It was a night full of nineties style nostalgia as the Summer Gods Tour made a stop in the Queen City. The tour is one of the hottest tickets of the summer concert season and is featuring two of America’s favorite bands from the era, Jimmy Eat World and Third Eye Blind. Sunday night they played to an energetic Charlotte crowd at the PNC Music Pavilion.
The weather had been hot, sticky, and humid all week and Sunday night was no exception but that didn’t stop the gods of summer or in this case the Summer Gods from bringing everything they had. First up was Jimmy Eat World led by lead vocalist and guitarist Jim Adkins. The band’s biggest success came with their 2001 release “Bleed American” and the four singles that charted in the top twenty including their biggest hit, “The Middle.” Their stage set had a backdrop of huge industrial fans with lighting tubes surrounding them against the Jimmy Eat World backdrop. Although the fan blades did move, it was hard to tell on such a sultry evening whether or not they were actually cooling things off on the stage or not. Either way, they were a cool prop and led a touch of a warehouse, industrial look to the stage. The band was on fire from the very first note, Adkins dripping with sweat the whole time. His vocals soared well across th4 venue and the band sounded tight and just like you would expect. Their set consisted of all their biggest hits closing out with an audience sing along to “The Middle.” So far the night was off to a great start.
Another nineties powerhouse was still come in the form of Third Eye Blind. Led by frontman Stephan Jenkins, 3EB’s set featured an elaborate stage set up that began with the entire band playing most of the first song, “Screamer,” behind a curtain. You could see only the silhouettes of each band member but that didn’t stop the audience from exploding in excitement with each beat of music. Once the curtain dropped, the stage stayed fairly dark until the huge LED screens lit up behind the stage. The screens would change images throughout the evening, my favorite being that of a cityscape at night. Their set also featured plenty of custom lighting and lasers which made the show as visually appealing as it was sonically. Drummer Brad Hargreaves and keyboardist and guitarist Colin CreeV were on risers at the rear of the stage while guitarist Kryz Reid and bass guitarist Alex LeCavalier flanked Jenkins on each side. The band sounded amazing, losing absolutely nothing in a live setting. But as everyone knows this is Jenkins show all the way. With his charismatic personality and ability to interact with the huge crowd on a personal level, he is the perfect leader for the band. They played all their hits but the brightest moment of the night was “Motorcycle Drive By,” introduced by Jenkins as a song that never got on the radio or featured anywhere, but that it was the fans who always brought it to life as they did on this particular Sunday night in Charlotte. The band closed out the night with “How’s It Going to Be” before returning for an encore capping off with “Semi-Charmed Life.”
It definitely was a night of both celebration and reflection and I don’t think anyone would have had it any other way.
Third Eye Blind Set List:
Screamer
The Kids
Never Let You Go
Back To Zero/Can You Take Me/London
Graduate
Wounded
I Want You
Slow Motion
Motorcycle Drive By
Company of Strangers
Jumper
Bonfire/Anything/Crystal Baller/Blinded(When I See You)
How’s it Going To Be
Encore:
Waze
Semi-Charmed Life
We would like to thank Kim Shiver from Livenation for the credentials to review the show.
