Caption: these pictures from sony's pearl jam site... top left: Mike and Rami on the night before my concert (7/21). Bottom Left: Jakob at my concert (7/22)! Bottom of page: Jakob the night before (7/21).

(My family got back from vacation Wednesday, July 22, at about 2:00pm or so. That's why I couldn't go to Tuesday's show.)

The Wallflowers were opening for Pearl Jam for two benefit shows in Seattle. A punk rock group, Zeke, opened also the first night, and Sean Lennon opened Wednesday night with the Wallflowers. Well, not with them, but you know what I mean. Pearl Jam really needed to get a son of a 60's icon to join them-- I'm sure they felt very left out. :-)

The gates opened at 4pm, and so my brother and I got there then. There weren't any lines when we went through. There was a bag search and a pat search (they just patted my short's pockets... not much of a pat search!), and we were let in.

The concert was at Memorial Stadium, which is near the Space Needle. It is an outdoor stadium, and it was 90 degrees that day, so it was hot in there. The grass was covered with "portafloor," which was this green plastic stuff that really soaked up the heat, and was hot to sit on.

The whole stadium was general admission. We sat in the shade a while, and ate some pizza. There wasn't much else in terms of meal choices. I kept telling my brother we should go down to the floor and get seats on the wonderful "portafloor." He finally agreed.

There was a section of about the 15 rows closest to the stage which was some sort of reserved area. I wasn't quite clear on it. But we sat on the plastic ground about 8 rows back from that area. Before Sean Lennon hit the stage, though, everyone got up and moved forward, and I somehow got into the second row behind that area. Since my brother was tall, he stood back a couple of rows from me. There were a lot of tall guys there, actually. I had a nice window (sort of) between a tall guy and his girlfriend (who was taller than me).

Eddie Vedder started the evening by playing a song and dedicating it to a friend of his. Then he introduced Sean Lennon.

Sean Lennon and his band were pretty strange. One or two songs were okay, but the others all sounded the same and were weird. As one review of the concert said, "Sean Lennon and his band opened in 90-degree heat with mostly sunny tunes that had lots of nature and animal references. Befitting the son of John Lennon, some songs were Beatlesque." (see articles) I also thought one song sounded like the Beatles. I'm not sure how the critic could understand what the songs were about, though. Maybe he had heard their CD before or something. At the end of their set, Sean Lennon thanked "Pearl Jam and the the boys, and Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers for inviting us." They had about a thirty minute set.

After set changes, the Wallflowers were on! Once again, Eddie introduced them. He mentioned how they paid their own way up to Seattle, and how they were donating their procedes to the charity fund that Pearl Jam had created. It's cool that the Wallflowers did that, since they live in Los Angeles! Zeke and Sean Lennon's group did not donate their procedes, by the way. Eddie called them "the wallf- f*ckers, flowers, wallflowers." I can't remember if this was the part Jake was smiling at, or the part about them donating to the funds.

The Wallflowers performed nine songs (about 40 or 45 minutes): "Ashes to Ashes," "Angel On My Bike," "One Headlight," "Three Marlenas," "Laughing Out Loud," Heroes, "Sixth Avenue Heartache," "The Difference," and the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again."

Here's what Jake said. Before "One Headlight": "Thank you. I can't say it's been that long since we've been here- we were here last night- but you guys are being much more friendly. Thank you." Before "Heroes": "This is a Bowie song." Before "The Difference": "We wanna thank Pearl Jam and Sean Lennon for having us play with them. This is called 'The Difference.'" And before "Won't Get Fooled Again": 'Thanks a lot, you guys have been great, we're going to try one more.' (Side note: have you noticed how he always says they are going to try a song? Not play a song, or do a song? Just a thought.)

During "Sixth Avenue Heartache," during Rami's solo, Jake went over and talked to Greg and I think Rami. The solo was shorter than they normally do.

When they started to play the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again," these people around me were saying to eachother, "Isn't this the Who's song?" It was funny! Jake took a big drink of water before doing the Daultry Scream! It's funny how at concerts, they always have those red plastic cups... no matter who is performing! Well, except that Mario was too good for those cups and had his own water bottle... hehehe. On the verse which begins, "I'll move my self and my family aside" (or something like that), Jake sang the 1st and 3rd line of it, and Mike sang the 2nd and 4th.

During the show, there was this annoying girl who was always sitting on top of some guy's shoulders. At first, she was blocking my view of Jake! I was like, no! But then she switched to some other guy and she was kind of blocking my view of Mike, but not too bad. And there were heads blocking my view of Rami, so I would have to move over a bit to see him... He was so funny! (As usual!) He was really getting into the music and doing his little dancing thing! Mario was moving his head like he does. I couldn't really see Greg too well either, but he was into the show as well. Mike was laughing at some people who were body-surfing... I bet that doesn't usually happen at a Wallflowers concert! Hehehe... Jake was the only one not really into it... yeah, yeah, I know he doesn't really get into the shows like, say, Rami does, but still... I think he wanted to get out of there. Or maybe it was because of...

What they wore: Jake was wearing a maroon shirt with a gray shirt underneath it (my school colors!)... I was thinking before the show that Jake never wears short sleeve shirts (except in that one Italian Vogue picture), and I was wondering if he would today (after all, it was 90 degrees!). But no, he didn't-- and he was sweating even before he started! He wore sunglasses the whole time. Mike wore a brown shirt (long sleeved but the sleeves were rolled up) and brown pants, and sunglasses part of the time. Rami wore a black t-shirt and black pants and sunglasses the whole time. I don't remember what Greg and Mario were wearing, but they didn't wear sunglasses.

After their set, when Mario left, his back was all sweaty! Jake left to the right (as you are looking at the stage), and he talked to this lady who had been sitting on the side of the stage during the Wallflowers performance. She had dark hair, and short (maybe shoulder length?) and she was wearing glasses. I've only seen Paige on the MTV movie awards show, and then Paige was wearing sunglasses, so I'm not sure if this was her or not.

The Wallflowers had a great show! I thought one of the highlights was definitely "Won't Get Fooled Again." They always do a great job with covers, and this was no exception. I can't wait to see them again at the Puyallup Fair, Spetember 17, 1998, when they are headliners! I heard on the radio that Lisa Loeb is opening for them. I have FRONT ROW SEATS! I can't wait! (For other concert dates, click here!)

Two days later, on a local radio station (KISS 106.1 if anyone from Seattle reads this), one of the DJs said the highlight of her week could be summed up in three words: "Jakob Dylan, Schwing!" hehehe. She then went on to say how beautiful she thought he is. Oh and they have been playing the Wallflowers more again after the concerts!

See what Pearl Jam fans thought of the Wallflowers!