> jimmy eat world / paramore concert review

Last week our camera broke so I scrambled to get a new one before the upcoming concert. I ordered a Canon Powershot SX100 which has decent zoom (10X) with 8.0 mega pixels. It arrived by UPS on Monday afternoon and I quickly learned how to operate it. I liked that it was fairly small compared to the Fuji I used to bring to concerts, so I was excited to try it out. When we arrived we saw many people heading back into the parking lot. When we reached the door we found out why. NO CAMERAS ALLOWED. Bummer. So the only photos are the ones Courtesy of the Grand Rapids Press photographer.

This was our first time at the Deltaplex. About the venue. Parking in and out was easy, but still was $7. As we entered the building there was an area with a merch. table that was manned by only 3 people and many eager customers, so it took us nearly 30 minutes to get waited on. After we went in to find our seats we found there was another merch. table which had exactly zero people at it! We had seats about 1/3 back and about 4 rows up. Pretty good with a clear viewing (no tall people in front of us) We did have a girl behind us whose default mode of communication was screaming. We both found the sound acoustics in the building to be below other venues, such as The Intersection or the Van Andel.

Dear And the Headlights
It was hard to understand the vocals but the band was entertaining and had a unique version of indie rock. They played for about 30 minutes to which the text message response to “what do you think” was “they were good, but thank goodness they are done” -dbm

Okay, what can you say about them? There is no one word that could describe this band. They were like country/rock/screamo, as odd as that pairing is. While entertaining, I didn’t understand the words (the acoustics in the DeltaPlex aren’t that great), or know any of the songs, so that took away from enjoying them more. -gwg

Paramore

Press Photo/Noel Webley II
Energetic and fun, the band was tight and played competent pop/punk, Hayley’s vocals were impressive despite the poor sound in the building. It was clear a good portion of the crowd were here to see Paramore (Evident by: 1. a father in tow 2. the singing of all the words 3. the mad rush to the back following the set.) It was amusing to see the tweeners trying to imitate Hayley’s hair swinging (Ouch my head hurts when I do that. ) They even slowed things down for one song with a keyboard and acoustic guitar, but I do not think there is any danger of the them going adult contemorary on us as they quickly picked up the energetic pace for the rest of the set. In Born for this they sang

We just want the airwaves back…

-We Were Born For This

At a young age it looks like they are well on there way to accomplishing this feat especially if they can follow up Riot with a strong album. -dbm

Not only does Paramore have a  Top-20 CD, and legions of fans, they can put on a great live show, complete with big spotlights and a very hyper lead singer. (Not to mention about 10 people crowd-surfing.) They had a pretty good set, but a lot of times, you couldn’t tell what the song was until they got to the chorus, and even then, it was a bit hazy. Everyone was jumping and dancing (and I’m pretty sure some were moshing) while they were playing, but it wasn’t until they played their hit, ‘Misery Business’ that the crowd really came alive. -gwg

Highlights: Born for This, Misery Business, crushcrushcrush, For a Pessimist I’m Pretty Optimistic

Jimmy Eat World

Press Photo/Noel Webley II
It is easy to forget how many good songs Jimmy Eat World have written until they start stringing them together in a concert, especially when they have to leave out a song or 2 you were hoping to hear (Get it Faster & Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues) . The veterans of the emo rock world Jimmy Eat World played a mix of old and new material, but relied heaviest on Bleed American (which is being released as a deluxe 2 disc set on April 29) and their latest Chase This Light.

…get out of this place while we still have time!

-Work

Some have said that the emo genre is old, tired and on it’s way out. The question for bands like Jimmy Eat World is will they be able to adapt to a changing music landscape or know when to “get out while they still have time”. Their latest release along with their current live show go along way in showing they still have some music left in them and we can look forward to be singing along to for a few more years. -dbm

One word: Amazing!!!!!-gwg

Highlights: Work, A Praise Chorus and Hayley from Paramore singing on Always Be.