February 2011, 40 Watt, Athens, Ga.
Midway through the sold-out show, a sweat-laden Jim Adkins made apologies.
“It’s like the front row at Sea World, sorry about that guys,” the lead singer/guitarist for Jimmy Eat World told the laughing crowd. “Hey, that’s rock and roll.”
Rock and roll indeed.
A year before the show I interviewed guitarist Tom Linton about where the band stood almost two decades after forming, and how it became such a tight band, both live and on album. Apparently this happens to bands from Arizona.
“It’s so hot in the summer it’s almost unbearable to go outside,” he told me. “When I was younger starting to play music I would just lock myself in my room and play guitar all day because it was just so hot. When we first started we would practice long hours — we started out a Zach’s (Lind) parents’ house practicing during the day and then go to Jim’s parents’ house. It was something to keep us busy during those hot days.”
There’s a certain confidence you get from a band when it goes about its business the right way, and this feeling emanated from the stage in spades from Jimmy Eat World. The spirited and professional band roamed through the 20-song set with care, covering its entire catalog in what could best be described as a night of greatest hits. The band opened up with “Bleed American,” from the 2001 album of the same name, and didn’t let up until “Sweetness” ended the night in a wild ruckus.
In between there were quiet acoustic moments (“Hear You Me”), sing-alongs (“Big Casino,” “Blister,” “Pain”) and full-on head bangers (“Action Needs an Audience,” “Evidence”). The set ended with an excellent version of “Goodbye Sky Harbor,” where Adkins recorded notes on the mic which ran on a loop and layered over one another. It was smart and inventive, what you’d expect from a band with 18 years under its belt.
The three-song encore opened with an acoustic-driven Invented and ended with “The Middle” and “Sweetness,” sending the crowd into a jumping mass of pump-fisting fury.
“We’ve been trying to come and play at the 40 Watt for years but it never worked out,” Atkins said. “It’s so great it finally happened.”
Right back at you, Jim.
