Enter Shikari are a band that are showing no signs of losing the tiniest bit of fun and joy in their live performance

Review & Photos by James Latter

It’s Monday night in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast. Technically regional QLD, and a relatively sleepy chill of the world - spoken as a former resident - known more for its slack lining enthusiasts and folk pop artists than any kind of burgeoning heavy music scene. Yet here we are at 7pm on a school night with a line of black band tees stretching the entire length of Ocean Street as punters eagerly anticipate British genre fusing pioneers Enter Shikari’s first of three Knotfest side shows. 

Warming the stage are Melbourne based metalcore 5 piece Future Static. Bringing progressive, symphonic, alternative and even pop influences to their sound this band is a personal favourite up and coming band getting some serious heat. Go listen to their cover of Daddy Yankee’s Reggaeton 2005 hit Gasolina if you need any convincing this band is worth having on your radar.

I overheard a lot of whispers among the audience who were unfamiliar with Future Static singing their praises, so it was clear they had successfully geed up the crowd for what was to come.

Enter Shikari prepared the room dimming the lights to one of their instrumental interlude tracks from the new album to get the tension building, exploding into Bloodshot before kicking things straight back to 2009 with Antwerpen. A song with no shortage of scream filled energy, singalong moments and dance floor rave vibes - in short a precursor for the next hour of their performance.

Having come straight from the outdoor stage of Brisbane’s Knotfest to a 300 cap dive bar at The Sunshine Coast makes for quite the contrast. A far more intimate setting (and out of the QLD summer sun) where you can really feel the bass from the PA in places you shouldn’t be able to feel bass. 

From here the band moved straight through a career spanning 18 song setlist covering tracks from their most recent LP A Kiss For The Whole World back to 2007’s Take To The Skies (though curiously nothing from The Spark, go figure) with a number of fun remixes and electronic extensions added in to liven up the setlist and keep the crowd on their toes.

At the middle of the set we get to the unmistakable opening riff of Sorry You’re Not A Winner. It is physically impossible to hear the intro riff for this song and not join in the famous “clap-clap-clap”. You know the band knows that the rest of their careers will be required to perform it, so I found it immensely fun to have front man Rou Reynolds shout “let’s bring this to 2025!” and play a modernised take on the composition of the song (they did this at Knotfest so it was no surprise but it is fun and I hope they release this version one day.)

A couple more songs to go and we get to my personal highlight of the set The Jester, a deep cut from 2009’s Common Dreads, sending the crowd off once again. The excitement best exemplified by the punter standing behind me who kept shouting: “No way! What?! NO WAY!?”. At this point Rou finally busted out the trumpet which had been perched at the back of the stage for the entirety of the set as the band once again put a fresh coat of paint on an old classic with an extended electronic outro.

Enter Shikari then played a handful of newer and older songs once more and closed out the main part of the set with “Radiate” before the whole fake walk off while the crowd chants “And still we will be here, standing like statues” until their triumphant return to the stage for Stop The Clocks (featuring another appearance from the trumpet) and finally A Kiss For The Whole World.

The only downside I can think of for this show was the lighting. No fault of the band as they’re working with what the venue has available, and slotting these shows in between day time sets at Knotfest would be a waste to be dragging their own rigs around the country. But having missed out on their headline run back in 2022 it does leave me waiting with anticipation for the next full production Enter Shikari show to come back to Australia.

Enter Shikari are a band that are showing no signs of losing the tiniest bit of fun and joy in their live performance. Having formed the band in 1999 when they were only 13 they are truly living the dream that anyone who picked up a guitar in high school with their mates aspired to, and any time I’ve seen these guys live it leaves an infectious reminder that life is about never losing that sense of fun.