This March saw Enter Shikari's return to the UK after a massive European tour, and their first visit to Edinburgh in 3 years. Their 3rd album, A Flash Flood of Colour, reached number 4 in the UK Charts in January this year, which led to a run of intimate release shows. This made the band big news, and there was a lot of hype surrounding this first show. After a lengthy queue and delayed doors time, I got to find out for myself if the St. Albans quartet could live up to said hype.
Once the queue dwindled down and I had dodged a drunken girl, I walked through the doors of Edinburgh Corn Exchange and immediately felt the ground shake. The bass from Tek-One's set was almost unbearable, but they kept it at just the right level to not put you off, abusing your ear-drums and shaking with the sheer force of their musical assault. The addition of live drums and MC Tonn Piper really was the cherry on the cake as it made this set different from just another DJ set. A load of remixes and the MC switching between rapping and shouting "Here we, here we…" had its only downfall with regards to the bass and drums; some of the 'bleeps and bloops' and high frequencies of their set were incredibly hard to hear. And when they played songs I didn't recognise I had to wait for the bass and drums to completely cut out before realising what they may be.
Next to take the stage were Bucks 5-piece Young Guns. From the word go this band were full of energy and they kept this up throughout their whole set. In all honesty, I was never a real fan of this band, but this set changed that. Their live show has all the melody and hooks that they capture on CD, but so much heavier. Playing a set of old and new, including songs such as Bones, D.O.A. and Weight of the World, they had the crowd in the palm of their hands. Although at times it seemed that singer Gustav might have been straining his voice to hit the notes, he fought through this and Young Guns ended their set on a definite high note.
Last were headliners Enter Shikari, who were the reason I suddenly had no personal space for the rest of the night. Firstly, as their roadies and techs prepared the stage, I witnessed something beautiful. While setting up mics, each tech took their turn in rapping, or belting out what I can only guess were their favourite songs. This was the first time I had seen something like this and it definitely eased an otherwise lengthy set up.
The lights dimmed and a pre-recorded speech started playing. The synth and string lines of album opener System… fill the Edinburgh Corn Exchange and the band take to the stage to roars and screams from their "Lions". Singer Rou takes to the mic with his signature singing/talking/rapping and as the energy builds in the music, the crowd and the band, the set dives in to a massive guitar and synth beatdown to signal the track …Meltdown was well under way. With the bass just as low as the dubstep support act and with even more energy than Young Guns, Enter Shikari ran through old favourites The Feast and The Jester as one massive song before playing new single Ghandi Mate, Ghandi. This song is famous for its sub-bass at the end, and when it came it almost knocked me over. It felt like someone was barging in to me and the whole venue shook, and it was one of the best parts of the night.
Enter Shikari played more songs off A Flash Flood of Colour, showing how crazy and imaginative their song writing can be as well as reworking old songs such as Mothership and Enter Shikari. They also played acoustic track Stalemate, which has one of the most beautiful endings to any Enter Shikari song. Singer Rou takes to the piano to play out the track just before stating that the emotionless should leave.
The demonstration of how much this band has progressed, though, was down to the encore. After the band played a song along to the chants of "Here we, here we…" they jokingly told the crowd to cut it out before jumping in to Take To The Skies song Return To Energiser, with a twist. Instead of the calm, slow breakdown, they had a stabbing synth and low bass flood the room, and ended with an acoustic guitar. The last song of the night was Sssnakepit. This song was extended and reworked to include the Hamilton Remix version and was a perfect ending to a night that, for the first time on an Enter Shikari tour, didn't include their most famous song Sorry, You're Not a Winner.
JL
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