Tonight is the third and final night of Enter Shikari’s residency at St. Luke’s, Glasgow. The band has played five venues across the UK once a month for the past three months, bringing a new stage show each night and introducing every sold-out crowd to different opening acts. It’s a new concept, and it’s worked a treat. Judging by the tension in the air inside St. Luke’s, this was going to be a good one.
First up tonight were Tokky Horror, who took to the stage and wasted no time getting the crowd fired up with an energetic set that blended elements of punk, techno, and metal. There are nods to Black Flag and even The Prodigy within their songs, and it works really well. Both front women make full use of the stage, and within a few songs they are both in the mosh pit dancing round with the crowd. Whilst Tokky Horror clearly won over a lot of new fans this evening, one can’t help but feel that the perfect way to see this band would be at their own show where the full chaos could be unleashed. Definitely ones to look out for.
Higher Power from Leeds were up next and raised the energy levels in St. Luke’s within seconds of their first song, “Rewire (101)”. Their mix of punk, hardcore, and grunge is moulded effortlessly and delivered with style and charisma that most bands can only dream of. The band are no strangers to packed-out crowds, having toured the world extensively over the last few years, even dropping in on Glasgow recently opening for Alexisonfire for their sold out Barrowlands show. The experience they’ve gained makes the band ooze with confidence, as songs like “Fall from Grace” and “Low Season” had the crowd eating out of their hands. Awesome stuff.
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Tonight though, unsurprisingly, belongs to Enter Shikari. Set opener “(Pls) set me on fire” ignites carnage on the dancefloor of the converted church within seconds. The light show complete with lasers is an absolute spectacle, and Glasgow is fully up for the party. Security is kept busy catching bodies flying over the barrier as frontman Rowe Reynolds takes every opportunity to rev everyone up. “Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour…” and “It Hurts” are played back-to-back to huge responses from the sweaty crowd. We were even treated to the live debut of “A Kiss For the Whole World” which received a crazy reaction.
Enter Shikari remind you how live music should be done. This is a band that pours everything into their performance, not just musically but visually too. When crowd favourite “Sorry You’re Not A Winner” is played, the feeling in the room is euphoric, and clearly the band were getting as much from this performance as the crowd. The superb choice of venue for the Glasgow dates only adds to creating the perfect atmosphere. It would have been easy for the band to play one of the larger venues in the city and in turn lose the intimacy they have created this evening.
As they closed up with “Enter Shikari” followed by the blinding “The Dreamers Hotel” all 700 fans witnessed something very special and the final cheers were deafening. This band are absolute masters of their craft and set a standard that is nigh on impossible to follow. They have constantly pushed the boundaries of modern rock, taking it to new levels at every opportunity. Where they go from here is an exciting prospect indeed.
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Photos by Beyond Punk Photography
