Fusion rockers Enter Shikari split up their arena tour with a more modest evening at the sold out O2 Academy in Edinburgh.
Noahfinnce is the first support of the night and kicked off by startling some of the older Enter Shikari fans, “who here likes Tik Tok?” didn’t get much of a reply from the already packed crowd however Noah quickly found some common ground “ok so no Tik Tok and no Tories”. Noahs set is intertwined with various pop punk references, writing songs with McFly and introduced his biggest song so far “Life’s a Bit” with “This is my Greenday impression”, even the older fans in the room must have admitted it was a pretty good impression and would have sounded at home on Dookie (which just happens to be 30 years old this year).
Next up like a slap to the face was Fever 333, the post hardcore quartet from LA sounded something along the lines of Rage against the Machine with a lot more of the rage. While the band made a name for themselves with the debut album “Made in America” a lot of people may be surprised by their Scottish roots as lead singer Jason Butler spoke about his Glaswegian ma. The relatively new lineup has gelled together perfectly and for the portion of the crowd that hadnt heard of them before this was one of those special nights that you get to discover new music in the ideal habitat as this is a band that definitely suits the live performance.
As good as Fever 333 were, Enter Shikari are not a band that can have their stage stolen as the St Alban group have spent 20 years building their following on the back of ever increasingly impressive live shows. Opening with …Meltdown sets the tone as every song follows with well crafted visuals, particularly on the nose was Jailbreak as the vertical lights create a visual jail cell for Rou on stage. Jumping around from dubstep to hardcore without skipping a beat the quality and production of the show is impressive in itself however nothing can replace the atmosphere of a dedicated fanbase and there aren’t many more passionate fans around than for Enter Shikari, only Rou’s acoustic solo of Gap in the Fence providing a small break for the middle of 100 minutes of continuous crowd surfers. While the days of Enter Shikari being hyped all over the internet as the hottest new act are in the past, they haven’t been a band to rest on previous success and the “A Kiss For The Whole World” tour marks a progression as being one of the biggest UK acts around.
Words and pictures: Dale Harvey @daleharvey