Standing Like Statues at the Forum with Enter Shikari

The rain on Sunday night didn’t stop fans from showing up early to the Forum to catch Aussie opening band Friends of Friends. They started off the night strong getting the crowd moving to their mix of indie rock and punk sound. The crowd all joined in clapping with their hands above their heads during the final song of the set, well and truly warmed up for the rest of the night. 

Grandson’s set had some sound issues at the start, this didn’t bother the crowd as they started chanting “one more song” while waiting for the issues to be resolved. Grandson last played Melbourne in 2024 and people have been eagerly awaiting for him to return since, nothing was going to dampen their excitement to see him again (not even the rain outside). They opened with “AUTONOMOUS DELIVERY ROBOT” and as soon as they started the energy was high and didn’t let up for the rest of the set. A mosh pit broke out early in the set encouraged by Jordan Benjamine standing on the barrier leaning into the crowd hyping them up. During the set Jordan acknowledged his influences such as System of a Down and Rage Against the Machine and how we all must all come together as a community to fight for marginalised communities and stand up for people whose names we don’t know. This sentiment was reflected back by the audience. Grandson then performed their cover of “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan, he noted how disappointing it is that this resistance song is still relevant today. A circle pit broke out during “BRAINROT” the band constantly interacting with each other on stage and whose performances were on point. They closed the set with “Blood//Water” which was the perfect ending to their high energy performance. 

Finally it was time for the band everyone was here to see. Enter Shikari burst out onto the stage opening with “LOSE YOUR SELF” the crowd straight away starting a mosh and sending crowd surfers over the barrier. The crowd did not stop dancing the entire night, the venue turned into a rave for “The Void Stares Back” synths working over time while the base reverberated through the venue. Then they started to play the introduction to “Sorry You’re Not a Winner” teasing the crowd as they kept cutting in and out of it. Now if you have seen them at any of their recent shows or festival slots in Melbourne you’d be familiar with how they like to tease the crowd with this song, going into a remix of this song before playing it. But on Sunday night they went straight into the original arrangement much to the crowd's surprise and delight. Multiple pits broke out across the floor of the venue and the whole crowd was moving. Drummer Rob Rolfe commented on how many people who were filming the song on their phones, had a moment of panic when trying to decide how to clap along to the icon three claps while filming. The band then asked if it was ok to play some more songs from their new album “Lose Your Self” that they released back at the start of April. They then played “Find Out The Hard Way…”  with its big break downs this song was a highlight of the set. This was echoed by the crowd because someone in the crowd at the end said “that gotta become a regular song on the set list’. Rou Reynolds then announced the final song “{The Dreamer’s Hotel}” and the whole venue became a massive dance party. The band left the stage and instead of the classic one last song chant the crowd started chanting the lyrics “And still we will be here, standing like statues” from “Solidarity” another staple moment at an Enter Shikari show. This moment was made more magical by the Greco-Roman style statues that line the walls of the Forum Theatre looking down on the crowd. With these lyrics still ringing out the band walked out onto the stage again and closed with “Juggernauts”. Showing us why they are such a staple band of the scene. If their Melbourne show is anything to go off the rest of the Australian tour dates are in for an absolute treat.