LIVE REVIEW: Enter Shikari @ O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
Creating a niche as an artist is an ever-trickier thing to do in such a saturated scene, making yourself stand out is becoming exponentially harder. ENTER SHIKARI are a band who have championed individuality in music since the off and have gradually creeped their way up to the higher echelons of arena touring royalty. Renowned for their live shows, frequently winning best live band awards, ENTER SHIKARI arrive for the first of two appearances at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse to display how the new lofty heights of arenas will treat the St Albans four piece.
First to the stage is internet sweetheart NOAHFINNCE bringing crystal clean pop-punk and feel-good energy to warm up the room. “If you like pop-punk you might like this one, if not my bad” he says before playing latest single 3 Day Headache, a MACHINE GUN KELLY-esque hooky banger. His high energy performance is mirrored by drummer Matthew Swales and bassist Charlie Manning, who flings his bass around as he covers the full width of the stage, long blonde locks flinging about him. It’s an interesting choice as an opener to have a series of pauses in the set where the group depart, but with pre-recorded bits criticising the Tories and JK Rowling, we’ll allow it. Their encouragement of crowd participation in frequent clap alongs and joining in the la’s of punchy banger Lalala encourages a lot of headbanging and dancing along with the feel-good vibes. As the number of people in the room slowly rises during their set, NOAHFINNCE gets the energy going.
Rating: 7/10
Middle of the bill is California justice punks FEVER 333 here to punch you in the gut with a good time. The four-piece pack catchy hooks, political rap and nuclear hardcore energy into a set that is electrifying to witness, as ever energetic front man Jason Aalon Butler’s now synonymous stage antics are in fine form. Energy is the word that summarises this set, whether it be bassist April Kae boogying from the off, Butler’s uninhibited barbarity or the raucous response from the resulting mosh pits and crowd surfers, everyone in the room is notably up for it tonight. The group use their time to speak up for Palestine, shout out to all the people of colour in the audience and make sure the space is safe for everyone, Butler even giving a female photographer the chance to shoot their full set. Their purpose clear – standing against inequality and having a blast doing it. Butler is an engorging performer and you would be misguided in ever looking away, whether it’s pouring water on the floor to extend his knee slide in Bite Back, throwing out the DISTURBED “Ooh wah-ah-ah-ah” in the breakdown of $wing, or the climactic stacking of three monitors centre stage to climb and leap from in set ender Hunting Season, it is unanimous in the room that FEVER 333 were not a band to miss.
Rating: 10/10
For any other group, following a performance like that of FEVER 333 would be an unenviable task, but when you’re a group who invest in their live show in the manner ENTER SHIKARI do, this is a gauntlet they are more than equipped to face. The ever-dramatic vocalist Rou Reynolds emerges in solitude for a monologue rendition of System… and it is now that we first see the extend of the screens that are the entire stage, with an animation accompanying the poignant tale. As it flows into …Meltdown, typical SHIKARI chaos ensues, the room no longer filled with bodies but a fluid membrane ebbing and flowing around mosh pits.
Few groups approach live music like the St Albans four piece, with constant switches and remixes of their own tracks to keep you on your toes. Following fan favourite Anaesthetist, Reynolds queries “Shall we test this sound system out?” before dropping into a filthy dubstep remix where we see the lasers for the first time in tandem with the choreographed lights and screens, a sensory onslaught that encases your whole body. The drama they have packaged into this masterclass is encapsulating, encasing the stage in beams of light acting as prison bars for Reynolds to rupture in Jailbreak, falling into a pool of water from the top of the towering screens before It Hurts, or a museum-set tour of all of their albums, we are taken on a journey tonight through every album, every emotion all encompassed by a whole lot of joy.
This is displayed no better than guitarist Rory Clewlow sliding down the ramp screen from the drum riser – they remain joyous and juvenile while also structured. The return of FEVER 333’s Jason Aalon Butler for colab track Losing My Grip escalates the energy in the room even further as he bundles about the stage like a fly bouncing off the edges in unpredictable chaos. Brief release is sought as Reynolds once again mounts the high-rise screen pillar for mellow renditions of T.I.N.A, Juggernauts and Gap In The Fence before the band return to complete the dance ending of the latter.
“We play music not for consistency, but for breadth” Reynolds purports, grateful to the fans who they recognise the time it sometimes takes to enjoy their music. Closing the set with LGBT+ anthem Satellites followed by singalong banger Dreamer’s Hotel allows for great cathartic release in the form of a room screaming their lungs out to the ear-worming hooks. Announcing themselves as the band to have played O2 Victoria Warehouse the most times, they display not only why they have continued to grow, but why they are more than worthy of the arena run they are on. This show feels as though it is ENTER SHIKARI at their very best, with the production they have long deserved and frankly, who would bet against them to ascend even higher in the echelons of music greatness.
Rating: 10/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Manchester from Jess Robinson here:
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