It seems that almost every touring band that comes through town of late has a New Orleans story. Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World recounted the time that bandmate Tom Linton proposed to his wife and on that same night in some small club, he took his first stage dive. Fast forward to Wednesdays night show at the Joy Theater and Jim recounts the story and more than reluctantly dismisses the idea, stating “I’m 41, I don’t do that anymore.” The crowd was so into the show, that is the notion was truly taken serious, they would more than obliged to catch him and cart him all over the place. That love is clearly centered on the music Jim and company put forward.
Since 1993, the Mesa, Arizona quartet has put out a healthy body of work, culminating in the release of nine studio albums. The set was mostly comprised of two albums, Bleed America and tour sake Integrity Blues with a splattering of old favorites to round out the set. The initial set lists had a few extra tracks, but due to Jim getting over the flue, were cut for health sake. The twenty two song list, that included a three song encore, still covered a whole lot of ground.
The stage was flanked by two huge street lights that created an indirect picture frame. The moving lights and strobes were synched to perfection and where in an amazing addition the energetic set. The climax of the evening was one of, if not the band’s most signature hits, “Sweetness.” As Jim left the stage for the second time, he reiterated the fact that he wasn’t going to stage dive. Who knows what would have happened if he wasn’t getting over being sick. We just may have had another “remember that time in New Orleans” story.
When I posted that I was at the show, the first comment I got was, “man that brings back memories.” As the guys started off just after I graduated high school, I couldn’t agree more. The bands longevity is due to several factors, but I believe the sheer love of what they do has to be pretty close to the top. You can see more pictures here.
