The Theater of the Clouds in Portland’s Moda Center just played host to the Summer Gods 2 tour featuring Ra Ra Riot, Jimmy Eat World, and Third Eye Blind. This show was so much fun that quite frankly, I wish we could go back and do it all over again.
Ra Ra Riot, reinventing themselves as a 3-piece, kicked things off in our Theater of the Clouds. Ra Ra Riot, now consisting of singer Wes Miles, Bassist Mathiew Santos and Guitarist/Keyboardist Milo Bonacci played 7 songs before turning things over to Jimmy Eat World.
Jimmy Eat World stepped on stage, harnessed the energy in the room and multiplied that ten-fold. They sounded as tight as ever, each song a perfect performance that completely consumed the audience. The band primarily stayed stationary with lead singer Jim Adkins occasionally pacing back and forth a few yards. The smile on Mr. Adkins’ face was a testament to the fact that this band is still very much in the thick of it all and still loving every minute. When “The Middle” was played, the crowd came unglued. For some perspective, “The Middle” was released in the latter part of 2001. It wasn’t until late 2008 when music streaming service Spotify made it’s global launch. Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle” has over 250 Million streams on Spotify, however. Clearly Jimmy Eat World is around for the long haul and their performance in Portland is a testament to that fact.
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Third Eye Blind closed out the night in Portland but not before playing some of summers greatest hits and creating one huge sing-along. When the first song began, a huge black curtain remained in front of the band. In an attempt to be edgy or artistic, backlit and performing in silhouette, the band performed nearly the entire first song. The audience seemed a bit stunned or confused as the energy in the room dissipated to nearly nil. It took a while for that excitement to build back up. When the band played their hit “Jumper”, things were back in full swing. Lead singer Stephan Jenkins took a moment to address the fact that the record they were promising to release this year hasn’t been completed yet. “They told us that without a new record, we couldn’t fill arenas like this. But hey, we’re Third Eye Blind. We fucked up”, he said. But sure enough, the gamble paid off as the Theater of the Clouds was nearly full. Third Eye Blind had rocked the crowd back into a frenzy by the time the encore came around. Then “Semi-Charmed Life” happened. The band and the audience were in the zone. But after the second line of the song, Stephan held the microphone out over the audience, and Portland began to sing. And sing. And sing. And okay, we’re pretty good singers, but it wasn’t until the second verse when Stephan took over on vocals again. Unfortunately, like the black curtain schtick, it felt like it was drawn out longer than necessary, which just ended up lost in the moment.
It’s still early in the tour however, and it won’t be long before the bands will be grooving along at full speed.
