The Wallflowers’ first Australian tour will pair the 30th anniversary of Bringing Down The Horse with a full performance of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Long After Dark, an album with a deeply personal connection to Jakob Dylan.
The Wallflowers will make their Australian debut in December with a two-album performance built around Jakob Dylan’s connection to Tom Petty. Alongside a full performance of the Wallflowers’ 1996 breakthrough album Bringing Down The Horse, Dylan will lead the band through Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Long After Dark in its entirety, bringing together two records separated by 14 years but linked by a shared American rock tradition.
The Australian shows are part of The Wallflowers’ 30th anniversary celebration of Bringing Down The Horse, but the decision to perform Long After Dark gives the tour a more personal dimension.
For Jakob Dylan, Tom Petty was never simply another influence. Petty was a family friend, a musical connection and someone whose career intersected directly with the Dylan family.
Jakob’s father, Bob Dylan, became close to Petty during the 1980s. The pair worked together in The Traveling Wilburys alongside George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne, while Petty and The Heartbreakers also toured as Bob Dylan’s backing band.
Jakob grew up around that musical world. His relationship with Petty later developed into a friendship of his own, with Petty becoming an important influence on the younger songwriter.
That connection was publicly acknowledged when Jakob inducted Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
The relationship continued into Petty’s final years. Jakob was executive producer of the 2019 documentary Echo In The Canyon, a project exploring the music of Los Angeles in the 1960s. Petty participated in the film and gave what became his final on-camera interview before his death in 2017.
Against that background, Long After Dark is a revealing choice.
Petty’s 1982 album is not the obvious catalogue selection. Records such as Damn The Torpedoes and Full Moon Fever contain more familiar blockbuster material, but Long After Dark occupies an important position in The Heartbreakers’ development.
Released on November 2, 1982, it introduced bassist Howie Epstein to the band. His playing and harmony vocals subsequently became an integral part of The Heartbreakers’ sound.
The record also produced three significant singles: You Got Lucky, Change Of Heart and Straight Into Darkness. You Got Lucky became one of Petty’s defining MTV-era songs, while the album as a whole captured The Heartbreakers moving further into the melodic, roots-conscious rock sound that would influence a generation of American songwriters.
That influence can be heard in the Wallflowers’ own catalogue, particularly on Bringing Down The Horse.
Released in 1996 and produced by T Bone Burnett, Bringing Down The Horse became The Wallflowers’ breakthrough record. It reached number four on the Billboard 200 and was eventually certified quadruple platinum in the United States.
The album produced One Headlight, 6th Avenue Heartache, The Difference and Three Marlenas. One Headlight went on to win two Grammy Awards in 1998, including Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.
There is another direct musical link between the two albums. Mike Campbell, Petty’s longtime guitarist and a member of The Heartbreakers, played slide guitar on 6th Avenue Heartache.
The Wallflowers have already established the format Australian audiences will see. Bringing Down The Horse is performed in sequence before the complete Long After Dark set, followed by an encore that can include songs from both catalogues.
For Australian audiences, the December shows will therefore be more than The Wallflowers finally playing the country for the first time. The two-album format traces a musical line from Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers through Jakob Dylan’s own songwriting generation, with the personal connection between the two families sitting at its centre.
The Wallflowers’ Australian debut begins at Melbourne’s Palais Theatre on December 4, followed by shows in Thirroul and Sydney.
Dates:
December 4, Melbourne, Palais Theatre
December 5, Thirroul, Anita’s Theatre
December 6, Sydney, Liberty Hall
Ticket Details: Love Police – The Wallflowers
Long After Dark Tracklisting
A One Story Town
You Got Lucky
Deliver Me
Change Of Heart
Finding Out
We Stand A Chance
Straight Into Darkness
The Same Old You
Between Two Worlds
A Wasted Life
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