After performing at Download on June 15th, Jimmy Eat World made their way down to London for a show at Camden’s Koko venue on June 16th, with support coming from Fort Hope, a band made up of four former members of My Passion.
Fort Hope had a difficult job as the only support band of the night, they did a decent job of warming the crowd however as they went through a set which included their soon to be released single ‘Control‘ which is due out on June 24th. Lead vocalist Jon Gaskin appeared perhaps a little nervous at the start of the set, the frontman definitely seemed to grow into the performance as the night went on however, his body language becoming increasingly more comfortable in the process. It’s clear that these four individuals all have a huge amount of talent to offer, and having all played together previously in My Passion, even though they only have five months experience behind them as Fort Hope they already have that chemistry there from before which will no doubt continue to blossom. Gaskin can become a great lead vocalist for Fort Hope, his confidence will no doubt be boosted as the band get more gigs behind them, and even on the basis of this show alone it was clear to see how much he seemed to grow from the start of the set to the end. Fort Hope surely gained themselves a number of new fans from this performance supporting Jimmy Eat World, and with their talent and determination to succeed they’ll no doubt continue to grow in strength and stature over the coming months and years.
With Jimmy Eat World having only released new studio album ‘Damage‘ less than a week before playing this show it was therefore no surprise when they opened their set with a track off of their new album, and in kicking things off with lead single ‘I Will Steal You Back‘ the band very quickly got into their stride with an extremely positive response from those in attendance. The big single from ‘Invented‘, ‘My Best Theory‘ would follow, and the band then took things back a little with ‘A Praise Chorus‘, a track with an absolutely huge chorus that had everyone singing along and enjoying every second.
The set included a good mix of old classics and new anthems from Jimmy Eat World; 22 tracks in total, including half of the output from the new studio album as well as a lot of the usual suspects that you’d expect from a Jimmy Eat World set such as ‘The Middle‘, ‘Bleed American‘, and ‘Pain‘. One noticeable omission was ‘Get It Faster‘ that the band had played the previous evening at Download Festival, the set certainly had a lot to offer though and the band seemed as passionate and enthusiastic as ever to be playing at this sold out venue in London. There were heavier hitting tracks that had the London crowd in a frenzy as well as ones that slowed things down a little and provided for more of a singalong; it was a good mix of music which seemed to be well met by the crowd, and whether people were bouncing around or purely singing their hearts out, everyone seemed to be having a great time and the night progressed extremely well.
Jimmy Eat World will be back again in November to play at Brixton Academy, and in addition to this they will also be performing a number of shows in the UK in September following on from their appearances at Reading and Leeds at the end of August. If you missed the band at Download/Koko you therefore won’t have long to wait if you’re a fan of the band in the UK, and based on their performance in Camden you definitely don’t want to be missing the band when they return here later this year.
Jimmy Eat World’s performance at Koko provided a fantastic opportunity to see the band live in a more intimate setting than usual, and having overheard a number of people talking about how the band just seems to keep getting better and better every time they see them, if you do get a chance to see Jimmy Eat World live in action later this year then no doubt they’ll be even more impressive than ever upon their next return.
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
