Enter Shikari (w/ Feed The Rhino, Allusondrugs, Fatherson) @ Pyramid Centre (Portsmouth, UK) on February 16, 2015 [Show Review]

It’s the first night of this UK tour and, like the majority of this UK run, tonight is very much a sold-out gig with not one person who wanted a ticket not having one.

Kilmarnock indie rockers Fatherson are the first of three support acts tonight and, even though they’re on barely fifteen minutes after doors have opened, there are certainly a few people in the crowd who are enjoying their impressive set. Yorkshire grunge outfit AllUsOnDrugs are a band who’ve crossed my path already but it’s the first time I’ve had the fortune to catch them live and, while they’re undoudbtedly influenced by the grunge sound of the 90’s, their trippy twist to that era has this swelling crowd captivated.

Feed The Fucking Rhino stamp onto the stage looking like they’re about to burst a blood vessel. It’s the first night of the UK tour, the band are pumped and, even though they only have a short thirty minute set, they set about causing as much trouble as possible with their aggro punk rock. Whipping the crowd into a frenzy, not that they needed it, Feed The Fucking Rhino proved yet again why they are one of the most exciting bands on the UK circuit with frontman Lee making his now familiar dash for the pit ten seconds into their set.

Enter Shikari have proved with their new album The Mindsweep that they’re a class act and, tonight, even though it’s the opening night of this UK run, they delivered a set that was a league above the rest of the scene. Skidding about the cramped stage at full speed from the offset, it’s a mere three songs in before frontman Rou Reynolds decides he’s going to play “Radiate” perched on top of the crowd… at the back of the room. Security groan… the kids love it.

The rest of the set is as slick as you’d expect from a band who, even in such a tight space as the Pyramid Centre stage, manage to deliver a full audio and visual assault on your senses. Early on, “Destablise” sees them turn things up a notch or two while “Anaesthetist” is even more potent live than in recorded format. Unsurprisingly, their latest album, The Mindsweep, is well represented with the band even giving this energetic crowd a curveball couresy of a seemless mash-up of “The Last Garrison” and “Juggernauts”, a track taken from their 2009 album Common Dreads.

Enter Shikari are one of those bands who take the rock boundary and blur it beyond all recognition, both on record and live. Tonight they proved why this tour has the words SOLD OUT stamped across it. Simply put, tonight, Enter Shikari were just stunning.

Check out the video for ‘Anaesthetist’ here.