Show Review: Enter Shikari w/ Single Mothers, Milk Teeth, Long Knives - San Francisco, CA

Jared Stossel
Music
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Enter Shikari
w/ Single Mothers, Milk Teeth, Long Knives
Slims
San Francisco, CA
February 21, 2018

Photos and review by Jared Stossel.

As I had stated before in the preview feature that I wrote preceding this show, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Enter Shikari are a band that have grown leaps and bounds beyond what they originated as: a post-hardcore band from Britian releasing albums that blended UK-style dubstep and electronics with blistering hardcore vocals and breakdowns. With an album like The Spark, Enter Shikari's most recent effort, it would seem very likely that the band wouldn't be as keen on exploring their older material given the change in sound. I'm happy to report that this wasn't the case, and what fans who attended Slims in San Francisco, CA last Wednesday experience was a blend of music that spanned their entire career.

The theme of the evening revolved around The Spark, with a countdown timer beginning around ten minutes before the band started, complete with astronaut chatter and old-timey music permeating the background. The band took the stage shortly after the countdown concluded to go straight into "The Sights", an upbeat and energetic track off of The Spark, before launching headfirst into the epic "Solidarity" from 2010's Common Dreads. Tracks followed throughout the evening from albums like The Mindsweep, 2012's A Flash Flood of Colour, and even 2007's Take To The Skies.

Stellar opening sets were provided by local Bay Area act Long Knives and Canada's Single Mothers, but the standout opening set was provided by none other than Milk Teeth, a rising UK four-piece that sounded like 90s punk/alternative in a completely new and reinvigorating way.

From watching the hour and ten minute set, it's incredibly clear that Enter Shikari have not lost their spark (no pun intended). A big fear that many fans have as bands progress throughout their career is that, even when their material does in fact become better, that they'll lose sight and try to throw their past aside (an example of this would be a band like The Devil Wears Prada, who absolutely hate playing material off of their first two albums). With Enter Shikari though, fans need not worry. While they're making gorgeously crafted new material with albums like The Spark, it's clear that they embrace their fan-base and older catalogue with the same kind of excitement they did when I first got a chance to see them eight years ago. And that's pretty damn cool.

Enter Shikari Setlist
The Sights
Solidarity
Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour...
Take My Country Back
The Last Garrison
Radiate
Undercover Agents
Arguing with Thermometers
Rabble Rouser
Airfield
Anaesthetist
Sorry You're Not a Winner / Sssnakepit (Hamilton Remix) / ...Meltdown / Antwerpen
Zzzonked

Encore:
Redshift
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