Enter Shikari Announce They Will Fall Dormant At The End Of 2027

Enter Shikari have announced that they will fall dormant at the end of 2027, putting the St Albans band’s recording and live career on indefinite hold after two decades together.

In a statement signed by all four members – Rou Reynolds, Rob Rolfe, Rory Clewlow and Chris Batten – the band confirmed that, as of December 31st 2027, Enter Shikari “will fall dormant as a recording and performing entity.”

Crucially, this is not being framed as a split. “This dormancy may eventually end with an eruption back into activity, or may end with extinction,” the band said. “We have no idea which.”

The news follows a video posted by frontman Rou Reynolds last week, in which he revealed that the band had been discussing their future. Now that some decisions have been made, Enter Shikari say it is time to speak with one voice and make fans part of the next fourteen months.

The timing is significant. 2027 marks 20 years since the release of their debut album, Take To The Skies, and the band have been playing music together since they were 15 – and have been friends for even longer.

In the statement, Enter Shikari are candid about what two decades of doing things their own way has cost them. Working in a cultural landscape that rewards art which is easy to categorise has not always been easy, they explain, and the pressure of “coming up with the goods” has taken its toll on their mental health.

“But we do this because we love it,” the band said. “And we are lucky enough to have built an audience who understand that the less-trodden path is sometimes the more interesting journey.”

Even so, they admit that the difficult terrain of that path eventually “starts to frazzle and drain the humble traveller.” They are no longer the same kids who recorded that debut album, and while they still love what they do and each other’s company, their priorities and capacities have changed.

The pressures of the modern music industry, along with responsibilities and ambitions outside the band, had already begun to push for change. Those difficult conversations were under way even before Rou’s recent illness, the band revealed, but seeing a friend in trouble made them all the more pertinent.

“While we don’t think we’re ‘splitting up’, we do not have a diary that extends beyond 2027,” the statement continues. Once next year is done, the plan is to go away for a good while and see what being Rou, Rob, Rory and Chris, and not Enter Shikari, feels like.

The band even floated a Fugazi-style future, getting together to rehearse purely for fun without feeling the need to make anyone else listen. After twenty years as a professional band, they said, not having plans three years in advance is liberating.

Before any of that, though, there is the small matter of Enter Shikari’s biggest arena tour to date. The band return to UK stages this November, following a run of European shows earlier in the month, with Holding Absence and The Callous Daoboys supporting.

“Our heads are currently fully into the November tour and making that the absolute best it can be,” Enter Shikari said. “If that ends up being the last time some people see us, we want to make it special.”

Enter Shikari’s November 2026 UK arena dates are:

Friday 13th November – Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena
Saturday 14th November – Cardiff, Utilita Arena
Sunday 15th November – Hull, Connexin Live
Wednesday 18th November – Glasgow, OVO Hydro
Thursday 19th November – Manchester, Co-op Live
Friday 20th November – London, Alexandra Palace
Saturday 21st November – London, Alexandra Palace

Fans will not have to wait until November for something new, either. The band say they have been working on some new music, which should arrive sooner rather than later, along with another project they have just finished filming.

Looking ahead to 2027, Enter Shikari already have a number of mainland European and North American festival appearances in the diary. They will also soon announce a handful of US shows in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee for January.

What there will not be is a farewell world tour. “If we were better at making the most of things and planning ahead, this whole message would be the precursor to announcing a ‘farewell’ world tour, but.. yeah.. there’s no world tour,” the band admitted. They hope to play some of their favourite places one last time, but are not yet sure how feasible that will be.

Next year also brings a cluster of milestones. Alongside the 20th anniversary of Take To The Skies, 2027 marks ten years since The Spark and 15 years since A Flash Flood Of Colour. “You wait for one anniversary and three come along at once,” the band joked.

How those anniversaries will be celebrated is still under discussion, but there is one tantalising clue. Enter Shikari have been busy revisiting the original multitracks for Take To The Skies, with more news promised soon.

Since that 2007 debut, Enter Shikari have built a reputation as one of Britain’s most uncompromising and genre-defying rock bands, mixing post-hardcore, electronica and politically charged lyrics. Their 2023 album, A Kiss For The Whole World, gave them their first UK Number One album, and their 2024 arena tour included a debut headline show at Wembley Arena.

The band acknowledge this is not the kind of statement they would have expected to make a year ago, but felt it was the right time to share where their heads are at.

“We really hope we’ll be seeing you over the next fourteen months or so, somehow,” they said. “But, if not, all that remains to be said is thank you for your support, your sweat, your passion, your energy.”