Enter Shikari have a reputation to keep up, a reputation as one of the most energetic live bands on the planet. And this night did nothing to change that.
The first band to perform was British synth-rock/remix duo Lights Go Blue. They featured a singing drummer, a guitarist, and a lot of synth samples playing in the background. It seemed like the synth was more important than the guitar in their music so maybe their guitarist should consider switching instruments. They put on a good show, but being struck by the dual blows of being both the first band to play, and the least heavy band on the bill, they didn’t get the best reaction from the crowd.
Next up was a screamo/metalcore band from Italy named Ms. White. Being from Italy, which isn’t really a hotbed of heavy music (other than the somewhat similar but much better electrocore band Helia), they weren’t really up to date on current trends and sounded like an American band circa 2007. Still, they are a recent signing to Rise Records so they probably have a bright future in North America. Their set started off extremely bland but got better as it went along and by the end they were playing better songs that incorporated more progressive elements.
The third band to play were a quintet from Michigan going by the name of Sleeping With Sirens. They were probably the first band that played that people in the crowd were familiar with. However, that doesn’t mean that they’re good. Unlike Ms. White, SWS are up to date with current trends (of the Emarosa/Dance Gavin Dance/In Fear and Faith variety) so they didn’t do anything that you couldn’t see coming from a mile away. Their music was about as creative as their name (which sounds like it was dreamt up by an executive at a label). The singer’s voice was about as thin as body, and whenever he tried to sing in falsetto, he failed epically. Perhaps he should follow another current trend, Auto-Tune.
Haste The Day played fourth, and a good 30% of the crowd was there just to see them. They’ve made a career out of adjusting their brand of metalcore every album to fit in with what’s popular. 2010’s version of Haste The Day features more singing than ever before, but most of their songs are still forgettable. The exception was ‘White As Snow’, which slowed the pace down and was really nice, almost achieving a Deftones atmosphere. They played their best known song ‘When Everything Falls’ last and it got an even bigger reaction than a lot of Enter Shikari’s songs.
Speaking of Enter Shikari, it was about that time. They aren’t that big of a band yet that they have roadies to set up their stuff so they still do it themselves. The set-up times all night were pretty short so it wasn’t long before the opening synth lines of ‘Solidarity’ rung out across the Wreckroom. The energy level instantly tripled and everyone in the all ages section started moving and didn’t stop for the next hour. Enter Shikari had a lot of interludes and added new parts to their songs live to keep it interesting, including a ribcage-destroying dubstep intro to ‘Mothership’. They are big fans of dubstep, and at least 6 songs had dubstep parts, and almost that many had drum n’ bass influenced moments. Unlike most of the other electrocore bands around today, Enter Shikari are just as much (if not more) into electronic music as hardcore. After an energetic ‘Sorry You’re Not a Winner’ (which was their best received song), they started walking offstage, and the chants of ‘one more song’ started before all the members had gotten backstage. They came back quickly to play an encore of ‘Enter Shikari’ and ‘Juggernauts’ (with another added dubstep part). It was safe to say everyone in the room was satisfied.
This show (Enter Shikari’s first headline show in Toronto in over 3 years) just cemented their reputation as one of the best live bands around today.
-Scott Kendall
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