The Alexandra Palace stands tall and grand with incredible views of London's skyline. This prestigious London venue has been host to many music acts throughout the years, but on Saturday night, it prepared for one of the UK's most political, outspoken and independent acts - Enter Shikari.
With support acts Arcane Roots, The King Blues and The Wonder Years opening the night, it was always going to be impressive night for live music.
Arcane Roots did what they always do, and took the venue by storm. Despite the crowd not being huge for the band, this didn't faze them at all and they put on a performance they will be proud of.
The King Blues only announced their reformation after their 2012 split in November, so many a fan of the band would have bought tickets for this tour just to see them. Although it was a welcome nostalgia to hear songs like Save The World, Get The Girl, Alexandra Palace took no mercy on the band, and they just seemed too small for the historic venue. The politically charged band didn't make much of an impact with their set, which is disappointing considering the anticipation many of the crowd would have felt to hear them live.
Popular American pop-punk band, The Wonder Years, however took the stage in their stride and put on a performance that put The King Blues to shame. It became apparent very quickly that a lot of the crowd were fans of the band as through every song there was singing, chanting, dancing and jumping amongst them. They became the perfect opener to build up to Enter Shikari as they pumped up the crowd, even scoring many a nod and whisper of approval from members of the crowd that had never seen them before.
Then came the main act.
Ploughing instantly into old favourites like 'Solidarity' and 'Sorry You're Not A Winner', the crowd went wild with chants of 'Shikari, Shikari' as soon as Enter Shikari took to the stage. Instantly the whole crowd of 10,000 people began jumping and opening pits in honour of the band on stage, singing and screaming along.
The light shows and creative projection only enhanced the incredible atmosphere as the band reached their true potential at this historic venue.
The four miscreants that make up Enter Shikari spent the night proving that they don't play by the rules, as they bounded their way through their whole discography.
Tracks such as 'The One True Colour' and 'The Last Garrison' are war-cries that only the informed socio-political band could pull off with cries of defiance and war against the establishment. The entire crowd of 10,000 were Shikari's army for that one night, and their genre-defying music has become the pinnacle of a generation.
The band had done everything in their power to rise to the venue's line-up of incredible artists, and after taking a pop at Donald Trump, David Cameron's pork habits and an incredible, if unusual, intro from Ghandi (as well as an unexpected mass sing-along of 'Angels' by Robbie Williams) the band put their all in to rise to the occasion.
Rou took to a second stage in the middle of the venue to perform 'Dear Future Historians' which made the song even more intimate than it already was, as well as getting the whole crowd involved singing along and above the extra speakers they had placed at the back of the room.
Finishing the night with an encore of 'Redshift', an aggressive remix of 'Anaesthetist' and closing with 'The Appeal & The Mindsweep Part II', the band came to realise that this was a hobby that got way out of hand, and very quickly became a vision.
"We're not afraid to call a c**t a c**t," smiled Rou. "We speak about social issues. We are direct and we're independent. That shouldn't equal this... this is a hobby. That got well out of hand."
Official Site - http://www.entershikari.com/
