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After recently supporting the Foo Fighters at both Milton Keynes Bowl and the iTunes Festival, Jimmy Eat World returned to the UK for a few dates prior to their anticipated Reading and Leeds performance.
For those of you lucky enough to be heading to either festival this weekend you could do a lot worse than making a point of check them out on the main stages.
We caught the band last night at Leicester’s O2 Academy which was full to the brim. Jimmy Eat World took to the stage to raucous applause and wasted no time as they immediately launched into Bleed American causing a mass sing-a-long from the off. They breezed through their set with ease with very little small talk choosing instead to spend their time packing in as many songs as possible.
The whole set was littered with clap-a-longs as they played a varied mix from their five main studio albums from Clarity through to their latest offering Invented. Every song is driven by a massive melodic chorus with the likes of My Best Theory, Pain and Blister going down an absolute storm as did the softer Hear You Me which never fails to be anything short of stunning in it’s simplicity.
Even during the slower tempo songs such as 23 and Evidence the band managed to successfully hold the attention of most of the audience. This is perhaps in part due to Jim Adkins’ endearing character. He manages to be both professional and humble, constantly thanking the crowd for coming out. You can’t help but like him.
They rounded things off with Goodbye Sky Harbor which built into an incredible cacophony which saw Jim creating a fantastic vocal loop for it’s finish.
Loud chants from the crowd led to the band returning for their encore. They opened with the title track from their latest album Invented. It was maybe deemed by some as a slightly slow song for the encore section but that was soon forgotten about as they burst into firm fan favourites The Middle and Sweetness creating a massive uproar of jumping and singing before they left the stage to deafening applause.
Support came from Glasgow rockers Twin Atlantic. Having previously played with the likes of My Chemical Romance, The Smashing Pumpkins and Biffy Clyro these guys were no strangers to a big stage. With their blend of riff-driven indie rock Twin Atlantic warmed up a large and attentive audience. Sam McTrusty’s Glaswegian accent comes through in his singing voice to deliver a somewhat pleasing and distinctive vocal. The band were thoroughly enjoyed and were a good choice to compliment Jimmy Eat World.
JImmy Eat World play the main stage at Reading Festival on Saturday and Leeds Festival on Sunday.
http://www.readingfestival.com/2011/
http://www.leedsfestival.com/2011/