“You know you’ve really made it when you hit the office desk circuit,” Jimmy Eat World commented proudly
“Hey! Don’t write yourself off yet”, goes Jimmy Eat World’s legendary track. And don’t write off ‘The Middle’ just yet! Because the 2001 song off Bleed American has just got a new framing, as Jimmy Eat World came to NPR’s Tiny Desk to play it acoustically.
“So this is an older song and it kind of ties in with a lot of our newer songs thematically in a way”, frontman Jim Adkins introduced the track. “You know, your sense of self-worth coming from external validation is really kind of an empty pursuit.”
And not only ‘The Middle’ got an acoustic rendition on Tiny Desk. Jim Adkins, Zach Lind, Tom Linton and touring multi-instrumentalist Robin Vining also performed stripped-back versions of ‘Love Never’ (wait for that gong at the end) and ‘All The Way (Stay)’ from their latest album Surviving.
‘All The Way (Stay)’, which premiered in September, is the album’s leading track. If you’ve missed the music video for it, give it a look here.
Both NPR and Jimmy Eat World posted the video of their Tiny Desk appearance on Twitter. “You know you’ve really made it when you hit the office desk circuit,” proudly wrote the band. NPR staff were expremely excited to sing along:
“Jimmy Eat World arrived at our office all smiles and no guitars. With a couple of borrowed acoustics, a gong and a tambourine, the band’s heartfelt Tiny Desk set (including “The Middle”) had us all singing along.”
In other massive news from the rockers, Jimmy Eat World will be opening for My Chemical Romance on March 25 in New Zealand. They’re also booked for Download Fest in Australia that same month. Later Jim Adkins and his band mates will head back to America in spring and to Europe in the summer. See the list of dates and get your tickets here.
Exclusive JIM ADKINS’ interview with AlteRock: “Music journalism has gotten lazy”
Stay tuned with us on AlteRock Facebook and AlteRock Twitter! And remind yourself of the awesome original of ‘The Middle’ below:
