difference video and on the back it says the
wallflowers bringing down the horse. i love it. i also bought a necklace with
the wallflowers w on it. then we just walked aroud the fair and i talked to
the security guard in hopes that he would have some connection to the band. he
told me that he would try to get something signed for me and i was so excited.
unfortunatly i came home empty handed. anyhow, our seats were in row 34 and
from back there it was a good view of the stage, but we decided that we needed
to be closer. so before the concert even started we moved up front in hopes
that someone wouldn't show up. as the concert begain we moved ourselves in to
some empty seats in row six. we were so close. i could see every detail on
jakob. i could even see his necklace.i just stood there staring in amazment.
the only thing that sucked was the drunk guy next to us. he kept grabbing my
friend. i snuck my camera in so i tookso many pictures. i only hop they turn
out because i had to bhe careful about using the flash. the first song was
ashes to ashes. after which jakob commented on how rockford was the only city
he played it that had the word rock in the title and then he asked why
everyone was sitting down. then everyone listened to him and stood the rest of
the concert. here's the rest of the song order.:
one headlight, angel on my bike, bleeders, 3 marlenas, 6th ave., the night
we drove old dixe down- from the band-, sugarfoot, josephine, god don't make
lonley girls, laughing out loud, tears of a clown, and the difference. the
encore: invisible city and the clashes brand new cadillac.
jakob kept asking if everyone was okay and the crowd was going carzy. right
before they played tears of a clown jakob turned aroud and was talking to
mario who started to play the beginging of the difference, but then jakob
stopped him because he was playing te wrong song. it was so funny jakob was
laughing. he smiled so much. i hope i got a picture of his smile. jakob
started talking to this women in the crowd who kept taking pictures. he kept
saying, "i'm pointing you out because you know your not supposed to be taking
pictures, but just between the two of us, i don't care." so then i just took
more and more pictures. jakob was of course wearing his trademark black
shirt, pants and shoes he had on another hat. i think it was a new one to
replace the stolen one. unfortunatly it didn't look as good as the stolen one
because it was too big for his head, but he still looked cute.. michael had on
on a pinstripped suit vest and pants with a tie and a cowboy hat. mario had
on a real snazzy black and zebra stripped shirt. after the show he thew his
drum sticks into the crowd. i tried so hard to get them, but i was too far
away. when jakob introduced mario he said, "mario, skinnier than you calire."
ha ha mario does really look small. greg had on a maroon shirt with black
pants and rami wasn't there because he was off with his new baby and wife in
L.A. so this guy chris played and jakob kept talking about how great he was.
it was such a good show. a day i'll never forget. my ears are still ringing
because i was so close to them and the speakers. ~Beth
