Enter Shikari today return with brand new single, the resolute and optimistic HIGHER GROUND. A totally unexpected release with no prior warning, it’s their first offering of new music since their surprise album release in April, HIGHER GROUND can be heard here.
Frontman Rou has said of the new track, “Our music has often been about zooming out. Looking at the bigger picture on things gives us perspective, clarity, and often a strange calm in today’s relentless and difficult times. HIGHER GROUND is about just how pivotal taking the broad perspective is. Whether in our personal lives or when looking at the biggest problems that humanity faces, we often gain clarity and see connections that were previously hidden when we find time to zoom out. The track was written during the recording sessions for Lose Your Self but felt like its own entity so was parked and finished off slowly over spring and summer this year.”
The band recently announced that they will play two intimate shows later this month as a warm up to their November arena tour. Heading to Oxford’s O2 Academy on 21st October, and Leicester’s O2 Academy on 22nd October, these will be the first live shows Enter Shikari have played since May in Tokyo, and are now totally sold out! These shows will also be the first since they announced their indefinite hiatus. The four-piece took to Instagram and shared this statement regarding the future of Enter Shikari, just last week.
Enter Shikari are gearing up for their biggest UK and EU headline arena tour, in November. The EU dates kick off on 3rd November at the Sporthalle in Hamburg, and include the band’s biggest ever German headline show, at Düsseldorf’s Mitsubishi Halle, boasting a capacity of 7500. They will then begin the UK leg of the tour in Nottingham at the Motorpoint Arena on 13th November. Gigs in cities including Cardiff, Hull, Glasgow and Manchester will follow, before ending with not one but two shows at London’s Alexandra Palace on 20th and also 21st November, which is now sold out! They will be joined by Holding Absence and The Callous Daoboys as support for both the EU and UK leg. All dates, information and tickets for all live dates can be found here.
Every ticket sold for the band’s UK arena tour dates will include a £1 donation to the Music Venue Trust, supporting grassroots music venues under threat of closure in the UK. Enter Shikari were the first artist to implement the scheme which is one very close to their hearts, with ticket sales from their 2024 arena tour carrying the donation, paving the way for the likes of Sam Fender and Coldplay to follow suit with their own generous donations.
With zero announcements or teasers from the band, Enter Shikari surprise released their new album in April. Lose Your Self (released via So Recordings) spans 12 tracks exploring themes of desolation, futility and complete despair at the state of the world, but with glimmers of hopefulness and optimism threaded throughout. Whilst the likes of major pop stars including Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber who have famously released albums out of the blue over the years, Enter Shikari managed to not only release Lose Your Self digitally, but also physically, unlike their predecessors. Listen here.
The highly-anticipated November tour is the band’s first arena tour since their A Kiss For The Whole World tour in 2024, celebrating their album of the same name landing them their first ever UK No.1 album in the Official Charts, where they had previously scored 6 Top 10 albums! The 2024 tour included their raucous debut Wembley Arena show. The four-piece last year released Live At Wembley, the triumphant live show recorded in full available on streaming services, and on a limited run of vinyl available at only four record stores worldwide. You can also watch the full show here, which features footage from the first FPV (first-person view) drone to be flown live at Wembley Arena!
During their remarkable and celebrated career, Enter Shikari have received several accolades in the form of gongs from NME, Kerrang!, Rock Sound, Heavy Music Awards and more. They have played a whopping 3000+ live shows around the world including three headline arena tours in the UK, supported the likes of The Prodigy and Linkin Park and played festivals such as Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, Download and Slam Dunk where they also headlined in 2023.
See Enter Shikari live:
21.10 – O2 Academy, Oxford – SOLD OUT
22.10 – O2 Academy, Leicester – SOLD OUT
3.11 – Sporthalle, Hamburg
4.11 – Zenith, Munich
5.11 – Hause Auensee, Leipzig
6.11 – Mitsubishi Electric Halle, Düsseldorf
7.11 – Columbiahalle, Berlin
9.11 – Ancienne Belgique, Brussels
10.11 – La Laiterie, Strasbourg
11.11 – 013 Poppodium, Tilburg
13.11 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
14.11 – Utilita Arena, Cardiff
15.11 – Connexin Live, Hull
18.11 – Hydro, Glasgow
19.11 – Co-op Live, Manchester
20.11 – Alexandra Palace, London
21.11 – Alexandra Palace, London – SOLD OUT
2.12 – The Telegraph Building, Belfast
3.12 – The Academy, Dublin
4.12 – The Academy, Dublin