After finishing their opening slot on the Green Day/Blink-182 Pop Disaster tour, Jimmy Eat World will embark on another trek, this time with their own name atop the marquee.
The Mesa, Arizona, quartet will launch a headlining tour July 16 in Columbus, Ohio, according to their publicist. Eleven dates follow, and then it’s off to Europe for a few weeks of shows and festivals that culminate in the U.K. Reading and Leeds festivals on August 24 and 25.
The Promise Ring, on the heels of the release of their fifth album, Wood/Water; Desaparecidos, the side project of Bright Eyes mastermind Conor Oberst; and Recover, supporting last year’s Rodeo & Picasso, will serve as a revolving cast of openers, with two of the three groups added to each show.
Jimmy Eat World won’t be kicking back until their top-billing jaunt commences, however. They’ll part ways with their pop-punk tour mates May 20 in Charlotte, North Carolina, allowing Saves the Day to inherit the slot. A week of U.K. dates follow before the group performs a couple of shows at Washington, D.C.’s 9:30 club that will be taped for an upcoming live concert DVD. After that they’ll play several radio festivals.
While the group is grinding it out on the road, “Sweetness,” the third single from their latest album, Jimmy Eat World (renamed from Bleed American following September 11), should be permeating the airwaves. Even before the single’s release, though, the song’s call-and-response structure provided an energy boost to the band’s already vigorous set – without any prompting from frontman Jim Adkins.
“It’s not something we set out to do,” Adkins said. “It’s not like a goal of the show to get the crowd singing in a round, but it does make playing a lot more fun. You know, when you’re getting a creative response from the crowd – something other than just stagediving.
“The intimacy of it is important so there feels like there’s a little bit more of a connection than just a spatial one. But it’s not something we set out to do. We don’t script our sets to plan for the big sing-along song.”
Jimmy Eat World Headlining Dates, According To Their Publicist:
- 7/16 – Columbus, OH – PromoWest Pavilion
- 7/17 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogart’s
- 7/20 – Clifton Park, NY – Northern Lights
- 7/22 – Portland, ME – State Theatre
- 7/27 – Asbury Park, NJ – Convention Hall
- 7/28 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
- 7/30 – Hamilton, ON – Convention Center
- 7/31 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Theatre
- 8/2 – Indianapolis, IN – Murat Egyptian Room
- 8/3 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave
- 8/4 – Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre
- 8/7 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
