Mesa Public Library is marking its 120th birthday with an unlikely but fitting collaborator: the city's own Jimmy Eat World. Starting Saturday, patrons at any Mesa library branch can swap their current card for a new design styled like a vintage concert ticket, honoring both the library's milestone and the 25th anniversary of the band's breakthrough album, “Bleed American.”
According to azfamily.com, the library “is collaborating with Mesa's own Jimmy Eat World on a library card that celebrates the band's roots and also marks the 25th anniversary of their ‘Bleed American’ album.” The card itself is designed to look like a vintage concert ticket, with nods to both the band and the library, the station reports. As Axios notes, Jimmy Eat World helped design the limited-edition card.
Band members told the station they have deep ties to the exact building getting the tribute. “We all grew up within a mile or so of the library in downtown Mesa,” the band said, according to the same report, recalling visits with family members or classmates growing up in the city.
How to Get the New Card
The Jimmy Eat World design will be available starting Oct. 10 at all Mesa library locations, and current cardholders can exchange their old card for the new one at no cost, per the station's report. The rollout coincides with the library's 120th anniversary celebration, which runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. that same day at the Main Library.
It's a notable pairing of hyper-local institutions: a library old enough to have marked twelve decades in Mesa, and a band whose members, per Axios, got their start in local venues and are still touring major stages together. The library's broader footprint has drawn national attention too — its Gateway branch recently won the 2026 IFLA/James Bennett Public Library of the Year Award, the same report notes.
A Band Still Rooted in Mesa
Jimmy Eat World's members, Jim Adkins, Tom Linton, Rick Burch and Zach Lind, trace their early days to local stomping grounds including Mountain View High School, Westwood High School and The Nile Theater, according to Axios. Accounts of exactly when the band came together differ: the Phoenix New Times describes them as four Mesa teens forming in 1993 and playing punk shows at spots like The Nile Theater, while Universal Music's artist page lists the band's formation as 1994, crediting Adkins, Lind, Linton and bassist Mitch Porter.
What isn't in dispute is the band's staying power. “Bleed American,” released July 24, 2001, eventually peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard charts and stuck around for 70 weeks, according to the Los Angeles Times. That same report notes the band is performing the platinum-selling album in its entirety on its 2026 anniversary tour.
A Big Year on Tour
The anniversary tour, which Live Nation says kicked off June 9 in Denver, is scheduled to wrap in November with a run at the Vans Warped Tour in Orlando — marking the band's return to that stage after a 25-year absence. The tour lineup also lists a Sept. 6, 2026 stop at Chase Field in Phoenix, where Jimmy Eat World was slated to open for My Chemical Romance in the band's home state.
The Phoenix New Times has described the band's trajectory in the years since its commercial peak this way: while Jimmy Eat World has never topped the dizzying success of the “Bleed American” era, it has spent the past 25 years continuing to tour and perform. Axios notes the band also performed during the 2021 NBA Finals halftime show in Phoenix, another marker of its lasting ties to the Valley.
For now, the library card offers Mesa residents a small, tangible piece of that history, right alongside a library system celebrating 120 years of its own.
