Enter Shikari + Hands Like Houses + The White Noise @ La Tulipe – May 17th 2016

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An international set of bands offered us an intense experience last night in Montreal! La Tulipe jammed to the sound of British band Enter Shikari, along with their Australian friends from Hands Like Houses and Southern Californian band The White Noise.

The venue was still pretty empty as The White Noise got on stage but it didn’t prevent them from giving us what we wanted: an explosive, erratic show! Vocalist Shawn Walker started off the show pouring a bottle of water over the crowd. Yes, you’ve been warned, this is going to get weird! Wearing converse shoes with high socks, shorts, a bucket hat but also a tank top on which we could read “Balls So Hard”, Shawn Walker was the life of this whole set. His vocal skills are impressive, but wait til you see his dance moves! Delighting us with intense songs taken from their debut EP Aren’t You Glad?, The White Noise were the perfect way to get into a great evening. I would advise you to listen to the full EP (available on iTunes), especially to the songs “Picture Day” and “Bloom” that are definitely my favourite from the record.

Hands Like Houses was up next! I already had the pleasure to see them when they were opening for Silverstein last year, and knew I would have a wonderful time seeing them live once again. The band played a 7-song set showcasing their third album Dissonants. They started off strong with “I Am”, showing off a heavier and improved sound. They aren’t “the same, [and] won’t feed on fame”, but still blow us away! “Colourblind” was next, starting off with a soft rock sound to build up in intensity and explode in our faces by the end of the song. This track is my favourite on their new record and was quite an experience to see performed live. The band continued their set with “New Romantics”, a catchy and forward thinking song that could remind you of their earlier material, and “Glasshouse”. A little anecdote for you guys: Frontman Caleb Shomo from Beartooth helped out the band writing those two wonderful songs. I must say I suspected it the first time I heard “Glasshouse” when I heard towards the end those whispered vocals that still haunt me. Vocalist singer Trenton Woodley did a wonderful job performing it live, but let’s not forget about the other band members, lead guitarist Matt Cooper, Guitarist Alexander Pearson, Bassist Joel Tyrrell and Drummer Matt Parkitny that were in synergy to delight us with an outstanding performance that I won’t forget. The real minus of the performance lies for me in the crowd: it felt like only half the crowd was truly enjoying their set, when the other half was just really waiting for Enter Shikari to play.

Despite “Stillwater”‘s depressing theme of the futilities of ageing and the depressing nature of humanity, the band did a great job rocking it out and making us crave for more. With “Perspectives”, Hands Like Houses made us see “all the time [we’ve] wasted” patiently waiting for their performance to start… Trust me, if you hear them live, you will want their performance to last much longer! Last but not least was “Introduced Species” from their previous album Unimagine, released in 2013. For those of you wishing to see them again, after talking to most of the band members later that night, they are likely to come again during the Fall! Don’t miss it!

Closing out the night was the British four-piece rock band behind the Mind Sweep Tour, Enter Shikari! The first song of this 21-song set was the classic “Enter Shikari”, taken from Take To The Skies, released in 2007. One sure thing, the crowd wasn’t “standing like statues” during this song, but jumping all over the place! Next was “Solidarity”, taken from Common Dreads, released back in 2009, right before a real throwback to 2003 with “Sorry You’re Not A Winner”.

It was actually my second time seeing them live and I must say, they were even better than last year at Club Soda! It amazes me to see a band that has been around since 1999 being still so active releasing new music and touring. Bassist Chris Batten and Vocalist Rou Reynolds will make you forget about everything you may have on your mind to give you the time of your life! Whether it was them or Guitarist Rory Clewlow, they didn’t hesitate a second to get into the crowd during songs to get closer to their fans and interact with them. To make sure the crowd was still awake after “The Last Garrison”, the band played “No Sleep Tonight”, with its catchy chorus “You’re not getting sleep tonight (Getting any sleep, getting any sleep)”. Another highlight of the first part of the show was “Destabilize”: this heavy bass song will get you to jump all over the place until you feel the “need to f*cking erupt!”. Coming up next was the melodic sing-along “Radiate”, a great song they wrote in the dark to keep them from falling apart. If you have no idea what I’m talking about right now, I advise you to check out the lyrics… !

Enter Shikari also performed “The Paddington Frisk”, “Slipshod” and “The Jester”, before playing one of the weirdest song of their latest album “There’s A Price on Our Head” (Danny Byrd Remix). The band didn’t only live up to the expectations I had from them after seeing them live last year, but they completely smashed it. Their energy and ability to hold an audience in the palm of their hands during the whole show makes them one of the best live bands I’ve ever had the pleasure to see. “Arguing With Thermometers” and “Torn Apart” were the highlight of the show in my opinion. It felt like the crowd made just one, singing along from the top of their lungs to the lyrics of the song. “Torn Apart” also has an incredible live acoustic version recorded at Alexandra Palace in London in December 2015 that will blow you away. Check it out on below:

After “Interlude” and “Mothership”, the crowd was still there, standing like statues, shouting the lyrics from “Enter Shikari” over and over, until the band came back on stage for the Encore. The whole crowd “just contemplate[d]” Enter Shikari’s performance during “Redshift”, while the band made us “Go under the knife” during the “Anaesthetist”. The final song of this flawless night was “The Appeal & The Mindsweep II”, which is also the final song of their latest album. What I love about this song is that there is actually lyrics from one the songs they played before and it goes like this “Sorry you’re not a winner, with the air so cold and a mind so bitter”.

I look forward seeing those three bands again in the future. I know I’m not likely to be disappointed by their performance, and the crowd was actually pleasant and really fun to be with. Hopefully those guys will come back to Montreal as soon as possible, and I’ll be there in the first row, waiting for an unforgettable night to happen.
Take it away, boys!

Hands Like Houses Setlist
I Am
Colourblind
New Romantics
Glasshouse
Stillwater
Perspectives
Introduced Species
“Don’t be a pussy, rock out!” (As written on the actual setlist)

Enter Shikari Setlist:
Enter Shikari
(reprise)
Solidarity
Sorry, You’re Not a Winner
The One True Colour
The Last Garrison
(Mash-Up with No Sleep Tonight)
No Sleep Tonight
(Last chorus)
Destabilise
Intermission
(Timewarp Interlude)
Radiate
(Extended Outro)
The Paddington Frisk
Slipshod
The Jester
(without intro)
There’s a Price on Your Head
(+ Byrd remix)
Constellations
Arguing with Thermometers
Gandhi Mate, Gandhi
Torn Apart
Interlude
Mothership

Encore:
Intermission
(Cosmos Interlude)
Redshift
Anaesthetist
(+ reso remix)
The Appeal & the Mindsweep II

Review – Maxime Lehuidoux

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