Enter Shikari / Your Demise / letlive.

Barrowlands, Glasgow

13/10/2011

The Barrowlands has had no shortage of legendary nights in its long history, and judging by how quickly the floor fills with fans young and old (but mostly young) tonight looks set to be no different. As letlive.’s Jason Butler bounds out, enough of a roar erupts to show that their presence is as important as the headliners’ for some and these Californians are not ones to disappoint. Recoiling from every available surface, their kinetic energy is only matched by their audible intensity and even

Butler’s venture into the crowd comes across as a spontaneous gesture rather than the scene cliché it’s now become.

While the blunter assault of Your Demise may not have quite as much diversity, they still provide a likeable enough take on the NYHC of old (despite the St Alban’s roots they share with tonight’s stars) that unites blunt-force-riffage, anthemic refrains and searing breakdowns under the banners of strength and unity. The macho façade is slightly tiresome, but on the strength of their solid performance they’ve gained at least a few new acolytes.

While from the same neck of the woods, Enter Shikari are a different story entirely as ‘Destabilise’ proves, although even it can’t quite fully demonstrate the lads’ inimitable style – that’s ‘Zzzonked’s job, full of incendiary bursts of polemic and a techno beatdown that no home stereo could mimic. Rou Reynolds is on fine form, an unstoppable vocal force that can smoothly deliver socio-political commentary yet keep a crowd chanting back en masse.

The (political) party continues with a timely appearance of ‘The Jester’ that makes the most of its gleeful eccentricities to whip up bizarre half-kicking-half-dancing pits around the hall, while Reynolds prolongs ‘Gap in the Fence’’s subtleties to deliver the mother of all dance-offs. After that, it’s just up to ‘Juggernauts’ and ‘OK, Time for Plan B’ to seal the deal and deliver a last, sweaty, righteously indignant skirmish.

David Bowes