Concert Review: Jump Little Children at Variety Playhouse in Atlanta

All good things must come to an end whether it’s finding the bottom of the jar of your scrumptious crunchy peanut butter or a great indie band that has been a staple on the southern college rock scene. Jump Little Children (or shortened to Jump in P. Diddy fashion) called on its Atlanta fans to come out one last time to celebrate the ten-year run of JLC. As reported a couple weeks ago, this is officially Jump’s farewell tour. The tanglements of the record industry seem to have sucked the fun out of it for the boys and, while they aren’t saying the fat lady has sung on Jump, it’s hard not to see the writing plastered on the wall. You could hear silent mental snapshots going off throughout the evening, as we all knew this was a moment to savor.

The night was opened by Jim Boggia and Slow Runner (previously known as Michael Flynn). Jim Boggia was a mixed bag. The man did have talent, wielding his acoustic guitar, but his appearance and personality killed it for me. He wore sunglasses, indoors at night nonetheless, with floppy John Mellencamp hair like something out of an awful 80’s movie. Everything out of his mouth reeked of cheese and his music didn’t really offer anything new. It was generic filler we’ve heard a hundred times before. Slow Runner was a much more interesting offering. I had first seen them open up for Jump many moons ago. They seemed a cross between Josh Rouse, Ben Folds and Billy Joel’s “My Life” thanks to the quirk of the Wurlitzer. They had a very unique sound that was quite pleasing, and, while I wasn’t compelled to knock over old ladies on my way to get their CD, I’d definitely show up early to checkout their set if I saw them on the opening bill in the future. Then it was time for Jump.

Jay Clifford walked onto the stage with a full beard decked out all in white. I have to go along with my friend Laura’s assessment that he looked like one of the Gibb brothers from the Bee Gees gearing up for an evening of disco dancing. Ward had to crack on Jay’s new look by saying he looked like a rugged Neil Diamond, which you weren’t sure if it was a compliment or a knock. Once they let loose the music, Jump’s set list seemed to get stuck on their latest album Between the Dim and the Dark. They opened up with six or seven tracks off of it. Now granted Dim and the Dark is my personal favorite from their collection, supported by great songs like “Rains in Asia”, “Hold You Down”, and “Education”, but you’ve got to mix this stuff up. When I’m putting together an artist sampler disk, I don’t load it up with all track from one album then move onto the next. By throwing it all in a blender, you get the smoothie feel for the full body of an artist’s work rather than the stale evolutionary view that forgets the subtleties.

Before long they did venture away into their back catalog to give us perennial crowd favorites like “Habit” and “Vertigo.” They got the crowd into it when Matt commanded a sea of waving arms for “Pink Lemonade”, and the favorite clap-clap of “Say Goodnight.” Really we were all just overjoyed Matt Bivins wasn’t using the lyrical flash cards to spur on his memory like he had to pull out last time on the merry-go-round. Jump took several requests from the audience (“15 Stories” and “Cathedrals” among them) as the evening stepped ever closer to its last breath. When it was time to say goodbye, it seemed especially hard to loosen the grip as they got yanked out of their dressing rooms four times for encores. The most stirring moment of the evening came in the all-acoustic rendition of “Where She Lies” which comprised the third encore. I feel a bit cheated we didn’t get a full all acoustic show at Eddie’s Attic because the two shows are literally the dim and the dark, showcasing the different personalities of the band. In the final moments, there seemed to be a true sincerity and heartfelt thanks given from the band to these fans who elevated them to arena thumping rock stars if only in their own small universe.

While the evening fell a bit short of the best I’ve seen them play, it was a solid performance and a fitting end to such a storied group. What will the future look like for the boys of Jump? Probably much like it does now. They’ll work on side project like Rosebud and begin to flesh out their solo careers. Jay and Ward have already begun to venture out on their own mini-tours in the past year or two. I don’t necessarily see the end of JLC as being the traumatic event that some might. We’ll probably end up with several mini Jumps sprouting up to spread the musical wealth around or, who knows, they may take a page out of Cher’s playbook and just have a farewell tour every year. I can just see the poster now, “I know we’ve said it for the last five years, but this time we mean it.” Whatever becomes of the talented gents of Jump, I hope they find new challenges that continue to extend their musical horizons and rediscover all the love for their muse that first awakened their sound as struggling artists in college. Thanks for the countless hours of great music guys.