Jimmy Eat World gets crowd hopping

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 4, 2005 by Pat Reavy Deseret Morning News

JIMMY EAT WORLD AND TAKING BACK SUNDAY, E Center, Monday.

They didn't move around a lot. And they didn't say much between songs. But Jimmy Eat World still managed to have the E Center hopping Monday night with a quality high energy set.

The band entered the stage one at a time, beginning with singer/ guitarist Jim Adkins belting out the title track of the band's latest album, "Futures," which transitioned into "For Me This is Heaven" as the rest of the band took the stage.

The full band was on stage by the next song, "Bleed American," and the long curtains were pulled back to reveal a city skyline backdrop like on the back sleeve of their latest CD cover. Nearly two dozen televisions, somewhat reminiscent of U2's Zoo TV tour from several years ago, covered the stage and flashed various images throughout the evening.

Radio hits such as "Work" and the frat party mega-hit "The Middle" got a big response from the crowd. But some of the best songs of the evening from the Arizona-based emo-rockers were some of the lesser-known gems such as "Kill," "Lucky Denver Mint," "The World You Love" and "Blister" which featured guitarist Tom Linton on lead vocals.

Aside from a few "Thank yous," the inevitable "Salt Lake City!" declarations and one inaudible Angel Moroni reference, the band seamless rolled through most of its songs rather than stop and talk. Adkins was the most animated, bouncing up and down on almost every song. But otherwise each band member stayed relatively stationary throughout, not crossing into the other's personal bubble space.

That didn't take away from any of the show's energy however as JEW played a set list heavy with up-tempo songs (with the slower "23" being about the only exception) backboned by the rhythm section of drummer Zach Lind and bassist Rick Burch.

Jimmy revisited the title track of "Futures," this time playing the entire song in its full rock version before finishing the main set with a great version of "Praise Chorus."

For the encore, the band put the couple of thousand fans in attendance in a moshing, pogo-stick frenzy with the radio hits "Pain" and "Sweetness."

Openers Taking Back Sunday made moshers happy, but as a band lacked the tightness, vocal quality and song writing quality Jimmy Eat World displayed.

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com