CD NOW 4.25.02

Since Jimmy Eat World is the only group on this summer's Pop Disaster tour that actually saves the jokes for the dressing room, it's only fitting that the emo-rock quartet came into the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Wednesday (April 24) and blew the roof off the decrepit sports arena.

Together seven years but only now enjoying its first taste of success in single "The Middle," JEW represents a changing of the guard. On its way out is the tired comedic shtick of bands like Green Day and Blink-182, this tour's headliners, in favor of superior songwriting and musicianship.

JEW tore through selected cuts from Bleed American ("A Praise Chorus," "Get It Faster," "Bleed American") with a recklessness that the slickly produced, radio-friendly recorded versions lack. No jokes, no pyrotechnics -- nothing to distract the ears from the music. While JEW's music and what it represents doesn't belong in an 18,000-seat arena, alas, we must let them go.

Green Day

From there, "Pop Disaster" is putting it mildly, more like "Pop Apocalypse" without a heavenly ending. To say Green Day and Blink-182's act is stale would be to say the Pope is Catholic. Musically, Green Day is still viable, the crunchy guitar attack of "Welcome to Paradise" and "2000 Light Years Away" still a powerful force live.

But it has come to a point where something a little more thrilling needs to happen to make the show more interesting. The band's 16-song set was peppered with pryo, profanity ("Somebody fuck me now!" -- Billie Joe Armstrong after "Hitchin' a Ride"), and confetti, but musically, the band was simply dry and uninspiring.

There were moments: A supplemental second guitarist added spunk to "Maria" and "Minority," and a set-closing rendition of "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life"), featuring Armstrong on solo electric guitar, became a edgier, sped-up affair worth hearing twice. But in the end, it was the silliness of a horn section consisting of a bumblebee, a chicken, and two mariachis; and Green Day's same ol' same ol' that dogged the show and, unfortunately, a band that is extremely talented.

Blink-182

Blink-182 fared no better. As expected, the trio utilized even more pyro and profanity than Green Day, with one small hitch: 10 years in and Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus still cannot get their vocals right in the mix. Delonge's words were lost somewhere in musical oblivion on the set opener "Anthem Part Two" and every song that followed with the exception of "Stay Together for the Kids" -- the one lowly highlight of the evening for Blink.

Drummer Travis Barker's much-hyped drum stunt (allstar, April 17) was a letdown as well. Albeit cool when his kit was lifted out over the audience and rotated 360 degrees forward and backwards during "Reckless Abandon," it didn't hold a candle to Tommy Lee.

After Blink closed the evening with "Dammit," Delonge grabbed a boom box and set a microphone against it. When he pressed play and left the stage, a Bad Religion song bellowed forth. With the exception of JEW, it was the best song heard all night.