Enter Shikari, letlive., Your Demise @ Billboard the Venue, Melbourne (28/02/2012)
This time of year in Melbourne, there’s only one thing on anyone’s mind in terms of music – Soundwave. This week, Australia’s biggest travelling festival rolled into Melbourne, bringing with it a whole host of sidewaves before the big day on Friday. On Tuesday night at Billboard, it was English stalwarts Enter Shikari.
With Your Demise, was immediately apparent that while they were a completely solid live act, the songs weren’t quite there in terms of standing out. This was quite noticeable within the crowd, too, with really only the die-hard fans in the front row getting into the set. Their breakdown fuelled brand of hardcore certainly wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t stimulating given there has been hundreds of bands doing the exact same thing in recent times.
I’m just going to start off by saying American hardcore quintet letlive. are good. Really fucking good. Having not seen much of them other than a few Youtube videos prior to the night, they absolutely blew away myself and everyone else in the room with their energy and conviction to their music. Vocalist Jason Butler is an absolute maniac, hurling himself into the crowd within 30 second of the start of their set and continuing in the same fashion throughout, all the while screaming and singing to perfection. If anything, the only negative of their set was the mix too often drowning out Butler’s vocals. However, this just gave the punters in the front row the chance to sing and scream along even louder. letlive’s set was an absolute master class in how hardcore punk should be done, combining emotion and energy with perfection.
After a half hour changeover, British dubstep/hardcore/electro/metal/whatever band Enter Shikari made their way on stage and tore straight into ‘System….Meltdown,’ causing an absolute frenzy within the crowd and inciting crowd surfers everywhere. Similarly, the insanity of ‘Ghandi mate, Ghandi’ served as the perfect example of Enter Shikari’s set moving between heavy guitars to crushing dubstep and back to anthem choruses, it was a perfect recipe for a whole heap of fun. The quartet might have their detractors, but there’s no denying that they are an outstanding live act.
An early rendition of old favourite ‘Sorry You’re Not a Winner’ sent punters completely bananas, with the song’s trademark clap clap clap section seeing participation by the seemingly the entire venue. Similarly, an extended ‘Mothership’ saw punters fling glow sticks everywhere as if they were at a rave, before descending into a huge mosh pit as the song’s heavy part kicked in. Respite for the huge crowd came in the form of mellow numbers ‘Stalemate’ and ‘Search Party,’ with the former seeing vocalist Rou Reynolds bringing out his acoustic guitar, creating a mass sing-along and serving as a great change of pace.
Closing their main set with what is the best song off their new album, ‘Arguing With Thermometers,’ the four piece had the crowd eating out of their hands seeming the entire venue bouncing along towards the end of the song. The short encore of the fast paced ‘Hello Tyrannosaurus, Meet Tyrannicide’ and electronics filled ‘Snakepit’ ended Enter Shikari’s set chaotically, leaving punters exhausted and sweaty but begging for more, until the house music returned to signal the end of the night.
Once the dust had settled from the madness that had just occurred at Billboard, two conclusions were made. Firstly, Enter Shikari have arrived as a genuinely excellent and original band and secondly as stated earlier, letlive. are fucking good, really fucking good. I implore you to see them both this tour, you’ll walk away with completely and utterly satisfied.
Billy Geary
With Your Demise, was immediately apparent that while they were a completely solid live act, the songs weren’t quite there in terms of standing out. This was quite noticeable within the crowd, too, with really only the die-hard fans in the front row getting into the set. Their breakdown fuelled brand of hardcore certainly wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t stimulating given there has been hundreds of bands doing the exact same thing in recent times.
I’m just going to start off by saying American hardcore quintet letlive. are good. Really fucking good. Having not seen much of them other than a few Youtube videos prior to the night, they absolutely blew away myself and everyone else in the room with their energy and conviction to their music. Vocalist Jason Butler is an absolute maniac, hurling himself into the crowd within 30 second of the start of their set and continuing in the same fashion throughout, all the while screaming and singing to perfection. If anything, the only negative of their set was the mix too often drowning out Butler’s vocals. However, this just gave the punters in the front row the chance to sing and scream along even louder. letlive’s set was an absolute master class in how hardcore punk should be done, combining emotion and energy with perfection.
After a half hour changeover, British dubstep/hardcore/electro/metal/whatever band Enter Shikari made their way on stage and tore straight into ‘System….Meltdown,’ causing an absolute frenzy within the crowd and inciting crowd surfers everywhere. Similarly, the insanity of ‘Ghandi mate, Ghandi’ served as the perfect example of Enter Shikari’s set moving between heavy guitars to crushing dubstep and back to anthem choruses, it was a perfect recipe for a whole heap of fun. The quartet might have their detractors, but there’s no denying that they are an outstanding live act.
An early rendition of old favourite ‘Sorry You’re Not a Winner’ sent punters completely bananas, with the song’s trademark clap clap clap section seeing participation by the seemingly the entire venue. Similarly, an extended ‘Mothership’ saw punters fling glow sticks everywhere as if they were at a rave, before descending into a huge mosh pit as the song’s heavy part kicked in. Respite for the huge crowd came in the form of mellow numbers ‘Stalemate’ and ‘Search Party,’ with the former seeing vocalist Rou Reynolds bringing out his acoustic guitar, creating a mass sing-along and serving as a great change of pace.
Closing their main set with what is the best song off their new album, ‘Arguing With Thermometers,’ the four piece had the crowd eating out of their hands seeming the entire venue bouncing along towards the end of the song. The short encore of the fast paced ‘Hello Tyrannosaurus, Meet Tyrannicide’ and electronics filled ‘Snakepit’ ended Enter Shikari’s set chaotically, leaving punters exhausted and sweaty but begging for more, until the house music returned to signal the end of the night.
Once the dust had settled from the madness that had just occurred at Billboard, two conclusions were made. Firstly, Enter Shikari have arrived as a genuinely excellent and original band and secondly as stated earlier, letlive. are fucking good, really fucking good. I implore you to see them both this tour, you’ll walk away with completely and utterly satisfied.
Billy Geary