My generation breathes rock `n’ roll. Power chords and bass lines run through our veins, and if they’re soaked in just the right amount of emotion and relevancy, they electrify our blood.
Jimmy Eat World injected an eager audience with a perfect concoction of aggression and sweetness last Sunday night at the Pageant.
The audience waited patiently through two opening acts, the tepid Rueben’s Accomplice, and a simmering Hey Mercedes. Popular attire was horn-rimmed specs and dorky thrift-store tees-usually dead giveaways of an emotive-rock show. Jimmy Eat World rocks hard enough, however, to overcome emo’s sappy reputation.
The guys didn’t wait to tear into intense tracks from their new album, Bleed American. Lead vocalist Jim Adkins instantly became a human sprinkler onstage, bathing the front rows of the pit in his sweat as he thrashed around.
The lyrics of the second tune, “A Praise Chorus,” incited the crowd with the lines, “are you going to live your life standing in the back looking around/ are you going to waste your time/ got to make a move or you’ll miss out.”
Guitarist Tom Linton pulled off some smooth vocals on “Rockstar,” a slower song that showcased the varying tempo of the band’s sound. The pseudo-hit “Lucky Denver Mint” brought the crowd back into a frenzy with Adkins declaring, “you’re not bigger than this not better/why can’t you learn.”
Guest vocalist/multi-talented musician Rachel Hayden supported the band with the warm harmony of her vocals and melodic keyboards, in addition to playing other sundry instruments.
She added femininity and scope to “For Me This Is Heaven,” a beautiful love song that asks,”can you still feel the butterflies?”
The only time the band faltered was during the ambient sounds of “Cautioners.” It simply didn’t succeed in conveying the brooding, layered sound the band achieved on the album version.
The lyrics in the band’s louder songs were alternately cynical and motivational.
Whether it was a call to “take back the radio” or the realization that “cheating gets it faster,” Jimmy Eat World’s lyrics gave listeners the opportunity revel in memory and possibility.
Music can’t take you somewhere you’ve never been, but it can remind you of highlights and horrors with intensity no other art form offers. Jimmy Eat World is excellent at tapping into those veins.
There was plenty of emotion to tap into Sunday night. The generation that breathes rock `n’ roll was still sputtering from the thick cloud of reality that descended upon us on Sept. 11. The St. Louis show marked the premature end to this leg of Jimmy Eat World’s world tour. Some dates were cancelled or postponed due to the terrorist attacks.
Though the band made no direct mention of the event during its performance, the exchange between the performers and the audience reflected a heightened need for this kind of outlet: on both sides of the stage.
“Authority Song” asks “I don’t seem obvious do I?” It was indeed obvious that they knew how to tap into their love of music in a way that was inclusive without being stupefying.
Bleed American is a gem and a lesson in what popular music should evolve into. Jimmy Eat World is drilling through the music industry’s lead ceiling with tactics similar to the ones that made bands like Everclear superstars; they balance lyrical hooks with intelligent music and tour tour tour.
Like the beginnings of Everclear’s stardom, the band’s promising career has been burgeoning for several years now, receiving acclaim but not wild success. And it seems that it might stay that way, to the delight of many who got to attend the intimate rock `n’ roll experience at Mississippi Nights.
The band wrapped up with show with a dizzying version of “Sweetness,” a song that wound up the audience before sending them back to the real world.
The crew members and opening bands joined Jimmy Eat World onstage, snapping photos and partying while the band let loose one last time. Most of the audience left reluctantly, appreciating the complete release and hope they’d just experienced.
