PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Arriving at the Roundhouse I felt rather old – being at least twice the age of most the schoolkids queuing up outside the venue. Enter Shikari certainly don’t seem to attract many people over the age of 16 if this crowd was anything to go by. The night started with Brighton band Engine-Earz, a dubstep band. The crowd reaction was certainly mixed – quite a few of the young fans seemed to be really enjoying their set, but around 40% of the crowd looked pretty unimpressed. I have to say I was in the unimpressed category – certainly nothing about their music appealed to me in the slightest I’m afraid – in fact I would have paid good money for some ear defenders so I didnt have to listen to them (I was considering poking my ears out but decided that was a bit extreme as I’d be unable to hear the other two bands).
Next up was Cancer Bats – some proper music rather than Dubstep. Their music mixes metal, rock and hardcore to create a loud powerful sound with screaming vocals. This was my first time seeing the band and I was impressed by how much energy they put into their performance, and the singer and guitarist were headbaning like mad for most of their set. At the start there was a fair percentage of the crowd who didn’t seem sure what to make of them, but as the set went on, more and more of the crowd were getting into them. When they played their cover of the Beastie Boys song “Sabotage” the crowd went wild (surprising as very few of the crowd were old enough to remember a Beastie Boys track from 1994), and at that stage the crowd surfers started coming over – first one or two then a flood of them kept security working hard. A great set from Cancer Bats.
Cancer bats setlits:
Pneumonia hawk
Road sick
Sorceress
Lucifers rocking chair
Sabotage
Hail destroyer
RATS
Finally we had the headliners – Enter Shikari, or rather we got their mind-numbingly dull intro tape which lasted for well over five minutes and at one minute intervals gave us a countdown – “5 minutes to show time”, “4 minutes to show time” etc. Once that finally ended there was an enormous cheer as the band came on stage for this their second night at the Roundhouse.
Enter Shikari are a great live band – they really do know how to put on a good show as the singer clambers around on their stage set and the band all run around and leap in the air as they play – it’s great to watch their high energy antics.
The crowd were having a great time with people waving their arms in the air, loads of crowdsurfers and people climbing onto their friends shoulders. Sadly there were also a bunch of idiots throwing drinks and plastic bottles – thats what happens when kids get their mates to go to the bar to get the drinks so they can get drunk despite being underage.
Musically Enter Shikari are a mix of hardcore/post-hardcore and electronic music, and live they sound quite a bit heavier than they do on their albums. I was actually impressed by them – it’s not the sort of music I’d normally listen to at home, but live I thought they were very good. Certainly tonight’s crowd loved them – they really went down well with the young crowd, and it’s easy to see why they are getting such a good reputation.
A good night of music that tonight’s young audience definitely enjoyed.
Enter Shikari setlist:
System…
…Meltdown
Sssnakepit
Antwerpen
Gandhi Mate, Gandhi
Labyrinth
Destabilise
Return to Energiser
Warm Smiles Do Not Make You Welcome Here
Gap in the Fence
Juggernauts
Arguing with Thermometers
Mothership
Encore:
Constellations
Pack of Thieves
Zzzonked
