The atmosphere in the north London venue was highly charged, the crowd’s anticipation for the mosh pit was palpable before the group came on.  Once the music had started the band’s performance was riveting, unwavering in energy and power as well as in technical skill.

The constant switching between heavy rock, calm electronic piano and dubstep/drum and bass beats created a memorising performance that was unpredictable in its versatility.  The crowd were at the mercy of the constant switching of tempos; obedient to the music they morphed from violent mosh pits to the entire audience sitting down in moments.  The crowd’s exuberance and enthusiasm for the music was a show to watch in itself, and the dynamic between musicians and audience was a truly interactive process that demonstrated a great example of how music performance should be conducted.

The combination of heavy dance music and heavy rock created the perfect conditions for a jump up night, with the blend of rave and rock culture creating an ideal union for an all out cathartic release of tension that is unique to the act of losing yourself in a heaving crowd.

Despite the aggressive appearance of the mosh pit there was a sense of unity to the mass that constantly switched between civil calm, where they swayed calmly watching the music, to the hectic commotion of jumping, diving and crowd surfing.

The random appearance of a dressed up bear on stage typified the mood of the event, which having launched itself into the crowd about halfway through the gig was instantly subsumed into the mass of heaving, jumping bodies.  Enter Shikari deliberately appealed to the crowd’s youthful exuberance, calling out that “we are the generation that will change the world”, bringing a political twist in their reference to the “evils of capitalism, stalling the evolution of our species”.

The sense of the evening was one of a highly charged, live for the moment event, where power is in the hands of the youth and the young are living for tonight.

Enter Shikari are definitely a must see live act.