Jakobs Castle trades the Cuthbert for the WOW Hall in February

Jakob Nowell's own project returns to Eugene on Friday, Feb. 26, with Codefendants on the bill, in a 400-capacity room with a century of history.

The last time Jakob Nowell's band Jakobs Castle played Eugene, it was September 2023 at the Cuthbert Amphitheater, out under the trees. The return is a winter night in one of the city's most storied rooms, and the circumstances around it have changed considerably.

The details: Jakobs Castle plays the WOW Hall on Friday, Feb. 26, 2027, with the show starting at 7 p.m., with Codefendants in support. Tickets are through TicketWeb, and the hall holds 400. The date was announced Oct. 28, and it's the band's first Eugene show since Sept. 15, 2023.

Jakobs Castle is the project Nowell built before stepping in as Sublime's singer, and it's where coverage says his creative focus is headed. His debut album as Jakobs Castle, *ENTER: THE CASTLE*, came out on Epitaph Records in April 2024, as The Pier reported. One of its early singles, "Supervillain," was co-written with Rancid and Operation Ivy's Tim Armstrong, according to The Pier. Relix has profiled the project too.

The Sublime side of his life has been the bigger headline in between. Rolling Stone covered the band's work on its first new album since 1996, with Travis Barker involved, and in June mxdwn reported Nowell saying he most likely won't sing on another Sublime album after *Until the Sun Explodes*. He has also released the Jakobs Castle single "Vincent Thomas," produced by Jon Joseph, the same producer behind Sublime's "Ensenada." Put together, a Jakobs Castle headline date reads as a statement of where he wants his own work to live.

Codefendants make sense alongside him. The two acts have already shared stages abroad: a Hamburg listing for Codefendants' Europe 2026 run names Jakobs Castle as support, per Hamburg Tourism. Codefendants counts Fat Mike among its members, as BrooklynVegan noted around its record with Get Dead and Ceschi.

A Jakobs Castle headline date reads as a statement of where Nowell wants his own work to live.

And then there's the room. The WOW Hall was built in 1932 by the Eugene chapter of the Woodmen of the World, designed by architect John Hunzicker, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to Wikipedia and Lane Music History. In 1975, a round-the-clock "WOW-a-thon" fundraiser saved it from demolition, and the nonprofit Community Center for the Performing Arts has run it since; the hall marked 50 years as a music venue last year, as Eugene Weekly and KLCC covered. Its all-ages status is central to what it is.

That makes it a good fit for a reggae-punk bill on a Friday in February: wood floor, a 400-person crowd, nobody too far from the stage. Tickets are on TicketWeb, and updates will land on the JamBase listing.

The Cuthbert was a summer night. This one will be a sweaty one indoors, in a building Eugene fought to keep. That feels right.

Sources: Jakob Nowell Releases Debut Solo Album with Jakobs Castle – 'ENTER: THE CASTLE' – The Pier (thepier.org); Jakob Nowell Drops "Supervillain" – The Pier (thepier.org); Jakobs Castle: Sounds of a Lifetime – Relix (relix.com); Sublime Are Working on Their First New Album Since 1996 – Rolling Stone (rollingstone.com); Jakob Nowell Shares He Most Likely Won't Sing on Another Sublime Album After Until the Sun Explodes – mxdwn (music.mxdwn.com); Sublime singer Jakob Nowell's future – Loudwire (loudwire.com); CODEFENDANTS sup. Jakob Castle – Hamburg Tourism (hamburg-tourism.de); New exclusive vinyl: Codefendants (Fat Mike, Get Dead, Ceschi) – BrooklynVegan (brooklynvegan.com); W.O.W. Hall – Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); WOW Hall – Lane Music History (lanemusichistory.com); Half a century of WOW – Eugene Weekly (eugeneweekly.com); Eugene arts group marks its 50th year at WOW Hall – KLCC (klcc.org); Jakobs Castle tickets – TicketWeb (ticketmaster.evyy.net); Jakobs Castle at WOW Hall – JamBase (jambase.com)