Enter Shikari Announce Two UK Warm-Up Shows Ahead of November Arena Tour
Enter Shikari, the band from St Albans, England, have announced two small warm-up shows: October 21 at O2 Academy Oxford and October 22 at O2 Academy Leicester. According to NME, these will be the band's first live shows since their Tokyo date in May, and serve as a run-in for what the band is calling their biggest-ever UK and Europe venue tour, kicking off in November. Originally planned North American dates in June and some later-year shows were cancelled due to visa issues.
UK Tour Dates
After the two warm-up shows, the full tour begins November 13 in Nottingham and closes with two nights at London's Alexandra Palace. Holding Absence and The Callous Daoboys will open on all dates.
- October 21 — Oxford, O2 Academy Oxford (warm-up show)
- October 22 — Leicester, O2 Academy Leicester (warm-up show)
- November 13 — Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena
- November 14 — Cardiff, Utilita Arena
- November 15 — Hull, Connexin Live
- November 18 — Glasgow, Hydro
- November 19 — Manchester, Co-op Live
- November 20 — London, Alexandra Palace
- November 21 — London, Alexandra Palace
For every ticket sold on the arena tour, £1 will be donated to LIVE Trust, an organization supporting the UK's grassroots music scene. Ticket details for both the warm-up shows and the arena tour are available via the band's official ticketing page.
Behind the Run: 'Lose Your Self'
This run of shows follows the band's surprise album Lose Your Self, released without warning in April. Frontman Rou Reynolds told NME the album is built around a critique of "hyper-individualism," responding to people feeling more isolated than ever. He said the sense of nihilism often comes from thinking "I'm just one person, what can I do," and that the album pushes back against the idea that people are cut off from each other and from nature. Explaining the decision to release the full album with no lead single and no rollout, he said there was no build-up, no single, no drip-feeding of news — letting listeners take in the album as a whole from start to finish, rather than skipping to a song they'd already heard. He added that the band's previous album topped the UK charts, meaning they no longer need to think about releases in commercial, calculated terms.