Imagine for a moment that you’re sitting in an Arby’s booth, ready to tear into a classic roast beef sandwich and some curly fries, when you hear the unmistakable opening guitar riff of your favorite early-aughts pop-punk anthem. Bewildered, you briefly wonder whether somebody slipped an unknown substance into your lemonade, but no, there they are—Jimmy Eat World, in the flesh.
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While it sounds like a cheesy teen drama subplot from 2003, this situation was reality for those patronizing an Arby’s restaurant in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Saturday (Feb. 13). The Mesa, Arizona quartet stopped by the popular fast-food chain for an impromptu concert ahead of Sunday’s (Feb. 15) 2026 Daytona Beach 500 race.
“Sir this is LITERALLY an Arby’s,” wrote the TikTok user JPunch, sharing a clip of the foursome performing their breakout 2001 hit “The Middle.” In the caption, they described the experience as “like a fever dream.”
Other clips showed the band performing their 2002 single “Sweetness,” which—like “The Middle”—appeared on their breakthrough 2001 album Bleed American.
Professional race driver Carson Kvapil, who is competing in this weekend’s United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway, also shared a clip of the performance to X/Twitter.
HUGE thanks to @Arbys for having us out at their Daytona location for some @jimmyeatworld!
— Carson Kvapil (@Carson_Kvapil) February 14, 2026
IN AN ARBY’S RESTAURANT!! pic.twitter.com/f84ot9p21i
Jimmy Eat World Is Celebrating 25 Years of ‘Bleed American’ on the Road
Sorry, fellow millennials—this year marks an entire quarter of a century since Jimmy Eat World released their fourth studio album, Bleed American. The platinum-certified record yielded four Top 20 singles on the alternative songs chart, including No. 1 hits “The Middle” and “Pain.”
[RELATED: 4 Last-Minute Hit Songs That Almost Didn’t Make It On Their Respective Albums]
This year, the band is celebrating with the Bleed American 25th Anniversary Tour, which kicks off June 9 at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre before hitting multiple stops in North America and the United Kingdom.
Speaking about the album’s incredible staying power to NME, frontman Jim Adkins said, “The people that are finding the album now, or in the last 10 years, means its something they’ve sought out or have been able to absorb in a way that allows it to be theirs, on a personal level. Now you can really feel what it means to you as a listener. That’s powerful.”
Featured image by Gerardo Mora/Getty Images for Arby’s
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