Jimmy Eat World – Tripod, Dublin.
Review by James Hendicott
Having grown up with the emotional pop-rock of ‘Jimmy’, tonight’s an emotional experience for Goldenplec, and one that’s thrown straight in to the ‘nostalgia’ category when the Arizona-natives open with two classics of their career-defining ‘Bleed American’ album (later rebranded as self-titled due to the events of September 11th 2001), ‘Salt Sweat Sugar’ and ‘Your House’. Having caused an instantaneous party down the front, though, Jimmy were always going to struggle to put together an entire set of the same quality.
Since we last caught the band live, they’ve added a female keyboardist and released three more albums, each of which has seen a decline in sales relative to Bleed Americans million-selling peak. While we can’t fault the band’s energy, it’s not difficult two see why: while their moment in the sun featured the varied sounds of chart–ready ‘The Middle’, the delicate ‘Hear You Me’ and the epic crescendos of emo-metal track ‘Get It Faster’ (all of which feature later today) the likes of new album ‘Invented’ and 2004’s ‘Futures’ simply lack the range and appeal of the big one.
That translates oddly as a live set. After all this time it’s more than a little clear that the fans favourite is still big single ‘The Middle’, while late 90s tracks like the repetitive but catchy ‘Lucky Denver Mint’ sit nicely in the set, offering something a bit different with their throbbing back-beats and melodramatic changes of pace. Tracks like new single ‘My Best Theory’, on the other hand, sit nicely as single entities, but sound notably similar to the likes of ‘Coffee and Cigarettes’ and ‘23’ when grouped together in a 90 minute set. There are some fantastic highlights, but equally a number of moments when retreating to the bar for a song or two seems a reasonable course of action.
That’s not to say tonight isn’t good: there are moments of absolute genius (if you can call infectious pop punk such a thing) in amongst the mix. The sheer power of three consecutive tracks from ‘Bleed American’ in the encore is by far the night’s highlight, but the energy and sense of gratefulness with which the band play throughout is endearing to say the least. At the heights of the set, Jimmy Eat World are nothing short of brilliant, and are met with bouncing glee not only at the front, but also at the very back of the balcony’s seating area. The ‘samey’ moments, though, are just a touch too frequent, and while the band are treated as returning heroes, they’re just a little less varied and less affecting than they were the best part of a decade ago. Harsh, perhaps, but with albums behind them that represent a band at the very peak of their genre, Jimmy Eat World could – and should – offer so much more.