The Wallflowers emerged from the post-alternative rock boom of the 90s. With the cool and enigmatic Jakob Dylan as singer and chief songwriter, the band was responsible for a handful of hits that include “One Headlight,” “6th Avenue Heartbreak,” “3 Marlenas,” “God Don’t Make Lonely Girls,” and “The Difference.” 

I remember hearing singer-guitarist Jakob Dylan, drummer Mario Calire, bassist Greg Richling, lead guitarist Michael Ward, and keyboardist Rami Jafee (now with Foo Fighters) back in ‘96 and immediately dug the no-frills, rootsy rock vibe. At the time, the Wallflowers were both a modern rock band and a torchbearer for rock n’ roll in the vein of Young, Springsteen, and Petty. 

I thank current Tempo entertainment editor Neil Ramos for turning me on to The Wallflowers. Back in ‘96, we were both young A&Rs for Ivory Records. I remember Neil spending a good chunk of time perusing The Wallflowers’ “Bringing Down The Horse” album during work, for research purposes of course, and only had the best recommendations and was willing to discuss the merits of Dylan’s songwriting (he’s Bob’s son after all) and thought “6th Avenue Heartache” was a true gem.

To say we're big Wallflowers fans is understating it. You see, Mr. Ramos is himself a singer-songwriter and I, the guitarist and the first iteration of our band that also included two officemates in Jed Bernal and Paulo Dela Cruz (now marketing director of Padis Point), was indirectly inspired by the younger Dylan. And though it was a tall order for us to achieve (safe to say we didn’t) just daydreaming about having a band that plays original music sustained our  inspiration.

We thought their cover of Bowie’s “Heroes” was the coolest and agreed that their 2000 release “Breach” was a strong follow-up. But as the song goes: ‘the times they a-changin’’ and suddenly their 2002 “Red Letter Days” album wasn’t available locally. And then other bands came along, and somehow The Wallflowers were relegated to the back burner of our interests. 2005’s “Rebel, Sweetheart” wasn’t even on the radar anymore, and admittedly, I had to look up the title for this article.     

Fast forward to April 4, 2025, I am at the front row of my first Wallflowers concert. I’m about ten or fifteen feet away from Jakob Dylan who’s now older, but still looked as freakin’ cool as he did back in ‘97 on those music videos. He’s clad in a black leather jacket, jeans, light brown Chelsea boots, and a fedora hat. He’s got a light-yellow custom shop Telecaster electric guitar that he swaps here and there with a Gibson acoustic as he tears through the songs I remember fondly, and some that I’m not familiar with, but thoroughly enjoying. Jakob Dylan himself recognizes that the crowd in Versofest 2025 at the Westport Library in Connecticut “know some of the songs and some you don’t.” Still, it didn’t matter to the appreciative crowd of 800 or more who were there to savor the band in that intimate venue. I thought: where was this band all this time? If they can’t come to Manila, I can go to them, right? And that’s how it happened. I jumped at the chance when I saw them hitting the town library. A library! (That’s for another article.) 

And now I’m tracing back the albums I missed and relishing the treasure trove of ‘new’ songs that I’m only now hearing. Now “When You’re on Top,” “How Good It Can Get,” and “Everybody Out Of The Water” are on repeat. 

Talk about a rockin’ revival.