Jimmy Eat World @ The Thebby, 13th November ’14
Where were you Adelaide? International act Jimmy Eat World was in town and The Thebarton Theatre was probably just over half full.
Seriously! With the number of acts that miss our great city it would be all the more reason to support the ones who do come to town especially after a massive reception on the main stage at Soundwave.
Nevertheless, the Arizonan quintet put on a flawless display of rock ‘n roll playing songs that sound just as good now as they did all the way back then. The show also proved that if you have great songs and can play well live that you don’t need a massive stage production and other gimmicks for it to considered brilliant.
This tour was all about commemorating the ten year anniversary of the album Futures which front man Jim Adkin’s acknowledged fairly early in the peace saying “it’s the ten year anniversary of our album Futures so we thought we would come down and play some shows”. Futures was a successful album pretty much everywhere selling 620,000 copies in the US alone building on the success and attention that Bleed American paved for them. Given the strength of the back catalogue and what they could have played, putting the ten year anniversary thing to one side, the decision to play this one from start to end was an interesting one.
As far as the set list goes there were no real huge surprises given that Futures was played from start to end in its entirety. The band really did belt through these eleven songs with barely a moment to catch their breath between songs before reloading again. Pointless banter wasn’t high on the agenda either which the loyal fans didn’t seem to mind as they lapped up every minute of this highly polished, tight and entertaining set – class act! The singles being the title track, Work and Pains were really well received and it was interesting watching how some fans reacted to their favourite song off the album being played. Other highlights for me included the likes of Just Tonight, Nothing Wrong and 23.
After a short break the band returned to play their first encore and now that they were chartering familiar territory the crowd response was excitable and growing with each song. While the songs they did play and the songs that weren’t played will make for an interesting debate so much so that with so many great songs in the armoury how could they work out a greatest hits compilation CD? Chase This Light was epic and so to was Big Casino. Interestingly, after Appreciation Adkins made the rare comment that, “that’s not all the good songs” then launching in to Disintegration.
My Best Theory, Lucky Denver Mint and A Praise Chorus – wow! Throw in Bleed America to wrap up the first encore and you would think that it doesn’t get better than that but the second encore was an absolute cracker. Returning for a second encore there were still a few tricks in the kit bag kicking off with I Will Steal You Back, chart busting Sweetness followed by the big single to close the night The Middle. Superb!
Great show from a class act and fingers crossed they still show faith in little ‘ole Adelaide next time.
Whether it is rummaging through vinyl at record stores such as Clarity and Title finding hidden gems to scouring the internet to find that album by the next big thing or chasing bands to get that elusive autograph and photo his passion is music all the way.
- Aversions Crown - January 27, 2017
- Sick Of It All - January 19, 2017
- Refused - January 11, 2017
