Tour de force from Enter Shikari as they rock the Roadmender with passion and energy

Normally a band that play the UK’s arenas, St Albans’ massively successful Enter Shikari have with their Stop The Clocks tour taken the different approach.

Namely, playing 28 shows across the country - including relatively snug venues like the Roadmender.

They really didn’t need to do such a lengthy run, so they’ve already earned a lot of respect for just the concept.

The band are a byword for following one’s muse - or moving with the times, depending on your level of cynicism.

Their combination of punk-rock and hardcore with various elements of electronic music - drum and bass, techno and trance mainly - has been brave, bold and sometimes a bit barmy.

It’s clearly paid off in the long-term though - as 13 years on from their debut single they are bigger than ever.

Before Shikari, two supports of varying quality took to the stage.

Brighton’s Black Peaks played a powerful half hour set, full of the intensity displayed on their second album of last year, All That Divides.

Engaging with the crowd and appreciative of the support, they have a more than decent future.

2019 could be the year their melodic mathcore breaks out into the wider world.

Palaye Royale meanwhile can be summed up succinctly as dreadful.

Any band from Las Vegas which describes itself as a ‘fashion art-rock band’ you suspect are going to struggle to leave much of an impression.

The songs were bashed out at a thousand miles an hour, the singer pouted and screamed and they dressed like a cross between the New York Dolls and The Strokes.

Yet the music was mindless, lowest-level copycat rock’n’roll.

They’re the sort of band you’d expect to see in the background of a cheesy movie - what a 60-year-old producer believes is what ‘da kidz’ like.

Following that misstep, Enter Shikari were even more anticipated by those packed inside the Roadmender’s main room.