Wow. That pretty much sums up this concert. The end. OK, OK, I'll go into more detail if you insist.
A friend was over at my house and we decided to pop in Jimmy Eat World's outstanding album "Clarity." Just for the halibut we jumped over to ticketmaster.com and typed in Jimmy Eat World for California and nearly crapped our pants when we found out they would be playing two days later at the Glass House in Pomona. We put ourselves in the "they must be sold out by now" mindframe and went to buy two tickets, so we wouldn't be disappointed when they were sold out. Click "Submit" and OH MY GOD! THEY'RE NOT SOLD OUT! MUST BUY NOW!
We invited two more friends to come with us and showed up at the Glass House at 6:45, 45 minutes early. Some cool guy drove by playing Weezer, the whole crowd outside cheered. Then they finally let us in at about 7:15. I purchased a poster and their new album full of singles from JEW's old 7 inch vinyl records. (It rocks, highly recommended when it comes out).
We went inside the medium sized room where there is not a single seat. We stood about 2 feet away from stage, with only one row of people in front of us, best "seats" I've ever had at a concert. Of course, the concert started late, but it was worth it, Andherson, the first band was pretty good. They were all some greaser looking guys, except for dredlock guy, he rocks, and played really good punk-pop type stuff. The second band, The Pressure, sucked. They had a lot of energy but their music was mediocre and I think they tried to get the audience to hate them. The third guy, Jonah and his Onelinedrawing, was absolutely fantastic. He sang with such emotion and skill and the band backing him up was awesome as well. You can find some of his mp3s on Napster, just search for "onelinedrawing."
Finally, Jimmy Eat World came one. I could have sworn these guys were the roadies. They all looked like they hadn't showered all day and could use a shave. When they first came out I could have sworn they were roadies, setting up all their own instruments on their own and tuning them. Then they all slung their guitars on their shoulders and started playing. I'd seen pictures of them but their look in person really surprised me.
They were fantastic. They played a lot of stuff off their newest album, Clarity, along with some old singles, a few songs off Static Prevails and a new song I hadn't heard before. One of the best concerts I've been to in a good while. My chest pounded with every hit of the bass drum. Harmonys were awesome. The lyrics were stunningly delivered and the crowd did it's best to sing along over the extremely loud sound system. The only thing that disappointed me was that they didn't play "Crush," one of my favorite songs by JEW. They did however play Clarity, Believe in What You Want, What I Would Say to You Now and Blister, some of my favorites. Blister was their finale and Jonah ran up on stage and sang into the backup guitarist's mic during the chorus. It was great.
When they finished nobody left. The audience stood where they were and started to shout "Encore! Encore! Encore!" Dredlock man from Andherson ran out and riled up the crowd and at long last Jimmy Eat World reentered. They played Sweetness, possibly one of the best songs they have, though not released on any record yet. I'd hoped they would play Goodbye Sky Harbor, but in hindsight 16 minutes is kind of long, even for a finale song. Oh well.
All in all, one of the best concerts I've ever attended. My ears were still ringing the next morning.