Jimmy Eat World Celebrate a Decade of “Clarity” in LA
“It happens too fast, to make sense of it…” Words from the opening song of the evening, in Los Angeles, 10 years later…
Turning the sold out crowd at Club Nokiainto an intimate family, Jimmy Eat World opened the night with “Table For Glasses,” and powered straight through the 12 tracks from the classic album, “Clarity”.
Some have called them the band that made emocore popular. But, JEW has shied away from the label, preferring rather to just be called a rock band. However one chooses to classify them, they cannot deny the feat of playing an entire album straight through and sustaining the energy in the room. The band did just that, celebrating the 10thanniversary of the album in their unique driving style.
The tour began February 23 in New York City, the same day the album was released in 1999. The “Clarity x 10 Tour” includes ten one-time-only shows, concluding on March 7, in JEW’s hometown of Tempe, Arizona. The band is comprised of Jim Adkins, Tom Linton, Rick Burch and Zach Lind.
Jimmy Eat World is a modern day success story, having endured a whirlwind ten year period where they endured the ups and downs of the record industry, to come out on top. Drummer Zach Lind recently wrote on his blog,
“When we made this album we had just come off a very
disappointing experience of releasing our first major label
album. When we were signed, it was just assumed we were
headed for massive album sales and radio play galore.
Instead we were humbled into what felt like obscurity,
having to explain who we were to over and over when
hanging out at our record label building after being on
the label for years. Imagine David Spade saying, “And you
are…..?””
Having been to some of the band’s shows in 1999, this writer can remember JEW playing smaller Los Angeles venues like theTroubador and the Roxy. “Lucky Denver Mint” was being heard on the radio and the band was facing the prospect of stardom. Lind wrote on that period,
“While making Clarity, we were completely below anyone’s
radar. It was a feeling of both utter freedom and depressing
insignificance. These songs were formed from posture of deep
humility, doubt, and isolation. I also believe it was a time of
true honesty. When no one is looking, you are most free to be
who you really are. So this really is an unlikely time for us.
If someone were to tell us that in ten years we’d be embarking
on a sold-out tour that celebrates these songs, we would have
told that person to take it easy on the crack.”
The Friday night celebration featured a full house of over 2300 excited guests. Club Nokia is a new venue, inside the brand new LA LIVE complex in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. Its state of the art sound system made for a sonic experience on par with any venue of its size.
After the closing drones of “Goodbye Sky Harbor” finished the tribute to the album, JEW returned for a dynamic seven song encore. The encore included, “No Sensitivity,” “Work,” “Pain,” the radio-friendly smash, “The Middle,” and the epic, “23”.
As Jimmy Eat World closed the show with their infectious hit, “Sweetness,” the band’s loyal following were launched into the emotional high of the evening. The crowd sang the song aloud, into the night, as they spilled out of the venue, proving that this band will be relevant for the next ten years. “Are you listening?…”
