Arizona’s finest triumph at their biggest UK headline show to date!
Damn, we feel old. A visit to the UK from Jimmy Eat World is always a cause for celebration, but this time it comes with the sobering realisation that their breakthrough album ‘Bleed American’ is a whopping 25 years old. This evening, they’re going to play it in its entirety, and on arriving at Crystal Palace Bowl today, it’s heartening to see a fair few folks who probably weren’t (or were barely) born when it first emerged in mid-2001. Such is the enduring appeal of Jimmy Eat World, it seems; certainly, their Midas touch for songwriting served them well back then, and arguably still does today.
Openers Jay Som sit somewhere on the spectrum between dream pop and Pixies-esque alt-rock. Singer (and songwriter) Melina Duterte and her band make an understated entrance, but with no fewer than three guitars, they were never going to sound thin; indeed, the likes of ‘Superbike’ and ‘Want It All’ have us hypnotised – in a very good way. Plus, there’s the added bonus of Jimmy Eat World vocalist Jim Adkins guesting on ‘Float’, to huge cheers from the early birds.
Next up is the first of the old guard, in the form of The Get Up Kids. Purveyors of emo long before the term was dragged through the mud by the Halloweencore mob (remember Aiden? No? Lucky you), we unfortunately missed their ‘Something To Write Home About’ 25th anniversary London gig last year, so we’re eager to catch them this time around. They don’t let us down – time may have aged the band, but songs like the anthemic ‘I’m A Loner Dottie, A Rebel’, ‘Ten Minutes’ and ‘Holiday’ still sparkle as brightly as ever, and judging by the number of folks singing along, there are a fair few TGUK devotees among us today. Superb.
It’s been about twenty years since we last saw Rise Against, so we’re delighted to discover that their live show is still infused with that certain sense of urgency – a musical state of the world address, if you will. Sure, they now have the trappings of a Proper Rock Band – some call-and-response action, a dazzling light show – but they still play ‘Ready To Fall’ and ‘Satellite’ with the kind of energy and passion of a band that still deeply care about and believe in what they do. There are no weak links on show during their set, but leading from a semi-acoustic ‘Swing Life Away’ into the utterly relentless melodic hardcore of ‘Chamber The Cartridge’ is an absolute masterstroke. How are the headliners going to top that?
Simply by being the best version of themselves, it turns out. In true Jimmy Eat World style, there’s no grand entrance, just a quick hello as they launch into an opening salvo of songs from 1999’s ‘Clarity’ (a superb record in its own right). We all know what’s coming next, though, and as those clattering drums of ‘Bleed American’ itself burst out of the speakers, the Crystal Palace Bowl erupts into a bouncing, pogoing, yelling mess. “This party’s just getting started and you’ve already blown the doors off the place!” declares Jim, shortly before the all-unifying ‘The Middle’.
The real highlight of the ‘Bleed American’ run-through, though, comes at the halfway point, where the two sides of the Jimmy Eat World coin are contrasted. The loud, celebratory power chords and cries of ‘whoa-ooa’ of the classic ‘Sweetness’ are swiftly followed by a tender, semi-acoustic ‘Hear You Me’; the latter accompanied by a sea of lighters (ok, phone torches) and a genuinely spine-tingling sing-along. This album clearly means a lot to those present, and the band are clearly awed by the response it gets.
There’s huge applause as they bring the record to a close with ‘My Sundown’, but the band aren’t done with us yet, and – quite rightly sensing victory – play a quick ‘best of the rest’, peaking with a closing brace of a raucous ‘Big Casino’ and the shimmering guitars and keyboard of an emotional ‘23’. The smiles on everyone’s faces as we file out of the Bowl speak volumes; tonight, Jimmy Eat world have done themselves and ‘Bleed American’ proud. Here’s to your swift return, gentlemen.
All Photos: ALEX GOOSE
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I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
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