WORDS WILL MAXWELL / IMAGES JOE JONES
Opening up are Pup. The Punk-Rock band from Toronto, Canada treated the early arrivals to a set that touched on all four of their album releases so far. Stefan Babcock (vocals, guitar) Steve Sladkowski (guitar), Nestor Chumak (bass) and Zack Mykula (drums) put on a hugely energetic show. The chant-along nature of many of the songs were a hit with the crowd, with all members of the band contributing to vocals at the same time, it was a really in-your-face performance. Their name stands for “Pathetic Use of Potential”, with the self-deprecating humour also reflected in many of their lyrics. They rip through this eleven-song set, packed full of raucous numbers like “Kids”, “Waiting and Sleep In The Heat”.
Jimmy Eat World‘s set starts in explosive fashion with a pair of tracks from their 2004 release “Futures, Pain and Just Tonight”. This fast-paced start creates an energy in the room that never waivers all evening.
The set leans heavily on that album, and its predecessor and breakthrough release, 2001’s “Bleed American. If You Don’t, Don’t and Sweetness” – with huge “Woah” responses from the crowd – carry on this glorious start to a Greatest Hits set.
“Something Loud” – a standalone single from 2022 – is the most recent material that they have released, with no album releases since 2019’s “Surviving”. The fact they easily sold out this 3500-capacity venue with nothing new to promote shows the legendary status they are held in by fans of the scene.
They have maintained the same lineup for the majority of their career, with Jim Adkins (vocals/guitar), Tom Linton (guitar), Rick Burch (bass) and Zach Lind (drums) putting in the slick and polished performance you would expect from a band that has been performing for 30 years.
That sentence made me feel really old. The make-up of the crowd is largely the same demographic as myself, late 30-somethings who are proving “it was never a phase”, who fell in love with the band in their teens.
A recent interview saw the band admit they have only recently come to terms with the “emo” label – we’ve all been there, guys! – but there’s no denying the emotional attachment the fans have for these angst-ridden anthems, as “Your House”, “Big Casino and Goodbye Sky Harbor” ironically delight the fans.
“555” and “Hear You Me” slow things down, performed mainly acoustically by Jim. He rarely interacts with the crowd between songs bar the usual pleasantries, but this doesn’t take away from the performance at all as the music does all the talking.
“Bleed American” is one of my all-time favourite albums, so a trio of the title track, “A Praise Chorus” and their gigantic hit, “The Middle”, take me and everyone else in here to absolute dreamland, with the singalongs that have been a theme throughout, now louder than ever.
They briefly depart the stage before returning for an encore of “Night Drive” and “The World You Love”, bringing this ninety-minute set to a close.
This career-spanning setlist, along with the masterclass performance, was a joy to watch from start to finish. So much for being emo.
SET LIST
1/ Pain
2/ Just Tonight…
3/ If You Don’t, Don’t
4/ Sweetness
5/ Sure and Certain
6/ Your House
(2007 Version)
7/ Lucky Denver Mint
8/ Something Loud
9/ Big Casino
10/ All the Way (Stay)
11/ Goodbye Sky Harbor
(Shortened)
12/ 555
(Jim Adkins solo acoustic)
13/ Hear You Me
14/ Work
15/ Blister
16/ 23
17/ Bleed American
(Modified, extended bridge into solo)
18/ A Praise Chorus
19/ The Middle
Encore
20/ Night Drive
21/ The World You Love
FOLLOW JIMMY EAT WORLD
FOLLOW PUB
My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago
