Live Gig Music Hall - Cologne

Jimmy Eat World and Rival Schools

(Nov/13/2013) JIMMY EAT WORLD‘s show at Rock am Ring 2008 was one of the best ones of that year‘s festival. Unfortunatly I never saw this band again. This may be caused by the poop “Invented“, which the band released in 2010. But this year‘s “Damage“ is one of the band‘s best records. It‘s not a return to their emo-roots, but there are some parts that remind me of the band‘s classic records “Clarity“ and “Bleed American“. So this tour is a must-see for every fan of the alt rockers.
RIVAL SCHOOLS are the support act for this tour. A band which gained some public interest back in the late 90‘s/early 00‘s because their sound was part of the emo-boom of that time. To be honest: I never liked them and I never will. The performance is more than boring. It‘s just four musicans standing on stage and playing their indie-rock. Somehow it‘s impressive how this band seems have written no hookline ever.
It‘s like a survival test of how long you can stand to listen to their music before leaving the venue to stand outside in the cold. This is what some people really prefer. I guess, RIVAL SCHOOLS is a band you either love or hate. There is no room inbetween these extremes.
They should have a close look at JIMMY EAT WORLD. Same scene-background, same minimalistic show. There is no intro or something. The foursome (plus an additional live-keyboarder) enter the stage, say hello and start with ‘I Will Steal You Back‘, which they fuck up, so they just start again. The band hardly makes any energetic stagemoves or something, they just perform, but in comparrison to RIVAL SCHOOLS this band has the songs to do so. They don‘t need much more than their own songs to fascinate the audience.
The setlist is a great mix of almost all the band‘s records. Only the debut “Static Prevails“ and “Stay On My Side Tonight“ EP aren‘t represented in the 24 song strong list. But people get new songs such as ‘Big Casino‘, ‘Damage‘ or ‘My Best Theory‘ and of course classics like the ones of ‘Lucky Denver Mint‘, ‘Hear You Me‘, ‘The Sweetness‘, ‘Pain‘, ‘Futures‘, ‘Blister‘ and of course ‘Bleed American‘ and ‘The Middle‘. And the Live Music Hall‘s sound is good as well, so you can enjoy these anthems even more.
‘Bleed American‘ closes the set, but of course there is an encore following. ‘Chase This Light‘ kicks in, but I would have prefered another “Clarity“-song. ’23‘ and ‘The Middle‘ end JIMMY EAT WORLD great 90 minute performance. Nobody leaves the venue with any regret to took part at this show. The band was more than solid rock tonight and did one hell of a good job. They even topped their toppig Rock am Ring 2008 performance. Let‘s hope they don‘t wait that long to return to Europe.