I
never thought I’d see this lot in a place like this…! Arizona’s finest,
enduring Indie-Emo giants and “live” favourites of ours, Jimmy Eat World,
announced a 10th (!) album, “Surviving” along with a couple of very
unusual “live” dates, one of which was at this venue, Kingston’s PRYZM. Ever
heard of it? Yeah, me neither… Pre-ticket sale investigation indicated this
would likely be a low-key CD release show in a small venue, so I jumped on tix
for myself, Rach and Logan when they went on sale, finding them very
competitively priced at £18 – even for what seemed like an early hour’s set
from Jimmy – and also including a copy of the new CD! No surprise then that
they sold out in double-quick time, but not before we were sorted, with 3
tickets then, later, 3 CDs dropping through the Rose letterbox!
This
one also meant a chance to catch up with our friend and Kingston resident Lisa,
so plans were made and we set off at 3 after leaving Kasey for a sleepover at
Laura’s. Parked up after a couple of confusing laps around the inner ring road
and bumped into Lisa on our way to the wrong Pizza Express – good job, that! Had
a lovely catch-up over tea, then we wandered around to the venue, bidding our
farewells to Lisa before popping in. Had to join a large queue snaking around
the downstairs lounge before heading up to the venue, a 500-capacity 3-tiered
disco nightclub which resembled a smaller SWX, or a slightly bigger Level 3!
There was already a rammed crowd around the tiny stage, so “down the front” was
out of the question tonight; instead Logan’s idea was to take this one in from the
top balcony, and we got excellent viewing spots right next to the mixing desk.
Good shout!
The
time ticked on and the floor (from our view) got even more uncomfortably rammed,
and I was rather hoping the boys would throw us a bone by starting early. No
such luck, though, as Jim Adkins waited until just after 8 to lead his
uniform-black clad bandmates onstage where, particularly with the addition of a
5th “live” member on keyboard duties, they immediately looked very
cramped! No matter, straight into the tumbling drums and slashing riffery of “Surviving”,
the title track from said new album, which on first couple of listens seems
more dynamic and less slow-burn than recent releases; a very welcome thing!
More welcome was the opening riff to “Bleed American”, next up, the boys
belying the slightly murky sound and a similarly muted response from the
cramped faithful with an utterly incendiary rendition.
“We’ve
just put a new record out! Some of you may know this…” deadpanned Jim
ironically before the Hold Steady-esque herky-jerky opening riff to new single “All
The Way (Stay)” kicked in, the mood-heavy slower burn of “555” following in
short order. But then the highlight of the night for me, as Jim declared, “we’ve
been a band for 25 years! Crazy! Here’s an oldie – Tom’s going to tell you
about it…” then guitarist Tom Linton introduced a tremendously pulsating and
seething run-though of “Blister”, Linton himself taking vocal chores and
leading the finally-engaged crowd in a mass singalong. How long would it take
to walk across the United States, indeed…?
For
all that this was a swift hour set and also ostensibly a “Surviving” CD release
show, we still got 6 cuts from that classic 2001 “Bleed American” album, so “Hear
You Me” was a poignant and plaintive delight, Jim asking the crowd to, “be part
of the show, hold your phones up!” the venue then being bathed in light. The
brilliant “A Praise Chorus” followed, Jim demanding the crowd rock out to this
undulating thrill-ride of a song, before the final double whammy of “Sweetness”
and “The Middle” took us slightly past the 9pm curfew to close out a superb
vignette from a band who surely have transcended this size of stage and venue, Jim
high-fiving the crowd on his way offstage.
Oh
yeah, Logan loved it too, despite the omission of his favourite number “Pain”;
as he rocked out to “The Middle”, noisily screaming all the words, I couldn’t
help but turn to Rach and say, “this, right here, this is why we had kids!!” A
similarly confusing exit from Kingston still got us home before 11 after an
unusual but nonetheless excellent Jimmy Eat World gig. Here’s hoping for a
bigger tour in 2020, though!
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