Live

Enter Shikari, Devil Wears Prada

Paul Cook 05/10/2009

Enter Shikari kickstarted their latest UK tour here in Norwich, where a crowd fervently bought tickets in their droves making it a sell out show very early on indeed. Having played an impressive mid-afternoon slot at Reading Festival this year I was surprisingly eager to see them in the far more intimate LCR venue here in Norwich.

The band put on a fairly standard show of old and new material ranging from the frenetic, post-hardcore likes of Mothership and Sorry You're Not a Winner to the dubstep-infused hybrids Havoc A and Zzzonked. The latter's official video was actually filmed at the gig (see below) and so was an all out effort from both band and crowd.

Somehow however, Enter Shikari just feel a little awkward. They have managed to tap into a niche and there's no doubt that it's the young, indie-kid scene they're targeting, but the music itself is very, very odd. Mixing such different genres as drum 'n' bass and dubstep with hardcore rock and indie with elements of electro thrown in for good measure results in a mish-mash of sounds and styles. I, like many, prefer the earlier album that focused much more on the post-hardcore genre and have had to adapt somewhat to the latter effort.

Having seen the likes of Alexisonfire just three days later on the Eastpak Antidote Tour the Londoners just don't match up. Vocally, instrumentally and lacking in the energy and precision in their live performance, Enter Shikari are nothing extraordinary but entertaining enough.