Enter Shikari // UEA - 05.10.11

Enter Shikari @ UEA LCR Wednesday 5th October.

Assigned the role of first support tonight are the recently announced for the Kerrang Tour 2012, post hardcore rockers, Letlive. As soon as they kick the evening off, vocalist Jason is already establishing what seems to become the theme of tonight; climbing higher than safe onto amps. With heaps of energy and enthusiasm, the guys, hailing from the star studded shores of Los Angeles, successfully manage to whip up the crowd almost instantly into a frenzy of heat and excitement. With stand out tracks such ‘Muther’ and ‘Renegade 86’, if you weren’t awake before, you definitely are now.

Even at this very early point of the night, the whole room is filled with an overhanging heat which seems to only ignite more when hardcore punk outfit Your Demise grace the stage. They waste no time in continuing in the same, intense fashion as Letlive before them, and despite the inaudible lyrics, the crowd still manage to scream along to every word whilst showing the UEA what a real mosh looks like. This movement mirrors itself onto the stage as the St. Albans blast out songs such as ‘Miles Away’ and ‘Burnt Tongues’. Leaving the stage with the aftermath of a wall of death still hanging in the crowd, it is certain the guys have successfully warmed up tonight’s audience for our headliners.

As soon as the lights go down for the final time tonight, I can feel the sheer anticipation and excitement of what is going to happen next. The first chords of single ‘Destabilise’ ring out through the room and the crowd instantly turn from a reasonably sensible group of young people into an insane pit of raving animals whose only instinct is to move as much as physically possible. The scene onstage is unnervingly similar as the Enter Shikari boys smash through mosh-along anthems such as ‘Zzzonked’, ‘Hectic’ and ‘The Jester’. The atmosphere in the room is constantly ecstatic, hot and electrifying with the band only slowing for epic sing-along ‘Return To Energiser’ and for the beautiful and unexpected acoustic ‘Gap In The Fence’. The crowd, on the other hand, refuse to slow down and spend the night constantly rowdy and moving especially throughout the Shikari classic ‘Sorry You’re Not A Winner’. Continuing the trend from earlier in the night, singer Rou manages to climb/swing off of every tall object in sight but despite spending a lot of time within the crowd still manages to scream out the lyrics in top form. The band, completed by bassist Chris, drummer Rob and lead guitarist Rory, showcase tonight exactly just how talented they really are. It is easy to be distracted by the heavy guitars, rave-worthy electronics and amazing light show but these guys, in my opinion, are complete genius’ in the way they write and perform such genre-bending songs so seamlessly. Crowd surfers and human pyramids spring up throughout sing-along ‘No Sleep’ and new single ‘Sssnakepit’, the room now filled with thick smoke which adds to the completely hectic atmosphere. Closing this highly anticipated and sufficiently mental evening with crowd favourites ‘Juggernauts’ and ‘Okay Time For Plan B’, it is obvious to all present that Enter Shikari are band set for even bigger things.

Ellie Smith 5/5