When rock band Enter Shikari announced their latest UK tour would stop off at Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone, fans instantly snapped up tickets and sold out the gig.

The band headlined Wembley Arena earlier this year and have played the main stages at Reading and Leeds Festival and Download Festival, but this string of shows gave fans a chance to get up close and personal (and very sweaty) with the St Albans four-piece.

I’m not going to pretend I was going in blind — Enter Shikari is a band I’ve seen live many times, but never before in such an intimate venue.

After a solid, if not exactly rip-roaring, opening set from Los Angeles band Teenage Wrist, the sold-out 1,500-capacity venue was packed and people were itching to see the Shaikari lads take to the stage.

The band, including singer Rou Reynolds sporting a newly shaved head, then strode confidently into the spotlight, followed by the searing electronic intro to Bloodshot, taken from their latest album, A Kiss For the Whole World, which shot to No. 1 last year.

The band tore through their first three songs with their trademark energy and it didn’t take long before the mosh pits started opening up and people were crowd surfing over shoulders.

However, partway through their third number, the pulsating Dreamer’s Hotel, the music cut out, the lights came up and everyone stopped dead in their tracks.

The barrier separating the raucous crowd from the stage only lasted a few songs before it started to bulge and break, causing a safety issue that, in this day and age, simply cannot be ignored.

After a short pause – and some renditions of Christmas songs by Rou and his trumpet to keep us entertained – we were told that the whole barrier needed bolting back together and it could take 10 minutes, so “go to the bar, get yourselves a drink and come back later”.

Now, as I mentioned, I’ve been to many Enter Shikari gigs and have told anyone who’ll listen over the years that they’re one of the best live bands going.

I stand by that statement wholeheartedly, and that’s what made this awkward pause, followed by a few small mistakes later in the set, feel so out of place. For a band that strives for perfection, this was certainly an unexpected bump in the road.

On the other hand, there was a little part of me that quite enjoyed the rough-and-readiness of it all. The reason there was such demand for this tour was that fans longed to see the band scale things back and return to those chaotic early days, with all the sweat and mayhem and unpredictability, and this definitely felt like one of those nights.

Despite the hiccups, Enter Shikari weathered the storm and brought everything they had to the stage when they returned.

The group rattled through an electrifying set, from the irresistible dance beats of The Jester and Leap Into the Lightning to the guttural breakdowns of Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour and Arguing With Thermometers.

You never know what you’re going to get from this band and, while there were fan favourites such as Sorry You’re Not a Winner and Mothership, we were also treated to some lesser-heard tunes like the Last Garrison and Stop the Clocks.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Shikari show without giving huge props to the production. Lights, remixes and special effects are something this lot specialises in, and it doesn’t matter whether they’re taking on Wembley Arena or the Kent coast, their concerts are truly a feast for the senses.

It might not have been how the band wanted to end their run of UK tour dates but it proved that, even when things go wrong, Enter Shikari are still a world-class live act.