Enter Shikari at Showbox Market
One night before we would know the results of the 2024 election, a mix of pop punk and hardcore would bring the entire Showbox crowd a night of escapism. A lineup of Yours Truly, You Me at Six, and Enter Shikari grace the stage with a crowd dotted with plenty of elder millennials and gen z alike. Bring on the angst.
All the way from Australia helping bring in a new era of pop punk is Yours Truly. With shows like Warped Tour and When We Were Young making a big resurgence, the pop punk / emo genre is prime for some fresh bands and fresh ideas. Yours Truly fills this space so well with their heavy breakdowns we’re used to from the genre, layered with Mikaila’s fun, powerful vocals. Did she mention drinking Truly as a form of cannibalism for them? Absolutely. Should you go check out their latest album, Toxic? Absolutely. Accompanying Truly optional.
As I stood in line before the show, the pair behind me chatted about the upcoming show. “Which band were you wanting to see tonight?” the first one said. “You Me at Six” the second responded. As if it was instinct, the first one quipped back with “Well, you and I are here at 6:45”. As the second act of the night, You Me at Six took center stage and specifically mentioned visiting Seattle on the 2009 Warped Tour. You’d never know it by the amount of energy this band emanated through the venue. As this hardcore party made its way through 2 mosh pits, the band and the crowd took a nice break together to sing the band’s latest hit “Take on the World.” What’s next? More moshing, with a fresh splash of crowd surfing. But this was only a taste of what was to come.
Enter: Shikari. Post hardcore, trance, drum and bass, rock, punk, and a good bit of poetry. Enter Shikari serves up all of this and more through the 25-year lifetime of the band with 7 full length albums. As the frontman, Rou Reynolds intros the crowd with a statement of the night. Rou mentions that as the band was formed, his goal was not to just be another group making music for the sake of escapism. Considering the circumstances of the day to come, he pardons that idea and says a night of escapism is exactly what they plan to be for the crowd.
After a few mentions of marine biology and a disappointment at the state of the crowd’s lack of sweat, we’re graced with an acoustic version of “Juggernaut.” Reynol’s mentions the goal of this version is for him to fill it with lengthy pauses and drawn-out vocals to tug at the heartstrings of the crowd. As the other instruments and visuals return, our minds are infiltrated by an enormous goldfish operating through space and time. With a few more of their major hits, the night closes with a recorded loop that beckons the encore. Exit: Shikari.
