Kevin Bronson on April 18th, 2011

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Who: Jimmy Eat World at the Outdoor Theatre
In 3 or Fewer Words: Salt. Sweat. Sugar.
I’ll Remember This Until: The next KROQ mega-concert event. An impressive crowd gathered before Jimmy Eat World took the Outdoor Stage, and when the band launched into a raucous rendition of “Bleed American,” the throng lunged skyward. And so it went for the rest of the set, where on-the-sleeve enthusiasm was the modus operandi as the veteran rock radio act played mostly the hits spanning the entire JEW catalog. (The only weak link: “Your New Aesthetic,” the worst song on their best album.) Wrongly convicted in the court of public opinion as an “emo” band, Jim Adkins and company rocked the Outdoor Stage for 45 fast minutes, culminating in a stage-wide pogo pit 1-2 punch of “The Middle” and “Sweetness.” Who knew these songs would be a hit at Coachella? Not the hippest set of the weekend, but mastery of the craft squashes most objectors.
What I’d Tell My Friends Who Were At Health: Oddly enough, your band was probably more “emo” than mine, if you go back to the D.C. hardcore origins of the genre.
– Ben “Mouse” McShane
Photo by Scott Dudelson