When future generations look back at Enter Shikari, what will they
make of it all?
In 30 years, perhaps all music will sound like this.
If so the four Hertfordshire lads will have statues erected of them in
their home town of St Albans and Japanese tourists will flock to see
the semis where they used to live.
Either that or Enter Shikari will
go down as a joke.
Well, it's certainly not a joke tonight. Whatever people old enough to
know better might think, there's no disputing the audience's
enthusiasm - they are going absolutely crazy.
What makes it even more
surreal is the venue - the BBC's venerable Radio Theatre, in the
bowels of Broadcasting House, is usually the serene home of Radio 4's
Just A Minute and Loose Ends. Not this evening though, because the austere, newly
refurbished room is resonating to Enter Shikari's mashing up of rock
and rave.
There's no hesitation as they bound on stage like eager rabbits, but
as the show goes on there's a fair amount of deviation and repetition.
They launch straight into tracks from their debut, self-financed album
Take To The Skies.
A&R men must have been perplexed by it all at
first, but you can bet they were kicking themselves when they saw the
devotion of the young fans who dance and sing and clap along in all
the right places on Return To Energiser. Enter Shikari, of course,
said 'no' to a record deal and have done it all themselves. There's no
denying this is a visceral experience, but lots of the songs do have a
very similar structure - basically rave beats giving way to metal
guitars, with frequent time changes and gruff vocals.
Deviation, when it comes, is welcome and pretty
breathtaking stuff. The first time the band do a little impromptu
dance along to the electronically generated beats on OK! It's Time For
Plan B it's a bit of fun. Later on they go one step further and all
down tools, lining up as a foursome at the front of the stage to bust
mad moves that wouldn't be out of place amongst the gurning hordes at
Fabric. They look like New Kids On The Block. Were this band
set up like Panic! At The Disco? Latest single Jonny Sniper is almost
poppy enough to be a boy band hit.
Throughout the show, the drummer keeps the rave aesthetic going by
wearing a thousand yard stare and a frankly frightening series of
facial expressions which veer from 'I've got a brand new combine
harvester' to 'I'm going to kill your entire family'. But there are
metal moments as well, with human pyramids, stage diving and walls of
noise.
It's fun and it's frivolous. And although it seems a bit
head-scratching at times, Enter Shikari's musical manifesto is
actually not as 'new' as some would have you believe: Pitchshifter
have been pulling the same stunt for 13 years.
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