Enter Shikari To Tour 'Take To The Skies' In Full

2007 marks the ten year anniversary of Enter Shikari's debut album, 'Take To The Skies', and to commemorate the milestone, the band are playing a handful of "warm-up shows" in the UK, before they take the full album show out to various places around the globe.

In a statement on the band's official website, frontman Rou Reynolds said that celebrating this record "feels totally mental in and of itself", adding that:

"The fact that we get to reminisce and relive tracks we recorded so long ago, and that are still held dear by so many, is something I could have never anticipated back then and fills me with appreciation for everyone that has supported this band over the years. We’ll never write another album like Take To The Skies, as Enter Shikari isn’t really a band that looks backwards. But as this is a special occasion it’s important for us to recognise the importance of this album to us, and for the family of people who have supported us since those early days. On a purely selfish note, I cannot wait to play some of the tracks we haven’t played since 2007, or even ever!" - Rou Reynolds

[caption id="attachment_1088648" align="alignnone" width="499"] Legit, No Sssweat, Johnny Sniper, the self-titled song, and Today Won't Go Down In History are really the only songs worth seeing live now.[/caption]

However, to play the cynical bastard here for a second, I really do doubt that these shows will include a trip down to Australia and New Zealand. I mean, I hope that I'm proven wrong as that means I could finally see 'Johnny Sniper' live. First off, I'd say that it'd be a no-go mainly due to the physical distance between us and the UK and the costs incurred. Plus, as Reynolds put in the above statement, Enter Shikari as a band prefer to look forwards and not backwards. Also, with the fallout from the recent US election, Reynolds has also stated on Twitter that their new album (which they are currently working on) will make everything else they've written look like a "disney soundtrack" and that they'll be taking their sound "to the masses".

Enough. Our next album will bring our message to the masses. I want to reach as many people as possible. We will give this EVERYTHING.

— Rou Reynolds (@RouReynolds) November 9, 2016

Everything I had written up until now was so rosy & positive. That’ll seem like a disney soundtrack compared to what I’ll write now https://t.co/bEEmHGueND

— Rou Reynolds (@RouReynolds) November 9, 2016

Well, I guess we'll all find out if that's the case in a year or so.

However, to add to that, when I interviewed the singer and their drummer Rob Rolfe back in September on their 'Redshift Australian tour', they told me that while the band is deeply grateful for the success of their back catalogue, but that they're getting tired of older songs like 'Sorry You're Not A Winner'. (I do think you can tell which songs they're over playing by which tracks they mashup love, which is just another good excuse to see this band live, really). An excerpt from that aforementioned interview reads below:

KYS: Well with the live sets, do you ever feel like you’re obliged to play some songs live? Because-

Rob: -Yep! Sorry You’re Not A Winner!

KYS: Ah, I was gonna bring that song up! I know with songs it can be like picking your favourite children, but that’s a cop out – parents do have their favourite kids.

Rou: [Laughs]

Rob: Oh yeah…but we’d probably be sick of playing those songs, you know? If it was No Sssweat, we’d probably be sick of it by now. We’re of course grateful that that one particular song got us so far and we achieved so much popularity on it. If its people’s favourite song, we’d be disappointed if we went to one of our favourite bands and they didn’t play the song that got us into them, we’d be mad. As much as we may get tired or bored of particular songs, like Sorry You’re Not A Winner which we’ve played for almost ten years now, we do feel more excited about the newer material. But without that song, we may not be here. So it’s a love-hate relationship.

Look, if I'm being honest here, 'Take To The Skies' is a solid record, but it's not that good of an album.

It falls short in comparison with later albums like 2009's enigmatic follow-up 'Common Dreads' or 2015's all-around banger 'The Mindsweep'. I would much prefer a record focusing on the current direction of their most recent single, 'Hoodwinker', instead of the rather dated electronica/post-hardcore sound of 2007; the formula of which has been ironed out and further developed on not only Enter Shikari's proceeding material and by a handful of their peers. So yes, out with the old, and in with the new.

But Shikari - please still bring back 'Johnny Sniper' to your live sets, that would be ace. Cheers.