Samstag, 1. Mär 2008, 9:01

Wed 20 Feb – Jimmy Eat World, Sparkadia

Support

After a very long wait, support came from Sparkadia, an Australian band who sounded a bit like Keane and Blackbud. I’m not exactly sure why they’re supporting Jimmy Eat World, but they put on a professional show. Their 30 minute set seemed to drag on and on though, and by the end I was glad it was over, maybe they’re a band who are better to listen to on CD.

Main Act

After another long wait Jimmy hit the stage and kicked things off with Big Casino. The crowd didn’t really react much to it, a pattern that would continue throughout the night whenever they played a song of the new album. Second song Sweetness shook some life into the place though, with every single person in the building shouting along to the numerous woo-ooo-ooooos. Next came my favourite Jimmy Eat World song, and one of my favourite songs of all time, Work. Jim Adkins was on fine form tonight, hitting every note, and putting a lot of emotion into his performance…and of course getting very sweaty.

A few songs later we’re given two rarities, Disintegration (which I’ve never heard) and No Sensitivity, B side on The Middle. Towards the end of the latter they have some technical problems and their sound cut out. This introduced a 5 minute gap, which saw Jim trying to get the crowd to be silent so he could speak. He didn’t stand a chance though; we were too bust chanting “Jimmy, Jimmy…” About midway through the silence it occurred to me that there were quite a lot of big men standing around me and if they start back with something up-tempo I could die in the pit. Luckily for me when they fix their equipment they restarted with Get It Faster. Unfortunately for me, the song after that was Bleed American/Salt Sweat Sugar, which got a massive reaction from the crowd.

They played a few more songs from the new album, which really got no reaction. I’m not sure why, the new album is in my opinion one of their best to date. Maybe people haven’t had long enough to learn the words.

The main part of the set ended with a stunning version of 23, which people sung every single word too, and Pain, during which 2 massive circle pits opened up around me. They went off to massive applause, and people chanting for more. Can you imagine if a band actually didn’t come back for an encore? That would have probably caused a riot at the time, because people were obviously waiting for The Middle.

After a very short time off the stage the band listened to the people shouting for more and came back for an encore. This started off with a slightly weird version of Your House, where Jim only sang half of the words, and the crowd didn’t realise, so didn’t sing them for him. Hear You Me was right on the button though, and proved to be one of the biggest sing-alongs of the night. After a very emotional version of Dizzy, which Jim claimed was his favourite song to play at the minute, the annoying people chanting for The Middle in front of me got what they wanted.

Biggest Crowd Pleasers

1. The Middle
2. Sweetness
3. Pain

Why did they leave these out of the set?

1. Carry You
2. The World You Love
3. Lucky Denver Mint

Set List

Big Casino
Sweetness
Work
Always Be
Crush
Disintegration
No Sensitivity
Get It Faster
Bleed American
Blister
Here It Goes
Let It Happen
23
Pain

Your House
Hear You Me
Dizzy
The Middle

Rating

8/10

Playing 2 songs I didn’t know let it down a little, and missing off one of my favourites of the new album. Also there was a lot of waiting about between bands.