Music
Plus One
The 11 best Enter Shikari songs
Ahead of their UK arena tour this November, we break down the career highlights from the genre-bending St Albans quartet
For two decades, Enter Shikari have been the cult favourites of British heavy music, mashing up alt-rock, dubstep, electronica, hardcore, metal – and everything in between. The St Albans quartet have worked with Pendulum and You Me At Six, supported Bring Me The Horizon and broke the record for the most sets in one weekend at Reading & Leeds in 2019. But now, after relentlessly touring, they can call themselves an established arena band.
This November, Shikari will return to Alexandra Palace for two nights and take on the UK’s largest indoor room in the form of Manchester’s 23,500-capacity Co-op Live. After topping the UK album charts for the first time with 2023’s A Kiss For The Whole World, there is a sense that these eccentric, genre-melding outsiders are penetrating the mainstream, well on course to finally join peers such as BMTH in the Premier League of the British alternative.
Truthfully, the prolific quality of Shikari’s music has always had a seat at that elite table, irrespective of whether they’re playing arenas or nightclubs. Across their seven albums, we pick out the 11 tracks that stand tallest in their discography and could find their way into the setlist for that autumn arena tour.
11. ‘Solidarity’
(Common Dreads, 2008)
It would be a crime to exclude that sucker punch of an opening riff from this list, even if the song rewires itself into brooding electronica. The main synth line is a techno sprint race. By the time the a cappella gang vocals take us home, you’re so deep in the mosh pit that you’re following the exact motto from frontman Rou Reynolds: “Here’s to unite through common dreads / Now who’s with me?”.
10. ‘Rabble Rouser’
(The Spark, 2017)
The way Reynolds conducts his activism means that lyrics like “I torture rock stars with pliers / They’re so stock, it wouldn’t be a shock / If I opened them up to see wires” are completely justified. He sets a stellar example for unapologetically standing up for what you believe in, just like how Shikari school other artists on how to mash up genres. This grime-influenced track is tense yet structurally sound, and arguably a welcome outlier from the (relatively) poppier sound of The Spark.
9. ‘THE GREAT UNKNOWN’
(Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible, 2020)
While Shikari have opened plenty of their records with explosions of sound and colour, none hang on the edge of a knife quite like ‘THE GREAT UNKNOWN’. Fusing a more commercial EDM hook with serrated guitar riffs, Reynolds yells from the void: “If there’s anyone out there / Just give me a sign”. A fitting metaphor for the isolation we often feel in this muddled world, but the fundamental quest for connection and unity that Shikari use to fight back.
8. ‘Juggernauts’
(Common Dreads, 2009)
Like a rush of blood to the head, the euphoric intro to this fan-favourite bouncer still conjures up the same sense of jubilation 17 years after its initial release. It jolts from zero-to-100 throughout the song – setting a precedent for much of Shikari’s discography – with the poetic breathing space of its verse synths giving the song a bittersweet edge. It feels futuristic yet immediate, powering you up to conquer your battles, run a marathon or simply get your feet off the ground.
7. ‘Live Outside’
(The Spark, 2017)
Escapism is an immortal feeling in music, and the combination of Reynolds’ blunt lyricism with arguably Shikari’s most pop-laced song can cure anyone’s troubles. Promoted to their set closer for a number of years, the song greets the narrator who “can’t sleep with the noise in this house” with an arm around the shoulder. It’s cathartic and light, perhaps helping release some of the tension that the band channels so well in their wider discography.
6. ‘Gandhi Mate, Gandhi’
(A Flash Flood Of Colour, 2012)
Is there a singular speech in British heavy music as rousing as Reynolds’ 41-second monologue here? Building to the declaration that “We’re sick of this shit!”, Reynolds lets his unfiltered rage spill over as the song examines violence through the lens of anger, Mahatma Gandhi’s pacifism, and the way resistance is criminalised by the ruling class. More to the point, it’s an absolute riot of electro-metal fusion.
5. ‘Anaesthetist’
(The Mindsweep, 2015)
From the callout of “Doctor!” to the cinematic orchestral sweeps in its frantic chorus, the crown jewel of The Mindsweep has become a permanent fixture in the Shikari live show over the past decade. Unlike the numbing effect of anaesthetic, however, Reynolds cuts straight to the point (“Illness is not an indulgence which you should pay for / Nor is it a crime for which you should be punished”), sending a clear message to the vultures who would privatise the NHS: “Step the f*ck back”.
4. ‘T.I.N.A.’
(Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible, 2020)
Standing for “There is no alternative”, this irresistibly danceable gem that was released at the start of the pandemic challenges the increasingly worrying rhetoric often pushed from the top that we must accept the reality of this breakneck capitalist society, as we hurtle towards impending doom. Its freeing dance break is emblematic of the endless possibilities and the doors that we could fling open, if the “barrier around my mind” wasn’t tied like a noose.
3. ‘A Kiss For The Whole World x’
(A Kiss For The Whole World, 2023)
By and large, Enter Shikari’s sound has become more accessible, and the opening track to A Kiss For The Whole Worldrepresents an apex point of this shift. Its theatrical brass intro and lyrics nod to Beethoven’s ‘Ode To Joy’, before a rampaging, typically hyperactive riff and, eventually, a stadium-sized chorus. For all of Shikari’s poignant and timely political shtick, this song is a calling card for community and love, readymade to lift festivals into another stratosphere.
2. ‘Arguing With Thermometers’
(A Flash Flood Of Colour, 2012)
How do you combat that feeling of powerlessness we often have as individuals, in the face of the global climate crisis? If you’re Enter Shikari, you scream, dance and call it out. Appropriately knee-jerk and uncompromising, Reynolds tears down corporations and governments’ “sickening mission to spoil and plunder” our planet with a crash course of post-hardcore, zippy indie-rock and dubstep.
1. ‘Sorry You’re Not A Winner’
(Take To The Skies, 2007)
Pretty much the only immovable object in their setlist since day dot, Shikari’s most-streamed track is the only appropriate crown for the list. Filmed in the frenzy of bassist Chris Batten’s house party, the infamously chaotic video helped put Shikari on the map, while the sonics set the benchmark for their sound: slicing open the rave with a frenetic metal riff, and allowing everything to erupt into fully-fledged pandemonium.
Enter Shikari start their UK arena tour in November. Find tickets here, including VIP options
