The Enemy: Shiiine On 2023

Coventry icons The Enemy recently headlined the final night of this year’s Shiiine On Weekender, and we were there to catch them.

*banner image courtesy of Moments to Media.

Festival season may be well out of the rearview mirror but, in a windswept corner of Somerset, The Enemy came armed with the big guns from the first two albums only to send everyone home in glorious rage.

There’s a myriad of reasons why their tales of working-class life still resonate. People are still a slave to the (non-existent) modern wage. Public services are treated like a soggy biscuit from whatever tax-avoiding private school our PM is from this weak. As such, the fury of ‘Aggro’ and the colossal power of ‘Pressure’ can still tap into the burning sense of injustice people feel.

Obviously, at the heart of the ability to connect is the simple fact, the songs are great. ‘Away From Here’ and ‘Had Enough’ still have the majestic power of 2007 oozing from them. Despite the creaking joints and incrementing fear of Monday morning, both top-ten hits send Shiiine into a dizzying frenzy. ‘We’ll Live Die In These Towns’ and ‘This Song’ carry huge emotional and polemical heft, and the Shiiine faithful are willing to rip the lyrics from their soul to prove their worth to their heroes.

However, something else makes The Enemy a dangerous beast in 2023. Integrity and authenticity. The incisive and instinctive observations of the Peugeot forecourt closing or the aching longing for Jane to still be among us course through their veins with a distilled clarity that few can match. So, when the brass strikes on ‘Your Song’, a hymnal-like quality soars through the room, nourishing the downtrodden.

The music industry they knew and loathed barely exists today. It’s the perfect time for The Enemy to return and thrive. Labels, the press, and airplay are redundant. In truth, so is this review, but the power they emit is astonishing and must be documented! Especially as those at Pitchfork are devoid of euphoria. No one laughs or cries in their realm; they just sit around saying, “Oh, how funny” while listening to Andre 3000’s primary school recorder sessions. Bore Off!

At Shiiine On, the weak become heroes. Tears streamed, laughter howled, and The Enemy proved that working-class heroes are still something to be.

Shiiine On!

Mike Adams 11/28/23 Mike Adams 11/28/23

Ecko: Shiiine On 2023

Former single ‘Still Know Nothing’ closed the set out. It felt less like a euphoric climax and more an admonition that the mainstage would be theirs next year.

At Shiiine On 2022, Scotland’s Ecko stole the weekend in a rags-to-riches story that the world of rock ‘n’ roll hadn’t seen in some time. A small crowd gathered for that set in the Inn on the Green, and such was their prominence, word spread instantly. So, when the Shambolics pulled out of their Sunday night slot, Ecko stepped up to play to the 1500-strong crowd on Centre Stage to back up the spreading gospel.

As such, their slot in Reds on Sunday night at this year's festival was one of the weekends most eagerly anticipated. It came with a certain amount of tension. Had we misremembered 2022? Have we pushed them too far, too soon?

Any doubts were smashed into pieces by their supreme talent. The temptation to come out all guns blazing was withheld. Instead, ‘Miss Hurricane’ emerged chest-out, mid-paced but dangerous, staring down the barrel with grit and assurance few peers can match.

Where 2022 oozed with a ragged glory, 2023 was a polished outfit toying with pace and intensity as they saw fit. ‘Get Out’ stepped on and off the gas with mesmeric skill. ‘L.A.X’, like all truly dangerous ’ only showed teeth when necessary, coming in the closing moments as Matthew Welsh’s solo cut through Liam O’Connor’s crunching bassline.

Former single ‘Still Know Nothing’ closed the set out. It felt less like a euphoric climax and more an admonition that the main stage would be theirs next year. Ecko's rise in a year is nothing short of remarkable. They’ve gone from plucky upstarts to show stealers, and now, they look ready for the stages, drama, and glory that befell so many of the icons of the Shiiine On line-up.

Mike Adams 11/27/23 Mike Adams 11/27/23

Holy Youth Movement: Shiiine On 2023

Bristol’s Holy Youth Movement captivate the Shiiine On Weekender.

“Better, better together / I feel stronger, stronger than ever”

Last week, Bristol’s Holy Youth Movement kicked off the Friday night on Centre Stage at the Shiiine On Weekender.

In the last eighteen months, we’ve seen HYM support Rolla, The Utopiates, and play (but not headline) This Feeling’s stage at Truck Festival. Their short but devastating sets have always left us with the feeling there is more in the tank. At Shiiine, they brought the tank!

What was lacking from those shows was time and grandeur. The longer set and better-rigged stage afforded them at Shiiine laid bare their ability to look like superstars! Epitomised by the intoxicating instrumental ‘Raz’ opening the set. The snarling electronica and thudding basslines hit a groove that demanded full attention.

Enter the stage frontman Tom Newman to the ecstatic synths of ‘You Thought I Was Dead’. Resplendent in his boiler suit and shades, Newman is supercharged on this Primal Scream ‘XTRMNTR’ classic in the making. The guitars fire into the ether like four-minute warning sirens as the synths distort with kaleidoscopic chaos.

Minute by minute, the Shiiine crowd filter into the late-night venue. Ebbing closer to the magnetic power of their early Kasabian trips. During ‘Better Together’, a moment of unification only topped by The Farm’s ‘All Together Now’ crystalises. Although the tempo drops, the intensity burns just as brightly. The spirit of unification conjured by the Primals, and the dearly departed Weatherall and Johnson in ’91 oozes through the room with a soul-enriching blissfulness.

No HYM gig is complete without the blistering ‘Tranquilizer’. Recorded with Andrew Innes and produced by Jagz Kooner, the Bristol quintet have a weapon of mass distraction in their armoury. With the light show coming at the Shiiine crowd like a technicolour blitz, Newman strutted from the crowd to band members like the pied piper of rock ‘n’ roll leading us to salvation.

Mike Adams 11/26/23 Mike Adams 11/26/23

BLESS. Shiiine On 2023

Opening this year's main stage at Shine On are London’s recently reformed Bless.

Opening this year's main stage at Shine On are London’s recently reformed BLESS. Despite the time away from the scene, the cult heroes are back after recently supporting The Rifles and headlining the Water Rats for This Feeling. Would this be the launchpad they needed for the big time?

*banner photo credit Alexandra Haddow

Frontman Joei Silvester is well known to the Shiiine faithful having knocked out killer DJ sets and played iconic sets the now-defunct band The Shakes. The latter looked destined to headline festivals worldwide, let alone Shiiine. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

As crushing as this was to fans, seemingly water off a duck’s back for Silvester who strode on stage to Supercool Indie (where’s Dylan?) spinning The Specials ‘Friday Night Saturday Morning’. King-like, admiring his public, surveying outsiders to overcome, the confidence oozed from his soul and, beautifully, never wavered.

BLESS. a band akin to the Roses or The Coral where every member is a serial talent. Only in this band could a lead guitarist with riffs and licks as savage and punchy as Jake Barnett be overlooked for Silvester. On ‘That’s Love’, he pulls in nuggets of gold from ‘Bill McCai’, ‘Riot Radio’, and such is his talent, makes 00s also rans Little Man Tate and the Harrisons sound like rockstars.

It is Silvester who stole the show though. He sets fire to the stage with his northern soul dancing amid the frenzied keys and guitars. He wielded his rhythm guitar like Wilko Johnson as he charged the stage with his rifle set to stun. The drama, eloquence, and sheer showmanship in the way he fires his gun were delivered with such power and emotion that you could feel thousands being sucked into his orbit.

Alongside his star quality was the guv’nor David McSherry on bass. Looking hard as fuck and powering everything with aplomb. On keys and sharing vocals was Kieran Kearns, who would be the star attraction in any other band. Wayward, hilarious, and blessed with great soul, Kearns never lets the set drop when they switch up main vocal duty. Last, by no means least, was Moses Elliott's fluid genius on drums. Together, they walked on stage just another band to this audience. During the soon-to-be classic set-closer ‘Daddy Didn’t Make It As Rockstar’, they exited as the flag bearers of rock ‘n’ roll.

This was less a launchpad to success and more a Soho backstreet toward rock ‘n’ roll purity. Apathy has been put on notice! Not since The Libertines has a band had this much chemistry. Combustible? Probably. Better to burn out than to fade away.