Daily Vanguard

April 11th, 2008

Jimmy Eat World show review

When Jimmy Eat World took the stage Thursday night at the Salem Armory, the audience echoed the agony of “Pain.” They listened with hushed attention during “Hear You Me.” And they sung it back (whoa oh oh oh) during “The Sweetness.”

Arguably the finest example of contemporary emo-rock, Jimmy’s live performance does justice to their stellar album sound. Their beautiful song craft and palpable energy were intact and reflected by the 5,000-strong crowd—mostly a throng of middle- and high-school girls sporting tight-hugging jeans and T-shirts.

The stage lighting effects complemented the sound rather well, though sometimes at the cost of the crowd’s retinas. The smoke machine was neat at first, until it became a two-front war on my lungs to both suck in the dense cloud and scream along with the choruses.

With all that said, Jimmy laid down a superb spectacle of sight and sound (and smoke) that more than justified the price of admission. If you have the means to catch one of their shows later this tour, do so. If not, cross your fingers and hope their next tour includes a stop actually in Portland, not an I-5 commute away.

Oh, and um…Paramore played too. Er…rock on.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 9:48 am and is filed under Mindloop. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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