Jimmy Eat World returned to Columbus this past Saturday nigh for the first time in nearly 6 years (if I’m not mistaken) for a sold-out show at the Newport with We Were Promised Jetpacks. I still find it hard to believe – and, believe me, I’ll tell anybody that’ll listen – that I saw Jimmy Eat World play Bernie’s sometime in either 1994 or 1995 on the Static Prevails tour. That wasn’t a great show, Jim Adkins kept breaking guitar strings and eventually just gave up on changing strings and retuning causing the band to cut their set short. But, for the dozen of us in attendance, it was the first, promising glimpse at this Arizona four piece that was just a few years away from bringing emo rock to the mainstream.

Though consisting of the same four members, the 2010 version of Jimmy Eat World is clearly a group of polished professionals that don’t have to worry about breaking strings or blowing out an overloaded circuit breaker (which is what happened during their second Columbus performance with the Promise Ring at Woody’s in the Ohio State Union in the late ‘90s). They spoon fed the mostly college-aged audience hook after hook, hit after hit throughout the 21-song set distributed pretty evenly across 5 of the band’s 6 CDs (I’m not sure they care to acknowledge Static Prevails as it’s been years since they’ve played anything off that one live). Without a doubt, the opening four (“Bleed American”, “Your New Aesthetic”, “A Praise Chorus”, “My Best Theory”) and closing four (“23”, “Pain”, “The Middle”, “Sweetness”) were the highlights with the stuff in between going back and forth between the midtempo and slower stuff.

I felt a little like a stick in the mud as I walked out of the Newport after the closing notes “Sweetness” rang through the sacred music venue and watched hundreds of happy, satisfied, and smiling kids high fiving each other and proclaiming this to be “the best concert I’ve ever been to”. I had that feeling once with this band and I’m glad to turn them over to this new generation of music fans to enjoy … I just wish they had had a chance to see them “back in the day” when the intensity was driving them and there were hiccups along the way.

While it felt like a passing of the guard with regards to Jimmy Eat World’s set, most of the 1,500+ of us at the Newport were experiencing Scotland’s latest import, We Were Promised Jetpacks for the first time. The band’s sound isn’t that different than their fellow countrymen Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad – all 3 of which are direct descendants of Idlewild and The Delgados – though each brings a slightly different nuance to their individual sounds. Having experienced these guys play in this setting, I wish I had caught them early this year at a Benco booked show at The Summit. I won’t make that mistake of missing them in a smaller venue (that is, if they haven’t outgrown those intimate settings) next time around.

… you knew the setlist in advance?

All the Smashing Pumpkins reviews recently have gotten me thinking … people seem to be pissed that their set consists primarily of stuff from the most recent album (call it the Pumpkins Chinese Democracy if you want since it’s basically a Corgan solo album). If the fans knew in advance that the set would be 80% new material with just 3 or 4 “greatest hits” tossed in, would all the shows be selling out? People wouldn’t have the right to complain after the show if they knew the setlist in advance. Of course, that would also remove some element of surprise.

Jimmy Eat World announced a 10-date tour in February in which they’ll be playing (in my opinion) their best album, Clarity, start to finish to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of it’s release. I own all their stuff but found the most recent album to be disappointing. If I’m going to go see them, I’d like to hear older stuff. If the Clarity-revisited tour was hitting anywhere in Ohio, I’d go without hesitation.

The Toadies came through town recently. I am not terribly familiar with their older stuff but the stuff I’ve heard didn’t totally blow me away the way the new stuff does. I was really bummed I had to miss their show but I heard that they only did 2 or 3 new songs so I’m sure I would have been upset had I been able to make it.

Last example … I love Superchunk’s Foolish. Love it – think it’s one of the best albums of the mid-80s alt/indie rock world. I don’t really know the rest of their stuff all that well though I do own maybe 2 or 3 other CDs. I saw them do a reunion show at SXSW a few years back and really only recognized one songs from ‘Foolish’ and felt a bit disappointed that I had spent an hour watching them just to hear one song when I could have probably seen a dozen other bands during that same time slot that would have left me feeling more satisfied.

So, I ask, would knowing the setlist in advance of bands that play venues like the Newport or bigger (because I imagine bands doing tours in venues like this have pre-determined setlists rather than making stuff up on the spot or tossing something in should it strike their fancy if they are playing at Ravari Room or The Summit) help you make a decision on whether or not you’d go see a band? And, if your favorite band was playing a set of all new stuff when you only really wanted to see their old stuff, would you skip the show?

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(Photo by Domino Mask)