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Jimmy Eat World / Taking Back Sunday

live in Los Angeles (2003)
Universal Music Group

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Contributed by: Megan
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on January 21st 2003

Jimmy Eat World took the stage in front of a landscape of their hometown, Mesa, Arizona. Throwing themselves into their most recent single, “A Praise Chorus,” the band set the tone for the evening. From there, JEW (as fans refer to them) tore into their breakthrough hit, “Bleed American.” The crowd responded frantically with shouts of “salt, sweat, sugar on the asphalt” as the sweat went flying off of lead singer Jim Adkins’ face. Adkins manages to put so much emotion into every song that it almost becomes painful to watch. The band then kicked into “Your New Aesthetic” from their previous album, the musical masterpiece, “Clarity.”

The band pulled fairly equally from each of their two previous studio albums, the more recent “Bleed American” (also known as self-titled since the 9/11) and the aforementioned “Clarity.” JEW manages to put on one of the best shows on mainstream bands these days and this was no exception. The atmosphere at a JEW show is gripping, pulling the listener in and making the crowd as much of the experience as the band. This group performed up to par with the playing of JEW, making the experience that much better. The lack of crowd surfing was quite refreshing.

The band’s faster paced songs had the crowd dancing and singing their hearts out with themes that the kids can relate to. With lines like “We once walked out on the beach and once I almost touch your hand” from “If You Don’t, Don’t” JEW manages to be accessible to everyone. “The Middle,” with its inspirational lyrics, had the crowd smiling.

Highlights from “Clarity” were “Just Watch the Fireworks,” “Blister,” “On a Sunday,” and “Lucky Denver Mint.” The ever famous “For Me, This is Heaven” had the crowd swaying to the beat with their eyes closed. The line “if I don’t let myself be happy now then when?” lends the argument that if one can’t be happy at a JEW concert, then where? If not there, where?

The band’s friend Rachel joined the boys on stage to lend backing vocals to “The Authority Song” and “Table for Glasses.” “The Authority Song” from “Bleed American” is an up tempo song to bounce along to, while “Table for Glasses” is quieter and slightly more introspective, which is a common comparison between “Clarity” and “Bleed American” tracks.

The band pulled out the popular “No Sensitivity” from their split with Jebediah. Always a crowd pleaser, the addition in the middle of the song of “I thought it was obvious… so fucking obvious” had the crowd cheering. From “Static Prevails,” the band only chose to play “Call it in the Air” with guitarist Tom Linton lending the lead vocals.

The encore kicked off with “My Sundown,” the last track on “Bleed American,” a slow paced song regarding a person recognizing his or her own potential. Second to last was “Goodbye Sky Harbor” which was drawn out a bit longer than usual due to the band having to stop and attempt to break up a fight. The night ended with “Sweetness,” the third single off of “Bleed American” and an excellent ending to an excellent night.

Opening bands Bright Life and Taking Back Sunday bravely filled the earlier slots in the evening (perhaps not so bravely seeing as half of the crowd seemed to be there for Victory band, Taking Back Sunday). Bright Life played a brief fifteen-minute set of infectious pop rock from Santa Monica. Taking Back Sunday drew mostly from their new album “Tell All Your Friends” and it was obvious why so many people came out just to see them. Their set was crisp and their stage energy was high with lots of crowd interaction. They’re definitely a band worth checking out.

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Anonymous (January 27, 2003)

JEW puts on a good show, saw them open up for Weezer a year ago. Good stuff, wish they played older songs, but, hey...they were good.

Anonymous (January 27, 2003)

yeah so jew kicks ass tbs sucks and the other band i guess is not worth mentioning is it?

Anonymous (January 27, 2003)

well then i guess they're just stupid.

Anonymous (January 26, 2003)

JEW were too weak to say anything? It was their idea to change the name in the first place you cock suck.

Anonymous (January 24, 2003)

glad to be of service

Anonymous (January 23, 2003)

hahahahaha
that was the funniest thing i've heard all night

Anonymous (January 23, 2003)

i am going to write a song entitled hate without the e.

Anonymous (January 23, 2003)

It so stupid that they had to change the name for 9/11....how dumb. That's more disrespectful than anything. I guess JEW were too weak to say something. That's the only song of their's that I like.

Anonymous (January 23, 2003)

I'd rather spend my evening attempting to slit my wrists with a butter knife.

-sickboi

Anonymous (January 23, 2003)

I was overloaded by so many "The band’s," I think my head is going to explode.

Good review except I clicked on it to read about a Taking Back Sunday show :(

Anonymous (January 23, 2003)

Seriously, just because JEW is headlining doesn't mean basically the entire review must be about them. I would have liked at least some insight into the 2 opening bands, rather than just one sentance on Taking Back Sunday.

Anonymous (January 22, 2003)

people here blaming the review because they can't understand it, lame

the[]muffin[]girl

Anonymous (January 22, 2003)

Well, I'm glad we cleared that up.

Anonymous (January 22, 2003)

he he, men have penises women have vaginas.

Anonymous (January 22, 2003)

you have a vagina? hmm, weird...do all girls have them?

Anonymous (January 22, 2003)

are you from philly? oh and by the way...jimmy can eat my world...anytime...tee-hee...can you still feel my butterflies?

Anonymous (January 22, 2003)

yeah pretty soon the BostonMusicGuy will be TAFKATBMG. Go all the way man!!

Anonymous (January 22, 2003)

BostonMusicGuy, aren't you ripping off Bill Simmons's pen name? Or were you sarcastically referring to yourself in that last post?

This score is for your originality

LesaMonster (January 22, 2003)

"Uh.. i love how the title says "Jimmy Eat World/Taking Back Sunday" but there's like.. hardly anything about them." (

BostonMusicGuy (January 22, 2003)

wow... i smell a rip off.-BostonMusicGuy

SOYBOMB (January 21, 2003)

JMMY EAT WORLD SI TEH GAY!!!11

Fuck You,
xxx-STeReOTYPiCALPoSTER-xxx

*cough*

CaptainCrunch (January 21, 2003)

Jeremy, you are a pimp. Man that was so smooth....

Actually I do like your reviews, Megan. Keep up the good work.

-Captain Crunch

AIM: ACiatti8

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

Well written review Megan!!! As always, you offered much detail of said show in perfect articulation. Continue to write in this fashion, if people do not understand that Jimmy Eat World was the headliner, they are fuckers. Thats all. And you are a girl.

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

Hey Megan, my name's Jeremy. I live in Grand Junction, Colorado and I think you and I should hook up for a night... A night of trading mixtapes and french kissing.

-just kidding. i like your review, really well-written. hope to hear more stuff from you soon.

- oldschool Jeremy Deathstar...

sn = jovonovich48@aol.com

Megan (January 21, 2003)

Hey! I'm a girl! I have a vagina! Could everybody stop referring to me as a guy? Thanks.

Daegan (January 21, 2003)

"Uh.. i love how the title says "Jimmy Eat World/Taking Back Sunday" but there's like.. hardly anything about them. " (

bruceless (January 21, 2003)

This was a great read. I like how all was tied up with the opening acts last, as this was very much a JEW review, and a very nicely written.

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

Uh.. i love how the title says "Jimmy Eat World/Taking Back Sunday" but there's like.. hardly anything about them.

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

I think the main show to this guy was JEW(they were ther headliners), so he just concluded with a brief paragraph on the other 2 bands. I like the way it was done, it gets the most popular band first. So what if it doesn't go in order. I still understood how the show went.

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

on flyers it doesn't say Taking Back Sunday with Jimmy Eat World. why should a review talk about them that way?

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

opening bands are talked about last because for most people, they are reading the review for the headliner.

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

how the hell did you guys find that confusing? it was perfectly fine, in fact a very good review.

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

If you read concert reviews in newspapers, you'll find that they start with the headliners, describe them in detail, and summarize the opening acts at the end. Nothing unusual here. Good review, though it does stand out since this is more of a "fan site," whatever that means.

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

i agree with him, it's kinda like being damn jimmy eat world blew the crowd the fuck away...ohh yeah and some other people played before them too.

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

Why should opening bands go first?

-Scott (work)

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

ahhh. I get it now. That is pretty confusing though. and opening bands should go first. not a bad description of JEW tho

*****Wuss-Emo-Rock***** (at school)

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

man this review is hard to read. You're like all over the place. A piece of writing should flow, this is like so hard to follow.

Anonymous (January 21, 2003)

wussemo - it says the backdrop during the set looked like arizona, they played in LA.

evilash (January 21, 2003)

does wusss emo rock ever have anything valid to say or is it just exciting to him that his name shows up in every thread?? Discuss

WussEmoRock (January 21, 2003)

was it just me or was that review done backwards, and I might have read it wrong but did it take place in LA or arizona?

*****Wuss-Emo-Rock*****