Astoria – London
Sunday 25th February
I think it’s pretty safe to say that there really are only two types of people in this world. Those who get Enter Shikari, and those who don’t. For many, they just don’t fit.
They aren’t this genre, they aren’t that. They are however, fortunate as tonight London’s Astoria was packed to the rafters with those who ‘do’, and if there’s anything a real Shikari fan knows more than anything, it’s that the live performances are something special. Nay. Explosive. With a two month gap between this and their last UK show, tonight – things were guaranteed to be special.
With enough pyrotechnics to make November 5th dull the St. Albans quartet launch onto the stage to self titled track ‘Enter Shikari’, quickly afterwards upping the tempo and diving into ‘The Feast‘. At this point it’s evident that tour fatigue has set in quite considerably and the band, valiant as they struggle to keep the pace up throughout the rest of the set. ‘Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour‘ is warmly received but ‘Labyrinth‘ and ‘Johnny Sniper‘ win the awards for being the biggest crowd pleasers of the night.
A standard semi-acoustic version of ‘Adieu‘ is met with cheers and a vocal volley but with a metal-bastardisation of the Faithless track ‘Insomnia’ the band take the notably young crowd into a frenzy, almost the icing on the cake. ‘Mothership‘ follows and with an encore of ‘Sorry You’re Not A Remix‘ and then of course the original ‘Sorry You’re Not a Winner‘, the band leave an audience cowering in their wake.
It’s fair to say tonight that the band struggled a little bit. The set was lively, and the guys really pulled it out the bag at the end but mid-way through it was evident that essentially, they need to rest, and you know what? I don’t think any of their fans will begrudge them that. Shikari are one of the most exciting live bands on the UK scene and even at half mast they have more energy than most. Go and write your new album…we look forward to the insanity.
Gary Lancaster