Pictorial: Enter Shikari and review

Posted on 25 October 2009
By Conor Killick & Danielle Pugh
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Enter Shikari
Support: The Devil Wears Prada and True Tiger
22/10/09 02 Academy Liverpool

Enter Shikari seem to like Liverpool. In roughly the space of a year this will be their forth time gracing the Scouseland. And not one person is complaining. It becomes obvious quite early on that ES have drawn themselves a Liverpool crowd that are up for anything. The chants from the queue can be heard booming from the approach to the academy and the crowd is most definitely in good spirits.

True Tiger are an act you would expect as an ES support. A rave act that if they were supporting any other band would be met with the cold reception of a motionless crowd and polite clapping at the end of each song. But of course this is Enter Shikari and no less then a minute after taking the stage a massive pit has formed and the crowd is quite fittingly going bonkers.

Many people had actually come to see the support act of The Devil Wears Prada rather then ES themselves and were met with chants PRADA, PRADA, PRADA outside the venue. I was quite excited to see what TDWP were actually like after all the hype but in all honesty I was disappointed. It seemed that the only appeal they gave was to mosh and pit.

When they finished their set a huge crowd faded from view; perhaps they were going to get a drink because they were thirsty from the insane moshing or just turned up for them alone.

By the time ES enter the stage the room has managed to reach the dizzying temperatures of a sauna, and everyone is sweating appropriately. Solidarity and Step Up manage to sufficiently drain the liveliness of the crowd, as the energy is slowly getting sucked away by the heat.

Crowd favourites such as Mothership, Zzzonked and No Sleep Tonight manage to keep everyone on their toes. However only half way through the set, many of the crowd are on their last legs. Rory has a few kind words with the security letting them know that nearly the entire crowd is in desperate need of water. Gap In The Fence is one of the most well received songs of night as it gives the crowd a much-needed break from the mental antics of nearly all the other songs. The break and water handed out from the security seems to of given the crowd a much needed boost of energy as Havoc B bursts to insanity once more.

The rest of the set finishes with still a fantastic amount of enthusiasm considering the unbelievable heat, and as ES leave the stage before their encore, a few people opt to leave, seemingly too tired to stay for the last two songs. Though they missed what were undoubtedly the best two songs of the night. As the familiar sound of ‘Sorry Your Not A Winner’ starts, all thoughts of tiredness are forgotten and the crowd erupts in craziness once more.

As ‘Juggernauts’ erupts, its hard to describe how mental the crowd goes, it seems everyone has been waiting for this song and every last ounce of energy is going into going absolutely ballistic. ES crowned Liverpool ‘Sweatiest City’ – the second time since they last graced the stage.

The intense heat had finally gotten into the equipment on the stage as Rou’s Electronic kit gives out during the opening to the song. The reboot doesn’t take long and ES start up ‘Juggernauts’ once more. Crowdsufers, moshpits and general craziness is the last order of the night and not one single person is standing still for the finishing of the show and the tour.

Setlist:
1.Common Dreads
2.Solidarity
3.Step Up
4.The Feast
5.Mothership
6.Zzzonked
7.Havoc A
8.No Sleep Tonight
9.Gap In The Fence
10.Havoc B
11.Labyrinth
12.No Sssweat
13.Creeping Cartoon
14.The Jester
15.Halcyon
16.Hectic
17. Enter Shikari
18.Fanfare For The Conscious Man

Encore:
19. Sorry, You’re Not A Winner
20. Juggernauts

Photography by Sakura www.rockphotographer.net