Jimmy Eat World Rocks the House of Blues

By: Nicole Baillargeon
Posted In: Entertainment

Jimmy Eat World performed at the newly opened House of Blues in Boston, Mass. to a sold out show on Feb. 26, 2009. The intimate venue was crowded from the floor to the balcony with anxious fans ready to see this original “emo” band play. This wasn’t any ordinary Jimmy Eat World show. It was the band’s “Clarity x10” tour, a special tour with only 10 stops, and a reprising of their Clarity album that came out in 1999. Boston was lucky enough to be one of the stops graced with Jimmy Eat World’s presence.

They played over an hour long set, performing Clarity from start to finish; a very rare thing for a band to do, which made the show that much more special. “Clarity,” released 10 years ago, never got much attention, but it still had an impact on their most loyal fans. “We’ve been waiting to do this for a really, really long time,” Jim Adkins, the front runner of the band said to the crowd mid-show. “Thank you so much for the opportunity.”

The first half of the show was mellow, but the crowd still clapped and sang along. The fans jumped up and down with excitement during “Lucky Denver Mint” and “Blister.” Fans raised their cell phones and lighters in the air during the softer songs, “A Sunday,” “12.23.95 (Merry Christmas, Baby.),” and their 17-minute long epic “Goodbye Sky Harbor,” which ended their first half of the set, leaving the crowd in a dreamy state and only wanting more.

Jimmy Eat World did not disappoint, and they climbed back on stage to play a half-hour encore. They opened with “No Sensitivity,” a song they did on a split EP with Jebediah in 2000, and is rarely played live. This led into three songs off of their “Futures” album from 2004, including the beautiful “23” and “Work.” Finally it came time for Jimmy Eat World to play their last two songs of the night off of “Bleed American.” They fittingly chose “The Middle,” which launched them into fame in 2001 before the last song played, “Sweetness.” And when Adkins sang the lyrics, “If you’re listening, sing it back,” the crowd did just that with resounding ‘whoa, whoa, whoas’ that probably rang out through the streets of Boston.

Sadly the show had to end, but it is clear that after 10 years, Jimmy Eat World still has a lot of rock left in them. Here’s hoping for another 10 years and beyond of more incredible tunes from these Arizona rockers.