I’d always been told that Enter Shikari are one of Britain’s best live band and with this in mind, I knew I couldn’t miss out on seeing them this tour. I travelled to Glasgow to experience one of the best nights of my life.
Although I got to the venue a few minutes late the room was still only half full when the first support, Fatherson came onto stage. They seemed to be the opposite to Shikari as they brought a more chilled out, indie rock vibe to the night, which almost seemed like they didn’t fit into the night… but they were vocally and musically very strong and they didn’t hesitate to try and warm the crowd up the best they could.
The next support was a band called AllUsOnDrugs from Leeds, I was excited about hearing these guys live after listening to their self-titled EP. Although AllUsOnDrugs are more grunge/alt rock I thought they were excellent live and they brought so much energy to the stage, picking up the crowd’s attention whilst they were at it. I’m very excited to see what this band do in the future.
The third and final support were Feed The Rhino, from the moment they set foot on stage you could tell these were a clear favourite out of the supports.
It almost felt like Feed The Rhino could’ve been the headliners. A shirtless Lee Tobin (frontman) came on stage to conduct a high intensity set which got everyone in the room involved. They were definitely the best band for bringing the energy to the room, they even directed a huge wall of death halfway through which got every single person in the room charging towards others.
The build up to Enter Shikari’s set was a show in itself, 10 minute countdown of a dance song mashup which increased the excitement in the room as we got closer and closer to ‘show starts in 0 minutes’. As it got nearer and nearer, the traditional Scottish chant ‘here we, here we, here we fucking go’ quickly spread across the room.
When Shikari walked onto the stage, everything was pitch black except for their cool light show that enhanced the music. Rou (frontman) calmly stood at the front of the stage and began to say ‘This is an appeal, to the struggling and striving, stakeholders of this planet, this floating rock we call earth’, The Appeal and the Mindsweep I was an obvious opener and it was an experience like no other. The whole room united together to talk back to Rou as loud as they could. Once the song really got going the whole room basically turned into one huge moshpit. As they worked their way through a 90 minute set, the crowd didn’t stop at any point, everyone was there for the exact same reason and that was to go mental. Personal favourites of the night were Destabilise, Gandhi mate, Gandhi and Anaesthetist. Between songs the room was completely silent which gave Rou the opportunity to give speeches about how important our existence was and how grateful the band were that we chose to see them tonight and not some band like One Direction (haha). Shikari never failed to get the crowd going again and again and the room was electric for the whole night. Before they came back on for their encore, the room simultaneously started singing the Flower Of Scotland (something I was unfamiliar with) but the atmosphere in Glasgow was immense and unforgettable.
Rou came back on stage alone, he sat at the piano and began Dear Future Historians. It was so unbelievable how much a crowd can change, the room was completely still and everyone was more focussed on singing back to Rou rather than moshing and bumping into everything possible. People were sat on other peoples shoulders and others had their phone torches out- a very unforgettable moment. The calm atmosphere stopped after Dear Future Historians, when they performed Slipshod and Sssnakepit, which were definitely some of the crowd’s favourites and seemed to be very long awaited. After the night drew to a close, everyone was battered, bruised and exhausted but it was 100% worth it, it’s very true when people say these guys are one of the best live bands and they’re undeniably a band that you have to see live- you don’t even have to be a massive fan of Shikari to appreciate and enjoy the night. I won’t ever miss an opportunity to see Enter Shikari after that night.