Enter Shikari / Lower Than Atlantis
Manchester Victoria Warehouse – 27/11/17
After the success of headlining Slam Dunk Festival in the summer to celebrate the ten year anniversary of ‘Take It To The Skies’, Enter Shikari are set to take things to the next level. A brand new album in for form of ‘The Spark’ is Enter Shikari’s response to following up 2015’s ‘The Mindsweep’ in incredible confidence, bringing some fantastic new music to the table.
With such promise from the new album Shikari had announced an eight date arena tour, including Manchester Victoria Warehouse where we find ourselves ready to witness the next chapter of Shikari’s live wizardry, and as you would imagine they didn’t disappoint.
Before we are thrown into the Shikari experience, Lower Than Atlantis (8) are rowdy enough to kick up enough of a fuss early on to get things off to a good start. ‘Had Enough’, ‘Get Over It’ and Here We Go’ all feature and are delivered with great confidence to a mixed crowd, but there was surely enough in the bite size set to turn a few more heads and win a few new fans after seeing them live.
Enter Shikari (10) are notorious for making an exceptional effort to make their live shows stand out, and with a new theme in reflection of ‘The Spark’, the stage is set with plenty of white and turquoise, and a rather familiar looking computer from their album cover known as Mr Magpie. A 15-minute countdown until the ‘Mission’ begins via Mr Magpie keeps the crowd entertained, and ready for Enter Shikari to take the stage after plenty of hype.
The lights dim and the radar glows as Enter Shikari appear to the sound of their brand new single ‘The Sights’ which has everyone leaping instantly, whist frontman Rau Reynolds leads the chaos bouncing across the stage like a hyperactive kangaroo swinging around his mic stand. The usual antics soon kick in with ‘Solidarity’ and ‘Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour’ causing the venue to erupt into screams and moshpits instantly.
Tearing through an array of Shikari classics and brand new belters, the show is in high gear and doesn’t look like slowing down, putting the crowd to the test. We know what the Hertfordshire lads are more than capable in their live shows, but they have pushed out the boat this time around with their fantastic visuals on stage. Not only that, they have the venue rigged up with quadraphonic sound to make sure everyone’s minds are fully blown to smithereens.
A second stage is revealed a little later into the set up on the balcony with a few lucky fans surrounding to sing along to ‘Airfield’ aside Rou with his piano, before Adieu has the warehouse echoing out loud as the crowd sing back at Rou standing on his piano dancing along once again.
A mash up of ‘Sorry, You’re Not A Winner / Sssnakepit / …Meltdown / Antwerpen’ has complete madness resumed with crowdsurfers, circle pits, mosh pits and everything between for a frantic end to the set with ‘Zzzonked’ knocks us out with a fistful.
An encore has the band back out for the fantastic ‘Redshift’ which goes down an absolute treat, before the new fan favourite ‘Live Outside’ closes the night on a sarcastically cheery note leaving us all grinning away like Rou in their music video.
An incredible performance from the band, and one that has had everything possible thrown into it from each and every member. The use of quadraphonic sound and stunning visuals throughout only made everything that little bit more special, showing Enter Shikari really have upped their game once more to make sure everyone left the building incredibly satisfied.
Mission Complete.
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Check out more live photos of Enter Shikari live in manchester here!
Review & Photos: © Danny Peart Photography
