Third Eye Blind and Jimmy Eat World at The Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
Third Eye Blind and Jimmy Eat World The Summer Gods Tour The Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater Wantagh, NY July 11, 2019
On a rather dreary early July evening, the Summer Gods Tour descended upon Long Island’s Jones beach. The tour featured two bands which had huge mega-hits early in their careers (Third Eye Blind and Jimmy Eat World) and indie rock darlings Ra Ra Riot. Sadly, due to impending weather issues, Ra Ra Riot’s performance was cancelled and the performances by both of the headliners were shortened.
The tour was billed as a co-headlining tour and on this evening it was Jimmy Eat World who took the stage first. During its abbreviated set, the Arizona quartet delivered a strong performance that leaned heavily on its specialized brand of power pop, melodic punk and for lack of a better word “emo” rock.
Though the weather was not in agreement, the band was firing on all cylinders as it roared through its abbreviated set. Opening with “Pain” (during which the audience joined the band on the "Takes my pain away!" chorus) and “Work” both of which came from the Futures album (Interscope, 2004), lead singer Jim Adkins proved that his voice was in fine form from the very start of the evening. Other highlights included the title track from Bleed American (Dreamworks, 2001) which owes just as much to modern rock and pop as it does to hard rock and punk; “Lucky Denver Mint” from Clarity (Capitol, 1999), “Hear You Me;” “Love Never” and, of course, “The Middle”—the song that along with “Sweetness”--gave that band its biggest critical and poipular exposure. The one-two punch of these two songs proved to be a fantastic way for the band to go out on a high note as they got the entire audience on its feet, singing along and dancing in the aisles.
After a short intermission, Third Eye Blind appeared and delivered a slightly longer (than Jimmy Eat World) but still shortened set. The performance began with the bend safely hidden behind a curtain as they played “Screamer, the title track from its new CD slated for release in the fall.
Lead singer, Stephan Jenkins led both the band and the audience members through the remaining dozen tunes and delivered the goods by touching on career highlights like “Never Let You Go” (which got a huge cheer from the crowd), “Graduate,” “Motorcycle Drive By,” “Company of Strangers” from the We Are Drugs EP (MegaCollider Records, 2016), an acoustic take on “Slow Motion” and the anthemic “Jumper.”
Before exiting the stage, prior to the advancing inclement weather, the band killed it by ending its performance with “How's It Going to Be” (during which the audience finished many of Jenkins’ verses), the uncontainable “Semi-Charmed Life” (which sent the audience into a complete frenzy) and “Losing a Whole Year.”
Although the concert was a little shorter than anticipated, the audience members left the venue with at one of least four songs ringing through their heads. Having the opportunity to hear “Sweetness,” “The Middle,” “How's It Going to Be” and “Semi-Charmed Life” made for a great way to head back in time to hear some great modern rock and relive glory days. For the younger members of the audience, these iconic songs have been used in commercials and as background music so often that they also knew all the words and sang along as if they had bought the CDs when the tunes were originally released. Both factions clearly love these songs and loved both bands’ performances.
Photos: Christine Connallon