Jimmy Eat World celebrated the 25th anniversary of one of the best albums of the 2000s with a lineup that took the collected fans facing “The Middle” of their lives right back to the halcyon days of 2001.
The final gig of this year’s depot at Cardiff Castle lineup brought together the talents of three acts that have been touring together for more than two decades: The Get Up Kids, Rise Against and Jimmy Eat World.
But kicking off the evening’s nostalgia trip was a set from its future: LA multi-instrumentalist Jay Som, who plays the kind of soundscape-infused, slightly grungy, driving indie rock, with shades of the Pixies that’s like listening to a teen movie in 6/4 time, and I am so here for it.
Next up were The Get Up Kid. Surprisingly, this is only their second time in Cardiff. What followed was a decent set featuring a good mix of old standards and brand new material, including a song with three guitars. “They said it couldn’t be done”. Jay Som did for their entire set.
Rise Against then stormed the castle with a play-the-hits mentality, and a set comprising banger after banger, after banger.
Launching straight into Re-Education (Through Labour) to a massive pop from the crowd, then straight into Satellite, which saw frontman Tim McIlrath grab a megaphone and scream through the bridge.
The pit kept churning through Give it Up, and a huge call-and-answer rang out from the castle walls during Ready to Fall.
McIlrath then asked the audience if “anyone else was feeling a little nostalgic”, before grabbing an acoustic guitar and declaring: “I get to play this song at dusk in a castle in Cardiff. They’ll have to drag me off the stage.” Then launching into Swing Life Away. At what was probably the most perfect moment possible.
The pit kicked into high gear while everyone got their dancing shoes on for Prayer of the Refugee, which received a huge pop, and the energy didn’t let up during All Because of You, before McIlrath paid tribute to Jimmy Eat World: “A band that came from the same dive bars and clubs that we did.
“I was 18 when my band opened up for The Get Up Kids and Jimmy Eat World in 1997. Here we are celebrating their genre-defining album. I don’t think they’ve ever written a bad song. This is for Jimmy Eat World.”
Rise Against bowed out with the phenomenal Savior. Leaving the crowd and this humble hack wanting for more.
Finally, it was time for Jimmy Eat World to blast the doors off with that perfect album we were all waiting to hear, from start to finish, as they took to the stage and the opening chords of Bleed- nope, wait, it’s Clarity.
This was followed by Blister, which caused the first big sing-along of the night, and the anthemic Lucky Denver Mint.
The First Time I saw Jimmy Eat World was the Futures tour. Some 20-odd years ago, and I’ve seen them at least half a dozen times since. What really strikes me, though, is that Jim Adkins hasn’t aged a bloody day.
Hidden in an attic, there is a portrait of that man, I swear to god.
Then the lights went down, and it was time for Bleed American. As the opening chords rang out of the title track that should be on everyone’s top five side one track ones, the place went absolutely wild.
Adkins dedicated track 3 to “all of you” after exclaiming they “didn’t think we’d be playing it in a castle 25 years later.”
We were then treated to a semi-acoustic version of Your House, stripped back to a single guitar with Adkins desperately pleading “don’t go” during each chorus, sending the raw emotion of the song through the roof and, in my opinion, was a better version than on the album.
Then it flowed straight into a song so good they recorded it twice. The Sweetness. This being Wales, a dragon popped up to boogie on down while the whole place sang it back, wooooahhh!
Watching Hear You Me played live didn’t drag me back to 2026, not only because it’s a song that’s increasingly resonated with me as I’ve aged, but it punctuated how gigs have changed since it was first released. What once was responded to with a sea of lighters has been replaced with the light from hundreds of phone torches.
Before heading into Side 2 of the record, Adkins explained that when Bleed American came out and blew up, “one minute we were sleeping on floors, and the next minute we were on top of the pops”.
“We couldn’t take it seriously. Now we savour things. I can’t stress enough what an experience this is playing this music after 25 years. We don’t take it for granted”.
I was a little worried that Bleed American from start to finish might have similar problems to other albums from the early 00s, which were often front-loaded. However, there isn’t a bad song on the album, which I was pleasantly reminded of as they launched into the doo-wop grooves of Authority Song before finishing off their main set with Bleed American’s incredible melancholic closer, My Sundown.
As some fools decided to beat the crowds and left early, Jimmy Eat World returned for a lengthy encore, kicking things off with Disintegration, which Adkins said was originally written for Bleed American but didn’t make the cut.
Following this particular deep cut, and possibly their most experimental track, we were treated to the exceptional Pain, the wonderful For Me This is Heaven, Big Casino, and bowed out with 23. A smart choice, not only because it’s a self-reflective masterpiece, but Adkins was 23 when Jimmy Eat World wrote Bleed American, and it’s also the final track on it’s follow-up, 2004’s Futures.
Now I’m not saying it was a clue, but if they wanted to come back and celebrate Futures 25th anniversary, I wouldn’t be the only one happy to risk my knees while sprinting straight for the barrier.