Take to the Skies, Enter Shikari (2007) - Live report and musical review (🇬🇧)

Take to the Skies (🇫🇷 version), Enter Shikari (2007).

Released on the 9th of March 2007 - present day.

On the night of Tuesday, April 24th twenty O seven, I was a literature prep school student and in a dire emotional situation. My emo girlfriend had talked me into attending Give It A Name festival, modelled after the British event, at mythical Elysée-Montmartre venue, so we could listen to stuff: The Sleeping's raw post-hardcore, Motion City Soundtrack's twinkly indie, Aiden's nonchalant hardcore, and emo-punk legends Jimmy Eat World.

Thursday, led by Geoff Rickley, New Jersey Style screamo emissaries, were to perform as the second to last act, before AFI's melancholy emopunk. But a situation arose: Thursday couldn't be there. 

Nothing on flyers or in the venue indicated who were replacing Thursday. 

The room turned dark. Everybody around put on a translucent plastic ring, started shaking fists and hips to the sound of loud as fuck Trance synths. Rock music seeemed to have gone out the door.

Until Rou Reynolds took to the stage, wearing some German 80's track & field shorts and a plain white tank top, alongside his band of dope ass hardcore musicians. "Go tell all friends, that this is the end". 

Thus began the love story of me and Enter Shikari. Take to the Skies is a tinkering of screamo, Nintendocore, Trance, Drum & Bass, and already at the time foreshadowed the colossal career of St Albans' ¹ young prodigies, whose discography has strong acquaintances with fellow British elders Depeche Mode: punky, political and poppy. 

The album is a banging debut.

The rest of the discography shall soon be reviewed, for there are 6 other albums, so many singles, parallel EPs and live recordings out there.

Track list:

1. "Stand Your Ground; This Is Ancient Land" 1:08

2. "Enter Shikari" 2:52

3. "Mothership" 4:30

4. "Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour..." 4:32

5. "Interlude 1" 1:01

6. "Labyrinth" 3:51

7. "No Sssweat" 3:16

8. "Today Won’t Go Down in History" 3:34

9. "Interlude 2" 1:28

10. "Return to Energiser" 4:35

11. "Interlude 3" 0:18

12. "Sorry, You're Not a Winner" 3:52

13. "Interlude 4" 0:35

14. "Jonny Sniper" 4:01

15. "Adieu" 5:40

16. "OK, Time for Plan B" 4:55

17. "Closing" 2:44

Total length: 52:43

Account of the festival day (🇫🇷)

¹ 35km north of London, UK