JIMMY EAT WORLD

 

 

+ COACH

 

Location: Heidelberg, Karlstorbahnhof

Date: February 4th, 2001

 

 

Almost two years after ‘Clarity”, the latest album of Jimmy Eat World, came out in the States, it was finally released in Germany. Until then, you could only get this masterpiece as an import. Coinciding with this release were some shows in Germany, one of which took place in Heidelberg. Although this is not the closest city to where I live, three friends of mine and me decided to go there because hey, Jimmy Eat World rule! A conclusion of this evening leaves me with mixed feelings. Both bands were great, but the audience and the location sucked. But maybe I should begin from the start:

 

Printed on our tickets was the opening of the club at 8.30 pm. So after we had eaten something we went there around that time and saw that lot of people were standing in front of the entrance. This entrance was some stairs up, so we couldn’t see what was going on. But we believed that the doors had not been opened yet because there was absolutely no movement among the people standing there. But after some time, the crowd advanced a little bit towards the entrance. After waiting for about half an hour we finally made it up the stairs and now we could see why it took so long to get in: There were two security guys standing at the entrance, both dressed in black jackets with a white “Security” logo on them and with a mic in their ear. Wow. These two guys were responsible for the extreme delay in getting in, because people were allowed to enter only in groups of five people! I mean everyone was looking dangerous indeed (yeah, right), so it could have been possible that someone was trying to smuggle in a bomb or something. But why didn’t they search the fans properly then? Mostly they were just looking at them and asking them to open their backpacks. But why the hell did that take so long?

 

Anyway, after we finally entered the club we could see that it was a rather noble one. I guess on other nights there are plays being performed. If I remember right, COACH, the opening act, began around 9 pm. I don’t know how many people were attending the show, but it was quite crowded, although not in a way that it was packed and you couldn’t move. I mean it was no problem making our way to the front row after COACH had finished their set.

Before I get to them, let me say a few words about the audience. I have no problem with JIMMY EAT WORLD being successful, in fact I think it is pretty stupid if people don’t seem to like them anymore just because more people get to know them. And I don’t care either if the video for “Lucky Denver Mint” is shown on German Music Television very often, if the band appears in Burger King Magazine, if they are in a German TV show that is rather stupid and if “Clarity” is in the German charts. I think it’s the music that’s important, even if many people seem to disagree. Or how do you explain that the majority of fans who saw JIMMY EAT WORLD on their previous German tour was apparently not attending this show tonight? I don’t know… But many people were really not my cup of tea. One could plainly see that most of them knew “Lucky Denver Mint” and nothing more. Maybe some of them even bought “Clarity” before, who knows. I didn’t like these people that much, because it seemed to me that the next day they could go to a Bryan Adams show and go nuts as well. I don’t want to say that I am one of these guys that judge people by their appearance or by the number of “underground” shows they attended in the past, but it was “funny” anyway to see these people on their first Emo show ever. Hey, but now let’s finally get to the show itself.

 

As I already said, COACH were the opening act. This German four piece is, if I am right, the first German band on the American label Doghouse. And I can understand why, because their music was great in my eyes. Sometimes calm, sometimes loud, but always good songwriting. One could describe their sound as Emo, even though not too many people seem to like that description nowadays. And what is Emo, by the way? So let’s say they were melodic yet not polished and had some nice keyboard effects accompanying their sound. Good band.

 

After COACH left it was time for JIMMY EAT WORLD. It didn’t take very long until they entered the stage and began their set with “Goodbye Sky Harbor” from “Clarity” which was a little surprise. But they didn’t play the 16 minute album version but a shorter one. The sound was great, the lightshow cool and other than some people after the show said I didn’t think that JIMMY EAT WORLD seemed to be tired. Jim Adkins’ performance was very energetic, and the rest of the band seemed to enjoy the show as well. I can’t say how long they played in total, but they played many songs from “Clarity”, unfortunately only one song from “Static prevails”, about three or four new songs and some tracks off of 7”s etc. Here’s the playlist:

 

  1. Goodbye Sky Harbor

  2.  Your new aesthetic

  3. Crush

  4. Believe in what you want

  5. If you don’t, don’t

  6. Sweetness

  7. For me this is heaven

  8. Clarity

  9. What would I say to you now

  10. Bleed American

  11. Softer

  12. Thinking, that’s all

  13. Blister

  14. No sensitivity

  15. Lucky Denver Mint

 

Of course “Lucky Denver Mint” was the last encore, so all the kiddies were happy.

 

So, what can I say in retrospect about this show? The bands were great, but JIMMY EAT WORLD should definitely have played more songs from “Static prevails” (I was missing the hits “Claire”, “Rockstar”, “Seventeen”, “Call it in the air” etc.). The club was ok when it comes to the stage, sound etc., but the Security guys were superfluous. The audience was strange. All in all I think it was a fine show if you just look at the bands, but if you consider the whole evening, it was, let’s say, strange.

 

(Stefan Münch)