LIVE REVIEW: JIMMY EAT WORLD AT CRYSTAL PALACE BOWL, LONDON 16/08/26
Photo: Christopher Wray McCann
Surrounded by a crispy Crystal Palace Park, 8000 emos and emo-adjacent gathered in the oasis that is Crystal Palace Bowl, for a nostalgic and high energy sing-along, scream-along, and at times - cry-along.
Starting off with a short and sweet set- with sweet being the key word here- Jay Som, also known as Melina Duterte treated the early arrivals to a perfect chilled Sunday afternoon groove session.
Bringing out Jimmy Eat World frontman Jim Adkins for ‘Float’ the San-Fran Indie rocker was a lovely choice of opener for the final ‘Palace Bowl Presents’ of 2026.
The Get Up Kids, who, when they started in 1995, were indeed kids, are still as optimistic, fun-loving and energetic as punk rock dads in their late 40’s.
Such is the expansive scene of punk-rock and emo in the early 2000s that this bill provided many people’s hyper fixation from their own teenage years, whilst clearly passing other people by. The Get Up Kids with their midwest-emo twist on the scene certainly attracted their fair share of diehard fans, braving the drought ridden landscape of London to scream along to their favourote such as ‘The Problem Is Me’ and ‘Holiday’.
“Thanks to Jimmy Eat World for taking us out and playing to the lovely people of the UK”, frontman Matt Pryor grinned.
The parallels with Slam Dunk Festival can't be ignored. With a lineup stacked with deep cut emo bands, the crowd that was attracted to brave the sultry summer heat bore an uncanny resemblance to the usual suspects seen in the dual festival sites in Hatfield and Leeds. With none of the bands on the bill having played Slam Dunk for the best part of a decade though, the day was a long awaited one for many fans.
“There are only three shows here. You're the third. Thank you for showing up” Tim Mcllrath of Rise Against showed his gratitude to the crowd. After a brief stint around the UK stopping in Halifax and Cardiff, Rise Against were ready to give it their all in London town.
Having provided the scene with a number of iconic tracks, the crowd were thoroughly warmed up at this point to scream along to the Chicago band’s set, especially on favourites- ‘Prayer of the Refugee’ and ‘Saviour’. The band having lost none of their polish over the almost three decades putting their souls into pumping out riotous punk music.
For a show that promised a full playthrough of Jimmy Eat World's iconic and hit packed album Bleed American, the show sure did start with Clarity. Specifically, four tracks from the 1999 album that actually caused the Arizonian band to be dropped from their record label 27 years ago. Huddled together in the centre of the stage, fans could have been forgiven for being slightly underwhelmed at the low-key start to the set, but Jimmy Eat World should not be underestimated.
As the staging, restricting the band to the central position was dragged dramatically out of the way, the tempo was suddenly and violently taken up a million notches as ‘Bleed American’- the opening and title track of the 2001 album on everyone’s minds kicked the evening into gear.
‘The Middle’ got a well-deserved prelude with frontman Jim Adkins explaining; “Every single person here has a different story for this next song, which is exactly what's supposed to happen. It's all yours. To summarise it's about not giving a fuck”.
'The Middle', it isn't hyperbolic to say, may be one of the most important songs of the early 2000’s emo scene. With its relentlessly optimistic message, directed to a young fan who emailed the band with her worries about not fitting in, the barriers that the song breaks down in stereotyping emo into a negative and miserable subculture cannot be understated. What followed at The Bowl was a beautifully cathartic sea of bouncing and singing.
The thing about Bleed American is it's so stacked with hits, you barely take a breath before another iconic early 2000s track hits you in the face. ‘Sweetness’ another instantly recognisable banger was followed by the heartbreaking and spot-hitting ‘Hear You Me’.
“In the 25 years we've been playing that song that's the most gnarly it's gone off” Adkins grinned after a particularly Ruckus reception to ‘Get it Faster’.
As the final notes of ‘My Sundown’ played out, Jimmy Eat World weren't quite done with the crowd yet, supplying an encore- a highlight reel of the rest of their career. From 'Disintegration' from the album- Stay on my side Tonight, to closing number ‘23’ From 2004’s Futures.
There's a truth however, that everyone knows. Jimmy Eat World know it, the fans know it, and it's that Bleed American just cannot be beaten, beaten by any of their contemporaries in the scene at the time, or beaten by anything else that the band themselves have put out in the world. The album has a kind of magic that is almost impossible to replicate. It is cherished by all that hear it and will be cherished for many years to come.