A Flash Flood of Colour North American Tour 2012 – REVIEW

The “A Flash Flood of Colour North American Tour” came rolling through Chicago recently and made its mark at The Bottom Lounge. The tour featured headliner, Enter Shikari, as well as supporting acts, At The Skylines and Letlive. You can check out our review after the break.

Hardcore, Metalcore, Dancecore, Brocore, oh so many “cores”, no matter what your insignificant genre specification is, all I can say is that Enter Shikari is in a league of their own. They have traces of hardcore backgrounds as well as an underground rave past. Their angst filled style and revolutionary lyrics are far deeper than their heavy breakdowns and dubstep drops. While touring the world and having droves of fans, they aren’t jaded like many musicians, but instead they send a message of unity, standing up for yourself and not letting the media and government control your thoughts and actions.

They have played Chicago many times and at only 3 venues: (not including warped tour) the House of Blues, The Jaguar Club and The Bottom Lounge. Tonight they graced the Bottom Lounge with their presence along with two other bands, At The Skylines and Letlive. At The Skylines was pegged to play first on the bill and for good reason why. The positive part about their set was that they were well rehearsed and musically sound as a group. As I was checking the settings of my camera during their first song, I was quickly pulled away from my prepping due to one of the most intense bass drops I had ever experienced. My stomach jumped up in my throat and my chest resonated from the monstrous programmed bass. From that point on, they were definitely a solid band and deserved to be on the road with such music talent as Shikari and Let Live, but they were nothing that special. I have seen many bands just like them and many more emerging to be the same as them.

After At The Skylines, the hardcore band from L.A. Letlive took stage minus their front man, Jason Butler. As he took the stage all I could think was, “Hmm, he looks rather awkward with that jean jacket, shorter than normal shorts and 90’s baseball cap…” From the second their set started, it was literal mayhem and chaos. Basically the only real rule established was no stage diving and well, that went right out the window after the first song. Despite the constant warnings from the sound engineer and the staff, the kids just kept getting on stage, embracing Jason and jumping into the sea of fans. The staff was rendered useless because of the intensity of the band onstage and the wall of fans all pushing their way to the front and into the pit. After a while they just gave up and let the crowd own the venue for 35 minutes. In my honest opinion, Letlive controlled the crowd the best and was the most intense band of the night, hands down.

Anticipation grew as Letlive departed from the stage and the Shikari roadies began to set up. After set up was done and sound check was all set and ready, Shikari took their sweet time to come out, which made everyone anxious and antsy. Finally they came out from stage right and the crowd went wild, but the only oddity was that Rob their drummer wasn’t actually on drums. Rob has been known to do some properly outrageous things, which in turn is probably the reason it’s easier to climb Mount Everest than for him to get his passport. Regardless, the set was more dynamic than usual and still insanely energetic. To my excitement, they played a lot of older material as well as all of their new singles. After hundreds of shows and dozens of countries, they still haven’t lost their enthusiasm and world renowned stage show. To put it in a few words, their shows are “Properly Mental”, because of their high energy, fast paced songs and dance inspired electronic programming. The two stars of the night were definitely the fill in drummer, Steve and the guitar tech Roger, based on the crowd’s constant chanting of their names during any period of silence. Despite some ailing sore throat issues and sickness Enter Shikari ended the night on the perfect note, with some old school material and some new school material, “Return to Energizer” and “Ssssnakepit” to please all fans, old and new.

Check out the live photos of Enter Shikari, At The Skylines and Letlive on Flickr!

Information about the review…
Tour: A Flash Flood of Colour North American Tour 2012 featuring Enter Shikari
Bands: Enter Shikari, At The Skylines, and Letlive
Reviewer: Jim Vondruska
Date: April 12, 2012
Venue: The Bottom Lounge in Chicago, IL