LIVE: Jimmy Eat World @ The 9:30 Club - 8/11/13
Jimmy Eat World’s front man, Jim Adkins, is a social guy for someone who writes constantly about isolation and heartbreak. As the crowd during Jimmy’ s sold out show at the 9:30 Club patiently waited for drummer Zach Lind, Jim told the crowd about their tour a while back when they were opening for Rocket From The Crypt. Granted, at least 70% of the crowd either had never heard of Rocket or were too young when Rocket was in their prime so this story flew over their heads. In fact, most of the crowd looked to be in their early twenties so by that count, the first time these fans first heard Jimmy was through their breakout hit “The Middle”. Jimmy Eat World seems to also realize this, as the night was full of songs from their 2001-2004 releases, Bleed American and Futures.
Starting out with “I’ll Steal You Back” off their most recent album, 2013’s Damage, Jimmy Eat World took the stage to heavy praise from the crowd. The sing alongs and fangirl screams, however, came mainly from Jimmy’s platinum-selling Bleed American. They seemed to feed off this energy with songs like “Sweetness” and “A Praise Chorus” being the most energetic songs from the setlist in a set ripe with their heavier songs (“Pain” and “Bleed American” to be exact) sprinkled with some softer bits spanning back to Futures like “23” and “Work”.
The band hasn’t forgotten their roots and what drove them to gain a cult following by playing some songs of their critical album, Clarity. “Lucky Denver Mint” is a common staple on tour and tonight was no exception with the track being one of the few songs not on Bleed American that always sparks a sing along from the dedicated fans. Other Clarity tracks appeared such as a solo acoustic of “For Me This Is Heaven” from Jim and “Your New Aesthetic” quickly added after a flurry of songs off of Jimmy’s last three albums. To keep things interesting, Jimmy Eat World has been playing their own rendition of “We Are Never Getting Back Together” by none other than Taylor Swift (see their rendition on Conan O’Brian’s show for a solid dose of hilarity). The cover worked surprisingly well with Jimmy giving the song some teeth by adding some thick distortion to the pre-teen melodrama anthem of the 2000’s.
Jimmy Eat World knows how to deliver their fans and to the 9:30 Club fellowship that shows up every time to sell out Jimmy’s shows. For a band that hasn’t been buzzed about since Futures, they know how to put on a lively show and reward those who has stuck with them even after the hype of Bleed American died down. People may ask how relevant Bleed American is after 12 years since release. All they need to do is attend a Jimmy Eat World show and watch them re-ignite the relevance of their 2001 breakthrough.
Jimmy Eat World performing at the 9:30 Club (All photos by Joy Asico)
