Enter Shikari have been making their mark on the music industry with their crazy synthesized rock beats since 2003, and now they’re making a return with a string of UK dates accompanied by non other than Cancer Bats.
The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm is filled with emo-bopping teens who think that wearing a dinosaur onesie to a gig is hilariously innovative. Whilst watching the crowds slowly fill the room, it’s hard not to reminisce on times of being a young adult, where your only worries were how you were going to hand your homework in on time. Those were the good old days.
Anyway, Cancer Bats are here to kick things off and they sure know how to rile up the crowd. A pleasing support where highlights like ‘Hail Destroyer’ whips up a circle pit early on into the evening. For those who aren’t aware of the Cancer Bats material the band play a cover of The Beastie Boy’s ‘Sabotage’ to make sure no one’s left out of the party.
There’s certainly a buzz in the air for a wintery Sunday afternoon where the audience are now excited for the main act, Enter Shikari please take to the stage.
The bands opening track ‘System’ is accompanied by crazy lights from every direction and Rou Reynolds is running around like a wild man on acid, they’ve certainly made an explosive entrance. If it’s one thing about Enter Shikari, even if you’re not a fan of their crazy electronica beats and Rou’s hardcore take on sounding like The Streets, there’s no denying that they do put everything into their live shows.
Moving into some older tracks like 'Labyrinth’ and ‘Return to Energiser’ reminds you how far this band have come since their early days. They’ve progressed from playing in small venues and selling multi-colored finger lights to having an impressive stage show where they now manage to dazzle spectators across the globe, good work boys.
‘Sssnakepit’ is a weird mix of dubstep trance pulled together with rock beats, where Rou and crew manage to pull off another infusion of unclassifiable music. It’s apparent though that what everyone does love about this band is that there’s always an element of fun and spontaneity where no live show will ever be the same. ‘Gandhi Mate, Gandhi’ keeps the momentum going where you begin to wonder how Enter Shikari manage to keep up the pace. Don't they ever get out of breath? Perhaps the plentiful number of intermissions is how they do it, where every song seems to include a bit of fannying around and banter with the crowd.
If you can ignore the continuous interludes every 5 minutes and focus on the weird genre of electro-crazed rock, you will find yourself very entertained by the music alone and there’s no way you can resist the odd head bang now and again.
Enter Shikari return onstage with an encore, which consists of ‘Pack of Thieves’ and ‘Zzzonked’. There’s definitely been a merry atmosphere and these boys know how to work a crowd even if they do natter on a bit. It’s worth noting that the crowd surfing Santa Claus’s and mothers accompanying their kids to the show are all pretty satisfied with tonight’s performance.
