Jimmy Eat World Looks Back on Thirty Years at Red Rocks

Rick Burch loves his Red Rocks coffee cup.

“It’s one of my daily tea mugs,” he proudly shares.

The bassist of longstanding pop-punk band Jimmy Eat World picked it up at the venue’s museum store years ago, when the Arizona group was an opener on a previous tour. But he admits he’s already thinking about picking up a new one when Jimmy Eat World headlines the iconic Colorado venue on Tuesday, July 25, with support from Manchester Orchestra and Middle Kids. “They might have a new design,” he quips.

Burch, like many musicians who’ve taken the open-air stage over the years, considers Red Rocks a “bucket list” spot.

“It’s like the bucket list of bucket lists to play a gig at Red Rocks,” he adds. “We’re incredibly honored and excited. It’s going to be so much fun, and we just really look forward to that time on stage with that audience at that space.”

Jimmy Eat World is on the road celebrating its thirty-year career with a “full spectrum” show, as Burch puts it, covering the band’s canon of ten albums, including 2019's Surviving. Of course, that also includes 2001 breakthrough album Bleed American, which hit No. 31 on the U.S. Billboard chart before going gold and platinum behind such hit singles as “The Middle” and “Sweetness.”

Even with music videos regularly airing on MTV and songs on video game soundtracks, the “huge rise in popularity” didn’t go to the band’s head at that time, Burch says, especially since Jimmy Eat World never stopped working on and putting out new music.

“While that was happening, we didn’t feel any different. The shows were just getting bigger and there was more energy in the room. We didn’t realize what was happening, but flash forward twenty years to where we are now, and we definitely have an understanding of what was happening and how unique and fantastic that was,” he explains, adding that he has “a much finer appreciation of all the little things that came our way.”

That lends itself to a certain level of nostalgia, he adds, similar to what fans who remember the rise of Jimmy Eat World feel whenever they see them nowadays. For the band, it’s more about recalling those first Bleed American shows, when the band put its stamp on a pop-punk-obsessed pop culture. Burch likens it to time traveling.

“There’s absolutely some nostalgia that kicks in, and remembering early tours and the first time that we played these songs.... Also, just seeing the faces of people who were also there. It’s a quick little time-travel experience, and it’s a lot of fun,” he says, adding that it’s “all very connected” when the set list moves from a twenty-year-old song to a more recent one.

“The nostalgia thing is not as strong as it might be for some other people, just because it’s always been there,” he continues. “We’ve always been playing ‘The Middle.’ It’s not like we ever went away and then came back to it. It’s a part of our DNA.”

Hannah Joy, the lead singer and guitarist of Australian indie-rock trio Middle Kids, has always been drawn to guitar-driven music, and remembers those Bleed American days. Since that LP, every Jimmy Eat World album has charted in Australia.

“I think a lot of those big pop-culture moments definitely come our way,” she says. She remembers how she “celebrated” when Manchester Orchestra’s Simple Math (2011) and Cope (2014) brought the Atlanta alt-rockers more fame and praise.

With the release of 2021’s Today We’re the Greatest, which peaked at number five in the band’s homeland, Middle Kids are making a similar name for themselves, and are excited to be able to tour the States more. That includes checking out and opening at Red Rocks for the first time. Maybe Joy will pick up a coffee cup, too.

She says her band’s brand of honest and raw music feels “quite natural” when it comes to performing. “There’s a power in being able to express yourself in quite an emotional and impactful way, but it’s not dressed up too much. You’re able to put yourself out there,” she adds, noting that Middle Kids will be sharing some new tunes on the tour, as well.

Burch calls the three groups a “really good match,” and has enjoyed seeing Middle Kids and Manchester Orchestra out there every night.

“We’re having a lot of fun,” he says.

Through the “ups and downs and surprises and triumphs and disappointments,” one thing still rings true for Jimmy Eat World, Burch continues: “It’s actually really simple. We’ve realized the unique position that we’re in. In our mind, it would be foolish to mess this up, just for the sake of it being so awesome. We really enjoy what we do. It goes to that old adage of 'Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.' It’s really like that. I can’t believe that we’re able to make a living and put food on our table doing what we love. Hopefully we’re able to continue that.

“There’s no end in sight as far as we can see," he says, "so hopefully it’s another thirty years.”

Jimmy Eat World, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 25, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets are $45-$1,000.