The Wallflowers perform in front of a packed crowd at the Steelhouse in Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday, June 20, 2026. [Photo by David Taylor]

DAVID TAYLOR | Go Venue Magazine

Downtown Omaha was packed with people on Saturday, June 20 with College World Series and various events around the area. But the rainy evening didn’t stop the people seeing The Wallflowers play the Steelhouse Omaha.

Early James from Alabama opened up the concert. A singer-songwriter, it was just him and his upright bassist, Bradley Smith. He was bringing such an old school country and blues vibe to his performance. I really enjoyed his acoustic guitar playing, going with the plucking method, some excellent solos. He brought out Ben Peeler of The Wallflowers to play some slide guitar on a couple songs. He also had a good sense of humor when talking about writing his songs. I wasn’t expecting a singer-songwriter who didn’t have a full band backing him as the opener for the Wallflowers, but I was very impressed by Early James and hope for the best for this guy. Check out his latest album, Medium Raw.

Finally, The Wallflowers were ready for the Omaha crowd. They first performed their 1996 album, Bringing Down the Horse, in full for its 30th anniversary. Jakob Dylan still sounds like he did on the record. The whole band has talent. I’d admit, it was kinda weird to play their biggest hit, “One Headlight”, at the top since it starts the album. But getting to hear these songs played live was amazing. After they finished performing that album, they took a left turn and played Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ 1982 album, Long After Dark, featuring the hit single, “You Got Lucky”. Is it one of more popular albums from the Heartbreakers? Absolutely not. But they are big fans of it and they wanted a challenge. It felt like watching a garage band having fun and just giving these songs faithful renditions that I feel Mr. Petty would be proud of. We need more artists to spread the gospel of Petty anyway. I’m so glad I finally got to see the Wallflowers play live since I was just under one year old when “One Headlight” was the first song I fell in love with. And I’m glad to say I wasn’t disappointed.

All images © David Taylor

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