Whatever you think about Jakob Dylan's middle-of-the-road music, he sure knows how to make the most out of just one crow.

 

One Counting Crow, that is.

 

Counting Crows keyboardist Charlie Gillingham joined Dylan's roots-rock band The Wallflowers for almost all of their Molson Amphitheatre show last night after Gillingham's group had to cancel their appearance at the last minute, due to singer Adam Duritz's vocal chord problems.

 

"This is very exciting," said Dylan as he brought out Gillingham for the Wallflowers' hit, 6th Avenue Heartache, and kept him there until the last song, a cover of The Clash's Brand New Cadillac.

 

In fact, Dylan was noticeably animated and happy throughout the Wallflowers' hour-and-45-minute performance, warmly smiling at and receiving gifts from fans -- including a red bikini top with a phone number on it -- mugging for the camera providing his image on large video screens and even fending off one heckler who screamed "You suck!" just as the evening was coming to a close.

 

"Haven't I been working hard up here?" asked Dylan.

 

"You know what the difference is between you and me," he continued, "I'm not an a--hole."

 

With that Dylan and his band launched into their wildly popular current single, The Difference, getting the crowd of about 6,000 on its feet and effectively shutting down the would-be party pooper.

 

Speaking of differences, where was the brooding, sullen and serious Dylan of just under two years ago?

 

That would be when I saw him open for Chris Isaak at Massey Hall and he mumbled and stumbled his way through a truly awful, but thankfully short, set.

 

This time, Dylan was confident, loose and carefree as he took The Wallflowers through most of the material from their second album, Bringing Down The Horse, which has sold three million copies and counting.

 

The biggest response was for One Headlight, but also thrown in for good measure but to lesser effect were five covers, including The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and The Weight from the songbook of legendary Canadian outfit The Band.

 

That would be the same Band that once played with Jakob's famous father, Bob.

 

Whether he knew it or not, Dylan test drove the Amphitheatre for his dad last night.

 

Bob Dylan comes to town August 7 to play the same venue.

 

Had he been in the audience last night, he would have been one proud papa.

 

SUN RATING 4 OUT OF 5