Audio By Carbonatix
Christmas came early for the couple hundred die-hard Jimmy Eat World fans who came out to catch the Mesa rock band Wednesday at the intimate Modified Arts for a mere $5 cover. The lucky Jimmy fans in attendance – at one of Modified’s last hurrah’s before they switch owners and transform into an art gallery – can credit the Internet with tipping them off about this not-so-secret show.
Word spread like wildfire over social networking Web sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace along with several local blogs with rumors of a JEW show Wednesday morning. The band, who hasn’t performed locally since earlier in the year, helped fuel the rumor with a mysterious tweet: “Stay tuned today for a surprise announcement. If you live in Phoenix and have plans for tonight, cancel them.”
The band later
confirmed the rumor via Twitter announcing they were indeed performing
at Modified and that space was very limited. They
weren’t lying. Space was limited at the show, which featured brief
acoustic performances from Reubens Accomplice, Source Victoria and El
Oso Negro. A line started forming as early as 3 p.m. Hundreds of fans
were turned away due to the venue’s small capacity. Reubens Accomplice
vocalist Jeff Bufano described it best to the lucky ones who made it
inside declaring “I feel like you guys all got a golden ticket. Welcome
to the Chocolate Factory.”
After
a kick-ass set from Reubens Accomplice, JEW took the stage a few
minutes before 10 p.m. and dived into a rockin’ short, but sweet
performance, which they kicked off with “Bleed American.”
“Thank
you so much for coming down on short notice,” frontman Jim Adkins told
the crowd. “We are a professional rock band from Mesa, Arizona.”
The
nearly hour-long set included a discography of songs spanning over 10
years. The track list? “Bleed American,” “Your House,” “Work,” “Crush,”
“Futures,” “Blister,” “Big Casino,” “Goodbye Sky Harbor,” “Pain” and
“Sweetness” had audience members dancing and the majority, me
included, singing along word-for-word to every song. The band even found time to experiment, briefly covering Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People.”
Sadly,
there wasn’t an encore after the group closed the night with
the bouncy “Sweetness” even though the crowd chanted for what seemed
like ages. However, there was a last apperance by Adkins who returned
on stage to thank everyone for attending the show and encouraged the
crowd to continue supporting Modified.
Critic’s Notebook:
Last Night: Jimmy Eat World at Modified Arts
Better Than: Paying $30 and seeing Jimmy Eat World
in an arena-sized venue or traveling to Atlantic City to see them
perform in a casino on Dec. 31.
Personal Bias: I’m a huge Jimmy Eat World fan.
Huge. I’ve seen them in Tucson, New Jersey and Las Vegas and have
followed them since they used to gig at old school clubs like Boston’s
and The Green Room. I put them on a music pedestal.
Random Fact: The Jimmy Eat World song “If You
Don’t, Don’t” references my favorite Tempe watering hole Casey
Moore’s with the lyric: ‘Ninth and Ash on a Tuesday Night.’
Further Listening: Their last album was 2007’s Chase This Light, but I highly recommend 1999’s Clarity or 2001’s Bleed American.
By The Way: There was an Internet rumor that The
Format was also on the bill, which seemed unlikely given that Nate
Ruess, one half of the former local pop-rock sensation, up-and-moved to
New York and now fronts Fun. This was merely a rumor. Sam Means, the
quieter half of The Format, was one of several local musicians in
attendance though.
One More Thing: I ran into Jim Adkins last month at
The Revival Tour at Chaser’s. He mentioned the band is currently
working on their follow-up to Chase This Light and hope to release it later next year so stay tuned.
