I\u2019ll get this out of the way: Rise Against were the highlight for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe that\u2019s partly personal taste, because they\u2019re much more my bag, but they were absolutely phenomenal. From the moment Tim McIlrath and the band came out, the energy went through the roof. McIlrath seemed to spend half the performance grinning from ear to ear, his voice sounded incredible and songs like Satellite<\/em>, Prayer of the Refugee<\/em> and Savior<\/em> sounded enormous inside the Castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My biggest complaint about Rise Against? They weren\u2019t on for long enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It genuinely felt strange seeing a band capable of commanding a crowd like that appearing below another name on the poster. Their current UK dates are alongside Jimmy Eat World rather than their own headline run, and after Cardiff I\u2019d love to see them come back and headline here themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then came Jimmy Eat World.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve always respected them far more than I\u2019ve personally loved them. Considering how much pop-punk and alternative rock I listen to, they\u2019ve somehow never completely clicked with me. But seeing them live gave me a new appreciation for just how good this band is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jim Adkins sounded superb. The band were incredibly tight and when the big moments arrived, they absolutely delivered. Hearing a sold-out Cardiff Castle singing The Middle<\/em> is one of those moments that reminds you just how gigantic some of these songs have become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wasn\u2019t completely sold on the presentation, though. The opening section had the band positioned very tightly together towards the front of the stage. I understand the intimacy they were going for, but in a venue as vast and visually impressive as Cardiff Castle, it made those opening songs feel strangely closed-off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The overall stage production was also fairly minimal, and I thought the pacing of the set could have been stronger. There were moments where the momentum dipped when the evening felt ready to explode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But when Jimmy Eat World hit their stride, there was absolutely no questioning their quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And once again, Cardiff Castle deserves a paragraph of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve been to gigs at huge venues around the UK and I genuinely struggle to think of somewhere I\u2019d rather watch live music right now. This was packed \u2014 really packed \u2014 and yet DEPOT Live somehow continue to make the whole operation feel remarkably painless. Drinks, food, queues, atmosphere, the setting itself: it just works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve said it before and I\u2019ll say it again: Cardiff Castle might genuinely be the best live music venue in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jimmy Eat World were excellent. Rise Against were extraordinary. Put the two together, inside Cardiff Castle on a summer night, and you\u2019ve got a very easy four stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now please give Rise Against that UK headline tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jimmy Eat World and Rise Against captivated Cardiff Castle with their electrifying performances, showcasing their incredible talent and energy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":282608477,"featured_media":220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1363],"tags":[1425,1418,1423,1422,1370,1424],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-bleed-american-25th-anniversary","tag-cardiff-castle","tag-jimmy-eat-world","tag-live-music","tag-music","tag-rise-against"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phkrH9-3A","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/img_3962.jpg?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/282608477"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/img_3964.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n