Jimmy Eat World House of Blues May 16, 2k14
Some people just ooze cool. You look at them and no matter what they're doing they just look cool. If you're in a band, you're not guaranteed to look cool, but it certainly helps. Millions have slapped on guitars in the past few decades in the pursuit of cool, but most of them you wouldn't put on a t-shirt.
Jimmy Eat World are not cool, at least not in the traditional rock and roll sense of the word. It's not that they look like dorks or anything, they just look... well... like dudes. If you saw them walking down the street, you'd never guess that for one brief shining moment they had a song in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100.
And that's OK. More than OK really. Not every band has to ooze cool or have a gimmick or cause a riot or wear masks or destroy their instruments or have next level stage banter. Sometimes you just need some good songs that can hit people right in the heart.
Jimmy Eat World have those in abundance.
Jimmy Eat World may never win any awards for "most dynamic live show" but just because they go out and just play songs doesn't mean that they're boring. There's a fire inside Jim Adkins, an intensity that would be scary in a hardcore or metal band, but in this band comes off as charming. A lot of bands forget the importance of things like eye contact when it comes to connecting with a crowd.
This was the band's first swing through Texas since their release last year of Damage, and new material - in particular show opening "I Will Steal You Back - fit in nicely with their older material. Although they experiment a bit in the studio, this tour is pretty much all straight forward rockers with a couple of acoustic numbers to help break things up. So no, there was no "Goodbye Sky Harbor" or "Night Drive" but "Blister" and "Futures" left the crowd ecstatic.
But really, when you're playing to a crowd that gets it (and from where I was standing they totally did) everything you play is going to be a winner. "Sweetness" and "Pain" to get the crowd even more pumped up? Check. "23" to get all up in their feelings? Check. "Hear You Me" to bring a tear to their eyes? Check. "Bleed American" and "The Middle" as the main set and encore closing sing-alongs to send everyone home happy? Double check.
Review continues on the next page.
