I don't think any of you understands the joy I have writing my favourite band's name in the title bar. And I don't think I realise how tough this one is going to be - how do you actually write words about your favourite band in the entire world. I don't want to sound impartial, but we all know I'll always be - to me, they are the best thing since sliced bread, and given the choice, I'd pick them over every single artist, ever.

Let's start with a story, shall we.

21st of August, Jimmy Eat World releases new track Get Right, providing broken me with the only good thing about this day. They also announce two London shows for the beginning of September, one on the 7th at the Bush Hall, one on the 8th at the Islington Assembly Hall. Because they are my favourite band, tickets go on sale after payday. On the day, I am in front of my computer before 9am, the tabs are open, I'm ready...

And I miss out.

The websites couldn't handle the traffic and before I had enough time to refresh, both shows were sold out.

As the girl whose motto is "rise or die trying", and also as the girl who would pretty much go anywhere in the world for said favourite band, I set out to find tickets. There are already people selling them for £85 on StubHub and I am infuriated. I get my work timetable and find out I am working on the evening of the Bush Hall gig so I concentrate on the Islington one and, less than a day later, this is sorted - I have a ticket and I am seeing Jimmy Eat World.

On Bush Hall day, as I am about to get ready to go to work, my manager texts me, announcing that the restaurant is so quiet they don't need an extra person. See, I don't know if he'd remembered I had asked for the evening off, and I don't know if this was intentional to pick me (it's realistic, he knows), but my first reaction was to chuck my things in a bag and buy a train ticket because "I can go see Jimmy Eat World".

I don't have a ticket but oh, well, this is only a detail.

I was half expecting touts, and there were none, there wasn't even a fan whose mate couldn't make it in the end or anything. There was five of us trying our luck and realistically, it shouldn't have worked out. 

And then the security guy came out, told us to come in and then told the lady at the box office to sell us tickets.

Against all odds.

Before that day, I had seen Jimmy Eat World four times - Download 2013, Damage Tour 2013 and twice at Reading 2014. Let's go back to almost three years prior in the O2 Academy of Newcastle where I'd seen them on the Damage Tour. One thing that had struck me is how simple and humble they are. They don't do fancy lighting and they don't do turning the lights off before going on stage and they don't do any sort of trick. It's their allocated time to go on stage so they grab their instruments, they wave the crowd hello and here they go. They don't do anything specific. They just are.
It could be oh so easy for them to just pretend to be legends and make us wait them until the end of eternity, they could make us clap and cheer and they could play in a way that suggests they know how talented they are and they want to show off.

They just play in a way that suggests they're happy to play. Integrity Blues (released on the 21st of October and absolute beauty) is their ninth full length and every time they mention it, it feels like they can't believe it, what on Earth have they done to be able to release nine full length albums?

I know a certain someone who feels that way about the state of her life.

And that person is myself.

And maybe we have an extra clue as to why Jimmy Eat World are my favourite band.

They're a hardworking band who just can't quite believe their luck.

The first notes of opening track Get Right are enough to send me into a state of bliss I barely ever reach in every day life. I'm so biased - everything Jimmy Eat World do is honey to my ears and brings me the biggest of smiles. The happiness I felt the first time I listened to it is unreal, and being there on its live debut was even more unreal. There's a Futures feel in it that pleases me so greatly - Futures is my all time favourite album, obviously, any throwback was going to please me. I'm that predictable, sometimes. From Integrity Blues, they also play Sure and Certain, which has catapulted itself in the long list of my favourite Jimmy Eat World tracks after I heard the chorus for first time. There's a road trip feel to it, and the lyrics... They're perfect. "Sure and certain, wander 'til we're old. Lost and lurking, wonder 'til we're cold". It's thanks to little gems like this that they have become my favourite band. There is also You Are Free, which is a sensitive and delicate number, one of those they do so well - think songs like Stop, or You Were Good.



There are also The Hits.
Or the oldest songs, I don't know.
There is Bleed American and its anthemic "Salt, sweat, sugar on the asphalt".
There is the heartwrenching Hear You Me that yes, of course makes me cry.
There is Big Casino, do I even have words about Big Casino.
There is the perfect intro to Lucky Denver Mint and "A dollar underwater keeps on dreaming for me"
There is the cheery and catchy Authority Song.
There is so much stuff out of Futures - Work, 23 and Pain at the Bush Hall, and Polaris, Work and Pain at the Islington Hall. Yes in a row. Yes my heart is still there.
There is the positive and inspiring A Praise Chorus, the motivation behind so many things in my life.
There is the obvious one there, The Middle.
There is Sweetness, which makes me happy beyond belief and I'd never realised.
There is the wonderful Goodbye Sky Harbour pretty much played in full.
There is all the songs you could ever want Jimmy Eat World to play but somehow, you'd never, ever get bored of hearing them at all.






I kinda wish I was able not to be that biased when I talk about them, but Jimmy Eat World have a space in my life that no one has and that no one will ever have. Now that Integrity Blues has been released, I can't wait to see it unfold in my life, to see it takes its place, to see it connect with things I am going through, to see it be a part of the puzzle, fitting in here so naturally. The fact that I also have at least three Jimmy Eat World gigs to look forward to until the end of the year is the icing on the cake.