ENTER SHIKARI’S SWEATY KISS TO TORQUAY
Enter Shikari (Ollie Hayman/Northern Exposure)
LIVE REVIEW | ENTER SHIKARI | THE FOUNDRY, TORQUAY 26/11/2024 by Ollie Hayman
Fresh off the back of a North America headline tour, taking You Me At Six on their final shows in the continent, Enter Shikari return to headlining intimate venues across places that don’t get the same level of action in the UK. Their first leg was at Torquay’s infamous Foundry, holding a mere 1000 people.
TEENAGE WRIST
The LA based shoegaze band Teenage Wrist are the support band across the span of the tour. They kicked the night off with a solid 45 minute set, playing their hits such as ‘Earth Is A Black Hole’ and ‘Stoned, Alone’ and they did a great job of warming up an already – sweaty crowd. Their songs were reminiscent of a mix of different bands, Black Foxxes or Spanish Love Songs coming to mind, showing their wide variety of musical talent.
ENTER SHIKARI
Then came the main act, Enter Shikari took the stage with a ‘Bloodshot’, one of the hit singles from their newest full-length album, ‘A Kiss For The Whole World’. Instantly the crowd were surfing, singing and bouncing throughout, not stopping by any means, even with the Shikari Sound System remix which linked onto the end of the song. Then came ‘Antwerpen’ – a song that can only be described as a song to mosh and dance to, at the same time, if humanly possible! After the crowd had just recovered from that, came the 5 star ‘The Dreamer’s Hotel’ – one of the singles from their lockdown album ‘Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible’. The crowd definitely enjoyed their stay after the first 3 songs came to a close! Rou (lead singer) decided he would jump on top of one of the two 15ft speakers either side of the stage, almost crushing myself in the process! It was definitely an experience.
In quick succession came ‘Arguing With Thermometers’ , ‘Destabilise’ and ‘Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour’. The first two of this quickfire set are energetic and heavy, with the former being a political hit out at the drilling of oil. The latter of the three songs is a slightly more chilled out and relaxed song, giving the crowd a moment to chill out. After the set of four songs, Chris (bassists) asked why the band had never been to Torquay before, saying how great the crowd were even due to the rising temperatures in the venue.
‘Leap Into The Lightning’ is a song that the band has never played live before, so the Torquay crowd were blessed to hear it. The song did not disappoint live, either, but it’s also another calmer song, giving the crowd ample opportunity to get hyped up for the rest of the set.Another quickfire double came next, with their legendary ‘Sorry, You’re Not A Winner’ (or the Clap Clap Clap song, for all you elder emos out there!) and ‘The Last Garrison’. The former came with an extended Shikari Sound System remix, similar to the one heard at Wembley Arena earlier in the year.
The band did struggle a lot with the extreme heat in the venue – with the band asking between themselves whether they should take a two-minute break, however, they decided to have a quick drink and carry on, through songs such as ‘The Great Unknown’, ‘Goldfish’, ‘The Jester’, ‘Giant Pacific Octopus’, ‘Mothership’ and ‘Radiate’ , with all six songs keeping the crowd energised and powered up, ready for the final few songs.
Another debut song, ‘Deadwood’, came just before the encore. It’s one of the songs the crowd didn’t move much for – mainly due to it being a much slower and more sing-song than one to mosh to! It was great to hear such an underrated song live – and for the first ever time as well!
The encore consisted of two songs, ‘Stop The Clocks’ and ‘A Kiss For The Whole World x’. The first of the two is a song that is usually a Rou acoustic solo, but this time it was played with the full band, and it genuinely sounded absolutely incredible. The crowd were back up and surfing for this, and it was great to see. The finale was incredible, with Rou getting on the opposite speaker to before and even balancing on the smallest edge of the balcony possible, it was a fantastic finale to what really was one sweaty kiss to Torquay.
One thing that isn’t mentioned yet, is just how incredible the live production was. Four LED screen towers commanded the stage similar to those seen at their incredible arena shows earlier in the year. The entire band took up the majority of the stage, but their presence was truly felt in their energy they always bring to shows, whether it’s Wembley Arena or a small venue in the middle of Torquay. It’s one of those must-see bands in your lifetime, no matter what, because they are truly unmatched as a live band!
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