Live Review

Shihad @ The Triffid

Growing up a fan of rock music in New Zealand meant that you at one point you probably had a mullet and most definitely love a bit of Shihad. I can personally tick all of those boxes. I have seen them more times than any other band because 1. They are truly one of the great live bands 2. They play everywhere, all the time and usually at a very decent price. This is the first time I’ve ever had to properly review them so it’s a shame that this was one of the more disappointing shows I’ve ever seen them perform. 

The main support act Grenadiers sound is that of a heavy Australian style punk rock that has those heavy riffs Grinspoon used to be known for in the early 90’s mixed with some Queens of the stone age stoner sounds. The band performs with high energy and the crowd is receptive. Not jump up and down screaming for more but hey its not like they’re Shihad. 

The sounds of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” blare through the PA and Shihad storm the stage all dressed in black. I don’t remember the last time I saw the band perform in anything but black jeans and t shirts.. its very rock n roll you know. This tour is supposed to be in celebration of the 20 year anniversary of their Fish album, which was critically slammed and as a whole far from their best efforts, especially as it came after their amazing rock album Killjoy. Their set starts with Fish album opener and Shihad anthem “Home Again” “Ghost from the past” and “Yr head is a rock” before front man introduces his favourite song from their Ep Blue light discoInterconnector”. Its in this career spanning set list that I have my issues with this particular show. It feels like they initially wanted to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the Fish album but then went “hey as a whole this album isn’t that great” so then they just did like their favourite 3 tracks from each album that came after. The result is a bit of a weird greatest hits mess. Front man Jon Toogood is still an amazingly energetic performer, demanding the most out of his crowd on every song and giving it his all. Its truly impressive to see after all this time he has the same amount of passion and energy to rock out every performance. 

I was hoping to hear a fair amount more from the newest album FVEY but those tracks were saved for the end ripping through “Think you’re so free” and title track “Fvey” a personal favourite. They closed off the set with “Cheap as fuck” before coming back for an encore with “You Again” from Killjoy. Its not like it was a bad performance its just that when you’ve seen them twenty times there’s always going to be shows that aren’t as good as the others.

Thomas Harrison

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