An entire album straight through! What an intriguing idea! For those of you who read my Ben Folds review and think I’m mocking Folds or Jimmy Eat World, let me assure you: I am not. I think it’s a compelling model that I hope more musicians adopt. Folds’ problem was he gave fans no advance notice and chose an album they could not have heard in the first place – it had not been released! Jimmy Eat World, by contrast, announced well ahead of time that this would be a nostalgia show – they would be performing all of Clarity, a lesser known album from before they hit it big.
The coolest thing about the full album concept was that I could experience three different concerts in one day. First, in school, as I prepared my lessons, I could re-familiarize myself with all the songs, in their designated order. Second, on the car ride to DC, I could listen to a headphone dress rehearsal, an uninterrupted dry run for the live show. And then, finally, at the club, I could hear the music come to life.
Clarity is not the best Jimmy Eat World album (there’s a reason Bleed American is the most popular), but it is the most suited to a full performance. Its first four songs build slowly and are relatively quiet. This makes for a gradual transition. You are out of the headphones, no longer listening to the songs in your car, but you also are not at a raucous public concert. If you close your eyes, as I did midway through the second song, it feels like they are performing for just you. You’ve somehow arranged your own private show.
The other, less egomaniacal reason the opening songs worked so well is they formed a crescendo. Everything built up to “Crush.” Low-key sounds kept rumbling around for fifteen minutes, there was a final triangle twinkle at the end of “A Sunday,” and then it EXPLODED. The first ten seconds of “Crush” were exhilarating: “Faaate is not keep falling…fallllllllling, yeah…” More importantly, these seconds were earned. Everyone’s eyes were opened and everyone started to fist pump not because “Crush” had been a single, but because they could feel that “Crush” had arrived.
The only major disappointment of the show was that they played “Goodbye Sky Harbor.” I know, it would have been rather awkward to play a straight album show and then leave out the last track, but it still would have been wise to do so. With the exception of Eminem’s vile “Kim,” “Goodbye Sky Harbor” is my official least favorite song. It takes one of my favorite genres – the Epic Mood Track – and DESTROYS it by playing a bell for thirteen straight minutes! Like, all you hear is this bleeping bell – and the phrase “dododada” -- for thirteen straight minutes! It’s awful.
They include some swirling electronica for the last two minutes, but that’s no real consolation. It still assaults all other Epic Mood Tracks that went before it. Wilco’s “Spiders” and Death Cab’s “Transatlanticism” are not for everyone. They do require a lot of patience; you certainly could describe them as indulgent. At least, though, they try to do something. At least they include different sounds. At least they’re not “GOODBYE SKY HARBOR”!
Fortunately, even “Goodbye Sky Harbor” could not suck the life out of the show. They finished with two non-Clarity tracks: “Pain” (which is far more pleasurable than “Harbor”) and “Sweetness” (a song which never fails to make me smile). If they decide to include these in a Bleed American show a few years from now, I’ll be the first on line…
Grade: A-
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