The Wallflowers are set to play the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Oct. 13, performing their breakthrough 1996 album Bringing Down the Horse from start to finish — and then doing the same with a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers classic. It's a night built entirely around two records that shaped frontman Jakob Dylan's musical life, one he wrote and one he grew up idolizing.
According to Press Telegram, the band will play Bringing Down the Horse front to back before turning to Petty's 1982 record Long After Dark, also performed in full. The pairing isn't new — laorpheum.com notes the band will perform their classic album in its entirety, in sequence, as part of a run that also marks what the venue describes as the 50th anniversary of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Bringing Down the Horse, originally released May 21, 1996, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and was certified quadruple platinum, the same source reports.
A Record That Sold Four Million Copies
Bringing Down the Horse was the Wallflowers' second album, and it turned the band into one of the decade's defining rock acts. Per Press Telegram, the record includes staples like “One Headlight,” “6th Avenue Heartache,” “The Difference” and “The Three Marlenas.” Pitchfork separately reports the album sold more than four million copies, powered in large part by the breakout singles “6th Avenue Heartache” and “One Headlight.”
The band's touring plans extend well beyond the Orpheum date. Pitchfork reports the Wallflowers will spend the year celebrating the album's 30th anniversary with an expansive North American and European tour, while Consequence notes the trek kicks off in Portland, Oregon, on April 17, 2026, and will also include a stop at Stagecoach, according to First Avenue. The band's most recent studio album, Exit Wounds, came out in 2021, per Pitchfork, and the group spent 2025 supporting Eric Clapton on his U.S. tour, according to laorpheum.com.
Why Tom Petty Shares the Bill
The Long After Dark portion of the show isn't a passing tribute — Press Telegram reports the Wallflowers now play as much Tom Petty material in their sets as they do their own songs. Long After Dark, released in 1982, followed Damn the Torpedoes and Hard Promises and includes tracks like “You Got Lucky” and “Change of Heart,” per the same report. Consequence notes the Wallflowers previously played both albums back-to-back at a special Los Angeles concert in October 2024, and Local Spins reported that the band performed the songs sequentially at that show, running through Bringing Down the Horse before tackling Long After Dark straight through.
Jakob Dylan's connection to Petty runs deep and personal. Press Telegram reports that Dylan, 56, inducted Petty into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, and that Petty gave his last interview to Dylan before his death in 2017. Dylan has said he and Petty once talked for two hours inside a guitar shop after it had already closed, and he's described Petty as a student of music rather than one of the industry's giants — someone who, in Dylan's telling, remained fully engaged onstage to the end.
A Reunion That Still Feels Unlikely
Dylan isn't alone in missing Petty's presence. Benmont Tench, described by Press Telegram as Petty's lifelong friend and bandmate, has said he cannot imagine the Heartbreakers reuniting without him, and the outlet reports that a full reunion remains unlikely. Still, pieces of that legacy have surfaced elsewhere this year: Variety reports that the four members of the Heartbreakers' original lineup — Mike Campbell, Tench, Stan Lynch and Ron Blair — reunited onstage for the first time in more than 20 years at the Americana Honors & Awards, fronted by Chris Stapleton, with later members Steve Ferrone and Scott Thurston joining for the finale.
Dylan's own musical roots trace back further than his own band. Press Telegram reports he became obsessed with music at age 13 and came up as a musician during the 1980s — the same decade Petty released Long After Dark. Dylan is also the son of Bob Dylan, who released Rough and Rowdy Ways and whose own Traveling Wilburys bandmate was, fittingly, Tom Petty himself. Jakob Dylan has said songwriters can improve through experience, and that he's loved playing Petty's songs for years, adding that he feels fortunate to still be doing what he loves.
Tickets for the Los Angeles show are available through the Orpheum Theatre, with a Live Nation listing placing the performance at 8 p.m. Tuesday and naming the Whitmore Sisters as support, though that detail carries lower certainty than the rest of the bill.
