Catching up with Jimmy Eat World

Photo: NME.com
Singer Jim Adkins and Jimmy Eat World rocked the House of Blues in Boston this past Friday night.

While some spent this past Friday night reuniting with the bottle, I spent it in Boston, reuniting with a musical friend that I had forgotten about over the past few years. I was at House of Blues for the Jimmy Eat World concert, and I had lost interested in the Arizona alt-rock veterans following their disappointing 2007 album Chase This Light. But their resurgence from a new album (Invented) and hit single (“My Best Theory”), coupled with the HOB show made me realize what I had been missing over the years.

I was disappointed that they opened the show with “Bleed American.” In my opinion, it’s undoubtedly their best single and arguably their best song. I like when bands save their best song for last, not for the open of the concert. I also think the HOB is a terrible venue for a concert. Everyone is standing of the floor, packed in like some kind of a pig pen. I had to stand in front of the bar to catch a good view of the show, and people were constantly bumping into me through the night en route to their next alcoholic beverage. But other than that, I (and thousand of other JEW fans) had a great time belting out all of the band’s incredible hits, including “The Middle,” “Pain,” “Sweetness,” and “A Praise Chorus.”

They even threw in a couple of lesser-known favorites like “Get It Faster” and “Blister” off of their legendary album Clarity, which was sung by guitarist-and former lead singer- Tom Linton. The reunion had a perfect ending when the rabid crowd obliged to singer Jim Adkins’s request to “sing it back” during the show’s finale of “Sweetness.” A sweet night had by all, indeed.