Jimmy Eat World

I'm a bit late with this blog as I've had a hectic few days since then. I have a day off today to catch up on stuff but am getting a stinking cold thanks to meetings in small rooms with germy people, so better do it now before I retreat with the Lemsips. Went to see Jimmy Eat World on 20th February at Manchester Academy. I've seen them a few times before (head's too fuzzy to work it out right now) and based on the fact that they are always great and the new album is a good 'un, I persuaded the other half to get us some tickets, which he duly did (good boy!). First off, the Academy is still not finished, the loos are still outside and cold and the sound still bounces off the walls. The sound was a little bit better than when we were there the other week to see Coheed & Cambria, but it's still a long way from good. There were some technical hitches too with some sound cutting out. I couldn't make up my mind whether Jim looked really annoyed or not but the sound was back on after not too long and, as my friend pointed out, at least she will know she has the right show when her CD shows up. One last aside - I had my new owl shows on, so that helped cheer me up and there were no vomiting incidents near them this week.
Anyway, it's all about the music isn't it? Opening song 'Big Casino' is my favourite on the new album, so that was going to be a good start. Jimmy Eat World get some criticism for not being the most edgy of bands and it's fair to say that a fair amount of their repertoire these days could quite happily be blasting out on commercial radio. However, they have tons of energy and sincerity, which is so often lacking in bands that have made it to the level of success that they have. They threw us a curveball and messed up my encore predictions when 'Sweetness' was the second song. It's possibly one of the best sings ever written in my opinion, so I am never going to complain when I hear it.
As I said, the sound wasn't great, which meant it wasn't the best Jimmy Eat World show I've seen, but the setlist was a fairly good mix of old and new, though as with a lot of bands, I prefer their older stuff to the newer songs. None of it sounded dull though and I got to point my elbows a lot at Salt Sweat Sugar and Pain. I've been a bit rubbish at remembering the setlist - I just keep remembering the ones they didn't play. I was glad to hear 'Hear you me' and have a sway about - reminds us they're not a one-trick pony and can do poppy and infectious and quiet and brooding all in one evening.
Jim introduced Dizzy as his favourite song on the new album (we'll have to agree to disagree there) and they ended the night with 'The Middle', which was hardly surprising, but got a lot of the crowd singing along.
They're a great band, but until the Academy gets sorted out, I don't think any band are going to sound truly amazing in there. Hopefully by the next time someone plays there that I want to see, it'll be OK!
8/10