Live Review: Jimmy Eat World, The Sinking Teeth

It feels good to see the boys from The Sinking Teeth doing their thing on entry; damn good, in fact. They give us punk, grunge, post-hardcore and rock and in the year since this reviewer last saw them they’ve gotten offensively tight as a unit. The rhythms are super dynamic, Nick Manuell’s guitar tone is completely on point, and without much warning the Melbourne trio has become one of the best young rock bands in the country. Parents, lock up your daughters.

A cheeky a cappella start announces Jimmy Eat World in the house, the Arizona quintet here to celebrate a decade since the release of their fifth record, Futures. It was the album that pushed the band over the point of no return – 2001’s Bleed American allowed them to break through on a global scale, but it was Futures that guaranteed the band were lifers. The riff in that opening eponymous track is as sharp as nails, and with frontman Jim Adkins enunciating with panache, touring member Robin Vining on hand to strengthen the already great vocals and plenty of smiles from regular guitarists Tom Linton (rhythm) and Rick Burch (bass), you get a sense things are going to go all-time fast.

A big cheer greets another one of the album’s highlights, Work, and by the time the band has reached The World You Love, Adkins is already shaking sweat from his hair like a wet dog. It’s hard to believe he’s 39 – he’d probably still get carded on the door of some venues – but there is a Peter Pan element to Jimmy Eat World, and it’s why their songs seem like they haven’t aged a day either.

Hot and cold, light and shade play out sonically for the next half hour, rising to a glorious conclusion in the achingly beautiful form of 23. Jimmy Eat World depart our sight, but they soon return to rummage around the back catalogue for some goodies. The Americans give us Appreciation, Big Casino, Damage. They offer some bounce with The Authority Song, and when Adkins bends a note towards the track’s conclusion his face contorts along with it.

But because 20 songs aren’t enough, the Mesa five go above and beyond for us fine Brisbane folk, serving up a second encore with all the lashings. Last year’s I Will Steal You Back is inspired and shows that Jimmy Eat World can still write a flawless hook. However, it becomes a distant memory when the band brings it all home with a four-track rip from Bleed American, featuring the one-two punch of the title tune and Praise Chorus, a raucous Sweetness and their crossover catchcry, The Middle.

As this all takes place, tambourines be a-shakin’, punters are raised on shoulders, grinning groupies dance down the stairs in glee – and though tonight was based on nostalgia, Jimmy Eat World’s collection of brilliant musical memories have simply helped us appreciate the now a little more.