This week marks 15-years since Enter Shikari played The Pitz in Milton Keynes, a gig which I think was part of a tour to promote their debut album.
The band released their latest record A Kiss For The Whole World in April and they recently also made the headlines for their decision to donate £1 from every ticket sale for their forthcoming arena tour to the Muisc Venue Trust’s Pipeline Investment Fund, which helps to support independent venues.
I’ve always had huge respect for Enter Shikari for being a band which you’ll find playing major festivals and huge stages – but then also doing a lengthy tour of ‘smaller’ venues.
The Pitz in Milton Keynes closed in around 2011 after the council in the city took back control of the venue which was part of The Woughton Centre. A private company later turned the venue space into a gym. Promoter Paul Rivers who used to put on shows there can now be found at the nearby Craufurd Arms. It was a great venue which I know a lot of people remember fondly. Off the top of my head I remember seeing early shows by Idlewild, The Dandy Warhols, Send More Paramedics and Queenadreena there.
I wouldn’t expect any of the Enter Shikari guys to remember this, but when they played on June 28, 2008, they were super accommodating, urging me to also shoot from the sides and on stage during their set. You see snappers all over the place now-a-days, but it was a huge deal for me at the time.
A lot of theses photos haven’t been out in the wild before. A lot of them aren’t great, but I hope they capture a great moment in time at another, sadly, lost venue.
Probably about time for another Enter Shikari MK gig. (They returned a couple of years later to support Prodigy at The National Bowl in 2010).
For more information about The Music Venue Trust, visit https://www.musicvenuetrust.com
More photos from gigs in Milton Keynes are available on this site here.
