Album Review: Enter Shikari Bootleg Series Vol. 9 (Moscow) and Vol. 10 (London)

Enter Shikari celebrated two big milestones of their career in 2017. While their debut record Take to the Skies turned 10 years old on March 25th, their fifth studio album The Spark hit the shelves on September 22nd. Both records got their own big tours that year: the “Take To The Skies 10th Anniversary Tour” in spring had the band travel the world to perform the record in full each show. After a short break and some festival shows, Enter Shikari then embarked on a huge winter tour “In Celebration of The Spark”. 

Concert Review: Enter Shikari Take to The Skies in Düsseldorf
On tour with Enter Shikari: The Spark in Europe + Interview

Fast forward to 2019, The Spark era is almost over with its final tour having just wrapped up its UK leg to continue through Russia and the European mainland. Just in time to give the UK fans something to dry their tears with and hype the Russian and European fans even more, Enter Shikari are releasing Vol. 9 and 10 of their infamous Bootleg Series – recordings of their best live shows from all over the world. 

The locations

If there is one legendary location for an Enter Shikari concert, it is Russia. The country has proven many times that it’s absolutely crazy for the UK band so it made absolute sense that the show at the Adrenaline Stadium in Moscow in May 2017 was filmed for the Bootleg Vol. 9. Among fans, there had been talks about this recording for over a year with management always responding that they had special plans with the recording. Lets just say, the wait was well worth it!

Bootleg Series Vol. 10 is a continuation of Enter Shikari’s popular live record Live at Alexandra Palace appropriately titled Live at Alexandra Palace 2. Just like the Moscow shows, the hometown concerts in London, especially at the beautiful Alexandra Palace, are fan favourites with fans travelling there from all over the world. Another suitable candidate for a Bootleg Series.

The end of Enter Shikari: Chapter one

Both shows are a must-have for fans of the band. Take To The Skies: Live in Moscow brings back gems like “Return to Energiser”, “No Sweat” and the live debut of “Today Won’t Go Down In History”. Releasing this bootleg now marks the end of Enter Shikari’s first chapter which was deeply influenced by the post-hardcore scene while Live at Alexandra Palace 2 is the first bootleg which includes songs from The Spark – the album that saw Enter Shikari delve into radio friendly pop music for the first time.

It was interesting to see that the band itself seems to have rediscovered some of their older songs during the Take To The Skies-Tour. You can find some of them in the setlist of “In Celebration of The Spark” such as “Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour” and fan favourite “Adieu”.

Having been at many Enter Shikari concerts and having listened to even more live recordings of the band, I must say that whilst the Moscow show was just plain out fun to listen to – mostly due to the great crowd there – I was especially stunned by the Live at Alexandra Palace 2 bootleg. The quality of the production is extremely good and the recording manages to transport the energy I experienced during the concert. From all of the bootlegs Enter Shikari has released by now, this is definitely my favourite one also exceeding the first Live at Alexandra Palace album by far.

The bundles

Enter Shikari are offering both new Bootleg Series in different bundles. The biggest one comes with the following:

Live at Alexandra Palace 2 2xLP with two different colourways to choose from

Take To The Skies: Live in Moscow 2xLP with two different colourways to choose from

Custom Enter Shikari USB stick with HD video files of both shows

A preorder-exclusive Moscow Live T-Shirt

A handsigned setlist from the Alexandra Palace show

That’s a great bundle for collectors! For everyone else, there are lots of smaller bundles, down to just the USB stick on entershikari.com/store.

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