Enter Shikari @ A38

Enter Shikari concerts on A38 are probably, amongst many other things, the organizers’ way of making sure that the boat won’t get dislodged from the shore in case of earthquakes and such and that all that electrical wiring and stuff on the ceiling will stay there no matter how many band members decide to hang from them, accompanied by instruments and the occasional fan attached to their leg.

I half-ashamedly admit that I did not grace the boat with my presence for the opening acts, so by the time I arrived, close to 10 PM, the majority of the audience had already had that one beer too many and was clustering in front of the stage ready for some action- the appaling quality of photo material is mostly due to the fear of a sweaty and drunk Enter Shikari fan being ejected from the mosh pit straight onto my lens. One photographer did commit the unspeakable horror of going into the middle of the crowd during one of the down tempo breaks and well, then, all hell broke loose- he was not seen again for the rest of the evening, so I can only hope that both himself and the equipment are fine.

If I am to be very honest, Enter Shikari’s music should not be my cup of tea- as a rule, their fans are mostly slightly agitated 25-year old males with black T-shirts who just had two beers and a Jager, and somehow I don’t qualify for most of that. Yet there is something utterly compelling in the passion with which they rip through each of their performances and how the core audience goes along with that- time seems to fly by, one moment someone’s hanging from the ceiling with a microphone, next moment he’s there again, but it seems that 90 minutes have elapsed in the meantime, which you don’t necessarily remember exactly, but have the distinct impression they were great.