Huge US rockers say London fans have energy that’s ‘tricky to find anywhere else’

Jimmy Eat World are back in the UK once more, and this time they’re marking the anniversary of their seminal album, Bleed American (Picture: Jimi Giannatti)

The lead singer of a US rock band has revealed London is one of his favourite cities to play in – and that Dishoom is a key spot for him to visit.

Jim Adkins, the lead singer and guitarist for Arizona-hailed band Jimmy Eat World, praised the city ahead of their headline gig at Gunnersbury Park in west London in August.

The band is being supported by Rise Against, The Get Up Kids and Jay Som, and is their largest gig in the UK to date, with a capacity of 20,000 people set to flock there this summer.

The concert is being held to mark the 25th anniversary of their third album, Bleed American, which is cited for being a huge contributor to the early 2000s emo movement and gaining them millions of fans across the world – including famous ones.

Taylor Swift has stated she is a Jimmy Eat World fan (having previously brought Jim out on stage on tour in 2011 and used their song The Middle in a her 2016 Apple Music advert) while Prince covered them at an Oscar’s afterparty in 2009.

When Bleed American was released, it was so successful that it went Platinum – meaning it sold over one million copies – in the US by August 2002, a little over a year after it was released. To put it into perspective, albums released that year by Paul McCartney (Driving Rain) and Oasis (There and Then) only sold half a million records.

Tracks on the album have also been used in shows and movies over the last few years. The song, Hear You Me, was featured in One Tree Hill and the 2004 Hilary Duff movie A Cinderella Story, while The Middle was played in the tv shows Smallville and Roswell.

Jimmy Eat World, pictured in their early years at the release of Bleed American, captured the hearts of Emo kids in the early 2000s with their Bleed American and Clarity releases (Picture: Christopher Wray McCann)

Outlining why he loves playing in London, Jim told Metro: ‘London is one of my favourite places to play.

‘The shows themselves have an energy, which is tricky to find anywhere else. Some people have told me, “London’s jaded as they get everything [in terms of bands playing], so every time you play you have to win over the cool police.” But we’ve never experienced that.

‘For us, it’s people who have decided that they’re going to go off before they left the house. It’s just the connection when you’re performing to a crowd like that, it’s just amazing, and we’ve always felt that there.’

Bleed American sold over a million copies after its release in 2001 and is credited with influencing emo music (Picture: Jimmy Eat World)

Jim added that the band’s favourite gigs in the city over the years were Brixton Academy, in south London, in 2022 and Alexandra Palace, in north London, in 2024 – two key gigs for the band after the Covid pandemic.

‘Playing Ally Pally (Alexandra Palace) was a mind-blowing experience that I never in a million years would have thought we’d be able to do,’ Jim said.

‘The Brixton Academy show we put on sale just before the world shut down. A year and a half, almost two years later, we played that gig and people just went off.

‘The venue is just perfect – it’s as big as you can possibly get while still retaining the intimacy of being able to see everybody.

‘To be there with the sold out crowd that was really ready for it, and I was ready for it, it was a perfect night of celebrating the communal experience of music. I’ll never forget it.’

Jim also urged people to support their local venues as much as they can following the news that 30 grassroots music venues have permanently closed over the past year in the UK.

‘A lot of the places we would play when we started out have now shut down, and they were really special,’ he said.

‘The biggest thing you can pitch in as a music fan is patronise them.’

Outlining his advice to save them, he said: ‘Suggest what you think would be cool to see there and pitch it to them.’

During their days off, he said the band likes to soak up the city’s cultural side as much as possible.

Jim Adkins said Alexandra Palace was one of the band’s favourite gigs they played in London (Photo by Alberto Pezzali/NurPhoto via Getty Images) He added that Brixton Academy was also a key highlight for them, with their 2022 gig being a real highlight (Credits: Getty Images)

‘The Photographer’s Gallery, in Soho, is pretty special,’ Jim said. ‘And I like to have as much curry as I can fit in,’ noting that Bombay-style cafe chain Dishoom is his favourite place to visit.

‘During the pandemic I was trying to cook my way through the Dishoom cookbook,’ he said. ‘The Chicken Ruby is my go-to.’

While Dishoom is high on Jim’s agenda when the band visits this summer, their Gunnersbury Park show is the key thing on his mind.

‘I can’t believe that response to our Bleed American shows so far, it’s absolutely insane,’ Jim said. ‘I want to thank everybody who has already bought a ticket to come see the shows.

‘It’s a huge deal for us, and we really appreciate all of you who are coming.’

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