Last night, Jimmy Eat World guitarist/frontman Jim Adkins treated fans to a solo acoustic set filmed at an empty Rebel Lounge in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Rebel Lounge is a sentimental spot for the band, who celebrated the 25th anniversary of their first show at the venue this past Valentine's Day. Before last night's concert, Adkins looked around and reminisced, noting it was "the first place I stood on stage and performed."
He opened up his set with "Chase This Light" from the band's 2007 album of the same name. The song was never released as a single and has only been performed 100 times since its 2013 debut. Ironically, Jimmy Eat World never actually played the song on their Chase This Light Tour in 2008.
Adkins followed up with "For Me This Is Heaven," which proved that yes, I can still feel the butterflies! This song is the tenth track on the band's seminal third album Clarity and has achieved cult status over the years. "For Me This Is Heaven" has been played 408 times since it was first performed in 1998.
Up next was "Polaris" off 2004's Futures. Polaris, as many of you know, is the name of the North Star, and last night's acoustic rendition of the song felt extra poignant and hopeful. "Polaris" was pretty consistent on the band's 2017-18 Integrity Blues Tour setlists, often played between "Blister" and "Future" towards the end of the main set.
Adkins included a cover of Daniel Johnston's "True Love Will Find You in the End" for the first time. The song appeared on Johnston's 1984 album Retired Boxer and has since been covered more than 400 times by 58 different artists, including Wilco, The Flaming Lips, Grouplove, Mates of State and Laura Veirs, among others.
He closed out the show with "Love Never," the second single released ahead of the band's tenth studio album Surviving, following "All the Way (Stay)."
Check out the full 21-minute performance and setlist below.
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