It’s not often that a venue can be the undoing of an artist’s performance, but that was the very case for emo-rockers Jimmy Eat World’s otherwise energetic show at American University’s Bender Arena. While the Arizona-based band tightly maneuveured their way through songs spanning a long career, one could hardly help but feel the dissonance between performance and place. It may have been the basketball arena’s bleachers, it may have been the banners touting the university’s athletic accomplishments, it may have been the disappointing acoustics — whatever it was, the awkward feeling of being back at a high school dance took something away from the intimacy and energy of the band’s show. Bender Arena, simply stated, is not the place for a good rock show.