Jimmy the Magnificent

Several songs into his solo acoustic set at Bar Pink, Jimmy Eat World singer Jim Adkins let the crowd know how the evening was going to shake out. Vowing to play a mix of brand-new material and songs from his band’s back catalog, he also jokingly threw in that he’d be doing magic tricks. Which might explain how tickets for the show disappeared so quickly.

An immediate sellout, Adkins’s stripped-down gig was his first of five West Coast dates and featured the usually frenetic front man in a more subdued setting. Surrounded by a swarm of both casual and hardcore fans (who were pleasantly surprised when he started his set ten minutes earlier than advertised), Adkins debuted excellent new songs alongside mellower Jimmy Eat World material that the band rarely plays live, including understated tracks, such as “Cut” and the set-ending “Lucky Denver Mint.”

Adkins’s emo-tinged vulnerability was a perfect fit for his cover of the Everly Brothers’ “Give Me a Sweetheart,” and even his version of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” worked surprisingly well. But when a fan shouted a request for “Like A Virgin,” not even Adkins could work that kind of magic.

• Concert: Jim Adkins
• Date: February 24
• Venue: Bar Pink
• Seats: Toward the back