Enter
Shikari’s gig tonight was at Plymouth Uni’s
Main Hall, they were supported by Hacktivist.
Hacktivist are a 5 piece band forming 2 main vocalists
that have a rap based lead men with the 3 instrumental
band members playing a more rock melody creating
a sound forming rap/rock. The overall sound was
poor, mainly coming from the tinny drums and the
uncoordinated way the vocals link with the rest
of the band. The majority of crowd hype came from
the vocalists quoting one sentence, “Plymouth
make some fucking noise!” it gets repetitive
and frustrating, not very inventive and actually
if the music and songs were perhaps good enough
then Plymouth would be prepared to “make
some fucking noise?”.
As Enter Shikari were about to come onto stage,
there were continuous announcements counting down
from 10 minutes to the beginning in which included
classic dance music which kept the audience entertained
while waiting for the start of the show. Open
coming onto stage there was a loud roar from the
crowd and they starting singing Enter Shikari’s
songs, knowing all the lyrics.
During
their opening few songs there was a lot of electro
base lines which went right through the core of
my body, shaking my rib cage and giving me slight
chills, one which I’m sure the mosh pit
went mental for! Seeing Enter Shikari before at
Reading Festival I know this is a band that does
not follow by the rules often encouraging crowd
surfing when security and organisers have done
all they can in their power to prevent such things.
This was evident just before the start of the
gig when two lads were on each others shoulders
and security immediately put a holt to this, but
during their set Enter Shikari got everyone to
perform a human pyramid, going against the rules
once again.
Enter Shikari often quote that they always abuse
genres and this is very true combining pretty
much most hardcore genres around, some of which
being electro which often sounds like a child
let loose on an instrumental toy. The song ‘Gandhi
Mate, Gandhi’ sounded quite like somebody
had hacked and remixed Pacmans lost b side tracks,
very weird electronic song. These guys being widely
well received for their live performances it was
hardly a surprise to see them full of energy,
in particular jumping on top of the speakers in
one, quite legendary, leap. Not only that, but
the guitarists have some
pretty slick guitar throwing skills! The crowd
for large parts of the gig didn’t need any
cues like most bands, they knew when to clap along
or throw their hands up in the air, it’s
almost as if they’ve nailed the live act
and that it comes naturally to the crowd.
One thing that confuses me with Enter Shikari
is the electro sounds and how do they decide in
which order to press the buttons? I do like the
ability of the song to change at the flick of
a switch but then that is more literally than
anything else. The encore also had the audience
singing Enter Shikari’s, self titled song
instead of chanting their name, “And still
we will be here standing like statues”.
This is a band which don’t follow by the
rules, don’t follow by any genre or seem
to stick to the norm and I appreciate them for
that, Not to everybody’s taste but that
is why the people that show up to their gigs are
cult followers, listeners, people that love everything
they do and probably inspired by Enter Shikari
can create new ways of making music in the same
way they have. A great live performance overall
but not to everyone’s taste.
3.5/5
Review By Adam Brettell
Photos By Kirsty Rich
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