Yup, Rachel… in another throwback moment, another recent absentee from my “Dance Card” made a happy return, this being my dear lady wife’s first non-“Shiiine” gig with me since Pete Wylie last March (gig 1,316), for perfectly understandable reasons. And, with a smattering of others booked up in the near future, hopefully this will be the first of many in 2025… So, after bribing the kids with takeaway pizza, we set off for my first bridge crossing in over a year (another throwback!), getting turned around a little on arrival but parking up close by, about 20 past doors. A helpful steward then ushered me and my stairs-averse wife up a lift to the main hall (nice!), and we grabbed a spot halfway back, house right. I took a wander and bumped into recent (and local to this one!) gig buddy Mel and his lovely partner Tammy, Mel sporting the same Spanish Love Songs tee that I had on! Great minds, and all that… a quick chat then, before openers, Les Shirley, on at 8. An all-girl French Canadian power trio, this lot, (the Les then being a plural “the”!), their second number “Sayonara” was an urgent alarm bell jangle with a yelping choral hook, and a fine later “Motherfucker” (apparently!), featured a Smiths-esque guitar intro before plunging into a driving dual vocal attack. That aside, much of the set was fairly generic frantic yet enthusiastically played new millennial pop-punk, with a nice line in banter from the girls (viz. the guitarist plugging their merch as they needed to recoup an expensive dinner the previous night (!), and later giving us weather tips on when to visit their home town of Montreal…). Overall, a decent opener, despite the Stones “Start Me Up” clone, which didn’t impress…
Rach and I then spent the inter-band gap debating whether the “R” on the “Jimmy Eat World” backdrop was a “P” which had been gaffer-taped (!), before the lights plunged at 9 and the ominous click-clack backing track not only heralded the black-clad band onstage, but could only signify one opener – sure enough, vocalist Jim Adkins greeted us with a quick, “what’s up, y’all?” before solemnly intoning the opening verse of the classic “Pain”, the song then erupting into volcanic, purposeful life at the huge fist-pumping chorus. Fellow “Futures” feature “Just Tonight” followed in brilliantly breathless short order, before the jagged “Sweetness”’ huge “whoah-oh” singalong from this sell-out crowd practically took the roof off. Woah, what an utterly searing start!
An object lesson
in audience engagement for starters then from our visitors “from the desert of
Arizona!”, but although the blistering pace understandably slowed, the sheer
power, emotional intensity and commitment of the performance remained at an absolute
top level throughout, “It’s been way too long! You guys are ready for
this!” exclaimed Jim incredulously before the herky-jerky rhythm and joyfully affirmative
hook of “Big Casino”, an early highlight, the man thereafter advising, “this is
going to be a hot one – please hydrate!” An acoustic and rather lovely “Your
House” led into a slow-burn and darker mood-changing “Cheating Gets It Faster”;
the self-effacing vocalist (“I’m the worst person to give a microphone to!”)
then related a story of a fight breaking out at a Belgium gig to the poignant “23”
– apparently twice! – before a genuinely emotive version, the guy in front of
us hugging his tearful girlfriend throughout; then guitarist Tom Linton took vocal
lead for a fist-pumping singalong “Blister”, for me tonight’s brilliant yet
horribly prescient highlight, given the National Guard’s current presence in LA
– “the West Coast has been traumatized”, indeed…
The elegiac “Hear You Me” was stark and beautiful, before Jim asked, “is everyone rested up now?” the gig thereafter building to an inevitable yet breathtaking triple-whammy; “A Praise Chorus” leading off with its’ undulating thrill-ride, the strident stomp and echoing riff of “Bleed American” following, before “The Middle”’s infectious and inclusive powerpop and twirling middle 8 rounded off the set. Brilliant stuff!
Some sincere words of appreciation from Jim to us loyal long-timers (“and if it’s your first time, I hope we didn’t suck!”) preceded a 2-song encore culminating in a final joyful singalong to “World You Love”. “Don’t it feel like sunshine after all…”, indeed! A brilliant 1½ hour set, then, as good as I’ve seen Jimmy Eat World in ages (if ever…), the only drawback being the Cardiff crowd’s stubborn refusal to form a moshpit. Never mind, I got sweaty enough dancing on my own! Patience and politeness then got me a fortuitous list (yay!), before we bade farewell to Mel and Tammy and headed back to Blighty, home for a shade past midnight. So, a proper throwback, but an utterly stellar one, Jimmy Eat World delivering a vintage performance for what will doubtless feature as one of my top gigs of 2025!
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