Punks in Vegas | Images: Jimmy Eat World, The Hotelier September 13, 2018 at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas

For 25 years, Jimmy Eat World have given us the music we want and have become a huge influence on a lot of musicians today. Originating from Mesa, Arizona, JEW triumphantly entered the stage to show why they are the prodigies in punk rock by giving the crowd a night full of exhilaration.

The band opened with “Sure and Certain,” one of the singles from their latest emo-rock album Integrity Blues. They immediately followed with “I Will Steal You Back” off of 2013’s heartbreak album Damage. The venue was a packed house, with wall to wall fans singing every word.

I enjoyed watching them play a plethora of songs from throughout their discography like “Big Casino,” the first track off of Chase This Light, complete with buzzing guitars and a catchy chorus that kept me hooked. The band even went all the way back to 1999 to Clarity for songs like “blister,” “Lucky Denver Mint” and “For Me This is Heaven.” Their latest song titled “Love Never” was a part of the night as well.

Unfortunately the show had to come to an end, but it did on a high note with “Bleed American” from…well…Bleed American. As the group made their way back to the stage for their encore, finish the rest of their show with more songs from that record: “A Praise Chorus,” and hit singles “Sweetness” and “The Middle.” Jimmy Eat World never seems to disappoint and let’s all hope their together for another 25 years.

Worcester, MA natives The Hotelier were the supporting act for this tour. They opened their set with “Goodness Pt. 2” from Goodness and then went straight into “Two Deliverances.” Not much of the crowd knew who they were out here, since this was their first Vegas show. Hopefully they left a memory for the crowd to go and check out their music.

I was happy to see the indie rock band play some older songs, including “An Introduction to the Album,” the first track off of theor sophomore album Home, Like Noplace Is There, along with the painful/emotional “Your Deep Rest,” a song that’s clearly about a friend who committed suicide and Holden lives with the guilt of thinking it’s his fault for not seeing signs. They closed out their set with “Dendron.”