Jimmy Eat World - October 17, 2010, Kool Haus, Toronto

Okay...so I knew who these guys were when they were recommended to me by my blog inspiring music buddy....or at least I thought I did.  And you know them too...(or at least you think you do...) If you don't know the song "The Middle", you've clearly just woken up from a coma.  Since it's release in 2001 I believe I've heard it on approximately 80% of movie trailers I've ever seen in the past 9 years.  (OK...that might be a wee bit of an exaggeration, but seems it's used a whole lot.)  That one, as well as some of their more popular radio friendly tunes was what my perception of the band was before I was given all studio albums, as well as more demo, live and unreleased material by the band than you can shake a stick at, and dove into it.  And what I discovered, was that the band almost has a split personality....they have their radio friendly stuff, which is good (usually a couple off each album...fun, upbeat...power poppy)...and then there is the stuff that I really, really, REALLY dig.  Little edgier, but still melodic, with great musical composition and stellar use of harmonies you don't normally find in a rock band these days.  When it was announced they were coming through Toronto to the Kool Haus (a venue I'm sort of really not a fan of, by the way), I bought tickets.  I really wanted to give them the "live" test.  Figured I'd hit the show by myself if I couldn't find someone to drag along with me (and turns out Jakki, my concert buddy, was up for it after many hilarious renditions of "what are they called again?") 

Off to the Kool Haus we went....on a Sunday night!  Pure wildness!  Once we got past security (a story in itself) and into the venue, we managed to find a sweet spot along the side by the bar where we were not (a) in the midst of the mosh pit and (b) able to see the stage regardless of our vertical challengedness.  Life was good!

From the second they hit the stage, until they threw pics and drumsticks into the audience and said goodnight, I was in....and so were they.  When listening to some of the live recorded stuff prior to the show, I was a bit apprehensive, because it was all a little raw....  But man, raw is good, when you are in the thick of it.  It was loud and unpolished and the vocals were flawed...but it was real, and so what I was looking for.  YES!  The boys ripped it up and gave us a rock show and this is what live music is supposed to be. 

There was a good mix from all of their albums, and the fave tune of the night was a tie....Futures, a song I never really had any particular attachment to, performed live, was amazing and has become a new favorite, and when they slowed it down for Hear You Me, I felt a real emotional connection.   But the live performance of 23 was epic.  This is a tune meant to be heard live.


Would have liked to have heard a few more of my favorites off the new album (Cut, and Littlething), but have a new appreciation for the tunes they did play from it:  their first single, "My Best Theory", that I was not overly fussy for was meant to be heard live and a little rougher around the edges, and Movielike, a tune I immediately enjoyed, was first rate.

You'll note the absence of (decent) photos...Kool Haus is a venue that doesn't allow cameras at all so people were getting by with their cell phones for any captures.  I really like that the band has been pretty vocal to the venues about allowing the fans to snap and record, and at one point, Jim even jumped into the audience to get a photo taken with a fan.  The band in turn takes photos of their audience for each show (Toronto's is attached here in this Link).  They don't take themselves too seriously and understand that any media that is captured by the fans is good promotion for them.  In this day and age in the music business, fan appreciation is key.

This year, I've seen a number of really big stadium shows, and a number of really intimate ones as well, but this was probably one of my favorites as it was just a stripped down, warehouse, play the music in it's rawest form jamfests.  Fantastic show by the boys and my fan status has been permanently cemented. 
Set List:

Bleed American
Your New Aesthetic
A Praise Chorus
My Best Theory
Lucky Denver Mint
Let It Happen
For Me This Is Heaven
Futures
Big Casino
Action Needs an Audience
Dizzy
Coffee and Cigarettes
Movielike
Hear You Me
Evidence
Work
The Authority Song
Pain
Blister
Goodbye Sky Harbor

Encore:

23
Get It Faster
The Middle
Sweetness

23, first song of the encore.  Can you hear me singing?  :-)