Live Review: Enter Shikari – Wembley Arena, London
17th February 2024
Support: Noahfinnce, Fever 333
Words: Tom Atkin
Header image: Damian John
WHAT.A.NIGHT!
So, first up is Noahfinnce, a pop punk performer that’s been rising to fame since hitting YouTube in 2018. Personal opinion, I'm not a massive fan of the music. However, there are plenty of people here that are and the amount of people that seem to be emotionally hooked is incredible.
Considering Noahfinnce started on YouTube just six years ago and is now opening at Wembley Arena, he is doing something right! It is an incredibly fun set with the crowd getting into it instantly and mirroring the energy that Noah is throwing out there. Having listened to some of his music post concert, the songs are performed well with a bit of a live twist added to most of the songs. Noahfinnce certainly is one to watch, He is heading out Stateside for a 2024 tour, starting in the middle of March.
American born Fever 333 are up next, having heard bits and pieces from them over the past year I am quite excited to see how they fair live.
From the word go Jason Butler has the whole crowd in the palm of his hands, opening the set with 2019’s award winning 'Burn It'. This is an exceptional opener, setting the tone for the rest of their set. These guys are another band that just scream energy, the whole band (apart from drummer Thomas Pridgen) are consistently sprinting across the stage, jumping about, pouring water on the stage to slide across… yes that actually happened. It is amazingly fun to watch their performance. The energy is transferring onto the crowd, with pits starting to open all over the floor and looking up into the rafters, there is not many seated people.
Their skills on their instruments are second to none, smashing out each song with a great amount of precision, even with their on stage antics. They are blatantly having fun up there as well, with Jason jumping off the stage, climbing up to the first level of the seated section, grouping together as many people as he can underneath him and then launching himself off the 10 foot high ledge, getting carried back to the stage by his dedicated fans.
Fever 333 really show an immense amount of passion, and they really need to be seen if you get the chance. They are currently out in Europe before hitting Rock Fest out in America later this year.
Now for the main attraction, I think the last time I saw Enter Shikari was back in 2008/9 at my local venue, since then I haven’t had the joys of seeing them again, so for me, I am extremely excited for this evenings main show.
As a massive lover of all things LED and tech; the pre show warnings of drone usage, massive LED panels and knowing there’s a whole production team in the pit tonight has just increased my anticipation.
Opening the set we get a solo Rou lit up in the middle of the stage, giving a spoken word version of 'System...', this is just perfection. You can feel the passion in Rou’s voice, and the crowd's voice as they recite it back to him. Naturally, this goes straight into '...Meltdown' and the lights start. This is exactly what Enter Shikari has always been for me. Absolutely stunning light shows that fit amazingly with their incredible mix of rock and electronica, drum and bass!
The production of this show is absolutely incredible. 90% of the stage is LED panels, including the ramp up to the back section. There are confetti canons, so many confetti canons, a drone consistently flying about, the live feed of which is patched back to the side screens occasionally. A guy wandering round with a 360 camera on a really long selfie pole (shout out to this guy, he was in the crowd before the start of 'Sssnakepit' Rou then told the crowd to use him as the centre of the circle pit ande took it like an absolute champ!), lasers galore. The whole thing was honestly just stunning, there is so much more I could tell write about.
Enter Shikari in a big stadium. Put that on your bucket list!
The whole band are really masters of their craft, and they have a shed load of fun whilst doing it. A lot of the songs played were slightly different to the album versions. For 'Bloodshot' one of the upright LED panels on the stage turned into a water tank, in which Rou interacted with to give the impression of him falling into the water. We had remixed outro versions of 'Anaesthetist', 'goldfish ~' and an extended intro version of 'Jailbreak' with Rou playing the intro on trumpet.
Jason Butler from Fever 333 joined the band on stage for 'Losing My Grip' before they all disappeared off, Rou reappearing on one of the LED stacks for solo renditions of 'the pressure’s on.' and 'Juggernauts'. And then, the one of the surprises of the evening, half way through the solo version of 'Gap in the Fence' Rou points to the middle of Wembley Arena, to a tiny little stage with the rest of the band on. Literally in the middle of the crowd. Then Rou goes for a wander, as the band performs in the middle of the crowd, he decides he is going to literally walk the entire upper section of Wembley Arena, interacting with the crowd all the way. Accordingly, he made a bet with the band that he could do the whole arena in 2 songs. He lost.
They then take it back to 2007’s 'Enter Shikari', a welcome return to the album which really kicked them off. Still performing their old stuff as well as they do even after so much progression themselves is a great thing.
The last thing I will mention about the night, 'Sorry, You’re Not a Winner'. Any one who knows this song, knows the claps, the last time I saw this was in a crowd of 1100 people, wow seeing fifteen thousand people all clap in unison, it actually gave me goosebumps. Then just to make it better, they mixed in the Pendulum remix for the second half of the song.
This was an absolutely phenomenal show, if anything, I am sad that it has taken me this long to see them again, but by god was it worth it. Enter Shikari deserve shows this big. They deserve the amount of lights. Everything they did, spot on.
They are now out in Europe for a few shows, then America, then back in the UK for Download Festival.
You can see the full set list below :
System...
...Meltdown
Live Outside
Giant Pacific Octopus (i don't know you anymore)
Anaesthetist
Torn Apart
Interlude
Jailbreak
Bloodshot
Sssnakepit
goldfĭsh ~
The Jester
Losing My Grip (with Jason Aalon Butler)
the pressure's on.
(Rou solo, shortened)
Juggernauts
Gap in the Fence
The Sights
Stand Your Ground; This Is Ancient Land
Enter Shikari
Mothership
Solidarity
It Hurts
satellites* *
{ The Dreamer's Hotel }
Encore:
Sorry, You're Not a Winner
A Kiss for the Whole World x
