There are so many things I could say about that gig and weirdly enough, I don't know where to start. It was a slightly overwhelming night, and a very important one for British music, if I do say so myself.

It all started with me queuing forever to get my tickets from the box office, praying security would let me in with my crackers, my chocolate and my sliced cheese. They did, I collected my ticket but sadly missed Arcane Roots, whom I had loved when they played Brixton Academy with Don Broco.


I had been to Alexandra Palace three times before the Enter Shikari gig, and it had always been for Warped Tour. I didn't expect a similar set up for a regular gig, but it was the case - the big bars, the tables and the food stalls were here in full force. A bit useless, if you want my opinion. You're at a gig. Buy a beer if you will and watch the bands, maybe? Don't sit around listening to a guy playing on a makeshift drum kit on a bike, maybe?
(Also, why was it so complicated getting a glass of tap water? The bar lady didn't even KNOW if they were offering some. I stood confused and slightly unhappy)


I found myself a good spot on the left side for The King Blues. I cannot really call myself a fan as such, but back in the day, I had listened to a couple of their songs, liked what I had heard and then found out they had broken up. "Yes, I've found a new band to like! Shit, they've just broken up". Talk about an emotional rollercoaster. I was surprised at the news of their comeback (especially after reading Itch's interview following Jamie Jazz's departure of the band shortly thereafter) but pleased nonetheless - and I was not the only one in the room. I stood next to a group of friends who were, obviously, all massive fans, and they spent the all set dancing around together and hugging and singing along, and not many moments at shows have made me this happy. Power of music, and all that. On stage, the band seems delighted to be here and they sound really good. I quickly find myself badly dad dancing (as per) and I sing the few words I remember from Save the World, Get the Girl, the band's closing track. It was a really good performance from the English, honest and heartfelt, and I appreciated the political message behind all of it - yes, the streets will always be ours. We need more bands like The King Blues, so thank you for existing.







The main support act for the evening were the Americans from The Wonder Years. I could not call myself a fan as such either, but I had listened to (and loved) The Greatest Generation. I was impatient to see them live, to give myself another chance to understand that band I had heard so much about. I spent my train journey listening to Passing Through a Screen Door and panicking at how accurate it is, but at the same time, it felt comforting knowing I wasn't alone.

You know, when you see a pop punk band live for the first time, you half-expect them to throw slices of pizza in the crowd and to wear matching plaid shirts and khaki shorts. The clichés have to come from somewhere, or something. And yet The Wonder Years couldn't be further away from this. They are a stunning live band, fronted by the incredible Dan 'Soupy' Campbell who lives every word he sings to the fullest. Their songs ring true, and honest, and it is a pleasure to hear their words in the mouths of ten thousand people. They are one of these bands who fully deserve the success they are getting. And they are also, now, another band who is getting my entire support. I can't go away when facing such passion, such honesty and such talent. (And a frontman that made me cry two songs in, I don't think I'd ever heard anything as lovely as "I never play with my glasses, because they always fall from my fucking face, and I stamp on them, and they break, but tonight I'm playing with my glasses because I need to know what ten thousand people look like")




Dear The Wonder Years, thank you for a lovely time. I hope you get your very own ten thousand people soon.



Alexandra Palace was my tenth Enter Shikari show and I only realised it minutes before they walked on stage, because my friend's friend mentioned it was her tenth show. TEN. And I'd gladly sign up for ten more. It's no surprise, though - the St Albans mob are and have always been one of my favourite bands to see live, if not my favourite. They are one giant lucky dip bag - you never know what's going to happen but you can be 100% sure it's going to be amazing.

Alexandra Palace was, if I'm not wrong, their biggest ever show, and one every single person in the room will remember for a very long time. So many things made it unforgettable for me.





First, there were the props. I hate calling them "props", because Enter Shikari are not magicians tricking us, and their props are not there for the sake of being there. It wasn't a case of "hey, we can afford fancy things so we're going to have them on stage with us". They had quadrophonic surround sound, which, if you're like me and have no clue what it actually is, just sounds so much better than anything you've ever heard from any band, ever, and pretty much feels like cinema sound. They had a giant screen on stage with clips of films and speeches, and the whole thing had been prepared and thought of and orchestrated by frontman Rou Reynolds on his laptop. It was not some sort of generic big screen being here for the sake of having a big screen. It was there to serve a purpose.

That purpose being Enter Shikari being, as Rou said himself on stage, "not afraid to call a cunt a cunt". I think Enter Shikari have been the first openly political band I have ever listened to, and it is what made me stick around. I would read their interviews in magazines and approve of their message and feel like they had put into words all these things I thought the world should do and be. And almost six years later, we need Enter Shikari more than ever, because we need more and more people to be educated about the wrongdoings of politicians and about climate change and about how we can change the world. They have changed my vision of the world for the best, and it's incredible to see such an inspiring band in front of so many people, getting the chance to change ten thousand people's vision of the world. They also are one of these bands who are never afraid to speak up, never afraid to call a cat a cat, and who promote their message in a way that does not spread hatred. And I cannot stress how important this is.





And this is the purpose this screen served, and all these films too. They were the images that went with the music. Because Enter Shikari are a complete band. By "complete", I mean that they have the songs and the lyrics and the images and they all merge into one big sphere that is what the band thinks about the world and what we should be doing with it.

The music. We should talk about the music. Because yes, as Rou stressed himself, what Enter Shikari do is not easy listening, it is not for everyone, and at the same time it is. One thing I've always loved about their music is how balanced the mixture between the hardcore elements and the electronic parts are. When you see them live, you can have a little dance because a song is catchy and you can still appreciate, for example, how good a drummer Rob Rolfe is. They don't do one or the other. They do both, and they do it perfectly.

Setlist wise, there is nothing I can complain about, ever. The band keep reworking their songs so even when you think you've heard the same song live ten times, chances are, you've heard ten different versions of it. I can still say, though, how happy I am to have (finally) heard No Sleep Tonight or The Jester live. How powerful the intro was. How stunning Dear Future Historians, played in the middle of the crowd, was. How it gave me goosebumps to hear ten thousand people clapping along to Sorry, You're Not a Winner. How sublime Redshift is. The list is long. There is nothing that band does that could disappoint me when it comes to setlists. There is just something special every time they play a song. So many songs are so different and yet they all merge together in something that is cohesive. I don't know how to explain it. Probably because I'm just a girl with a blog and a passion for music and not someone that knows about technical music things. And yet that's how I feel when I see Enter Shikari live. Every single one of their songs are little pieces to a puzzle that makes sense in the end, and every single one of these pieces made me incredibly happy.






Enter Shikari are not just a leading force in British music. They are one of the most important bands, if not the most important band, of my generation. The twenty-somethings that stand and watch the world their elders have ruined, the twenty-somethings that find themselves hopeless and struggling to get by in a world rid by corruption and poverty and despair, the twenty-somethings who face climate change and are genuinely scared of the world they are going to leave behind to their children. That's my generation. And Enter Shikari, their ability to make you think, to make you question the world around you, to make you change your views, to open your mind, are the most important band we have. As I have said, they have changed my vision of the world forever and made me a more open-minded person. They have made me want to change things. And with ten thousand people in the same room listening to their words, hopefully, we'll get somewhere.