28 February 2025 – The Tivoli, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Tracy McLaughlan
New Zealand rockers Shihad have been rocking the world longer than I’ve been alive. Sometimes, it doesn’t feel that crazy of a concept. But when it’s closer to home, it feels hard to fathom a band locally has been grinding that hard for so long. But after 37 years, they’re finally calling it a day, and going out with a final run of shows, and we were lucky enough to be there live with the band at The Tivoli to watch.
Fat Dog and the Tits opened the show. Iconic name for a band. Couldn’t name a single track they played, but it was some of the sickest clarinet lead punk rock I’ve ever seen. Fun, rocking, at at times, absurdist, the seven piece band made the most of their 30 minutes, blasting through I think maybe 10 songs. The energy was high from the outset, and they were a super fun band to get things rolling for a fun evening of music. Oh, and that skullet on vocalist Sam Taylor is one of the sickest haircuts I’ve seen in a long time.
Fat Dog & the Tits – Tivoli – photos by Tracy McLaughlan
The other support for the night was another seven piece band, who I’ve heard so much about over the last 18 months, called Battlesnake. Walking out to the chanting from Life of Brian (I think), the band, dressed in some of the most hilariously over the top robes and wings I’ve ever seen, commanded the room for the entire 35 minutes they were on stage. It was only a six song set, but I swear the last track was about fifteen minutes long. Didn’t drag at all, it was so good.
Battlesnake – Tivoli – photos by Tracy McLaughlan
I normally don’t do this at the front end of the reviews, but shout out to Shihad, for the composition of the setlist for this tour. I’m giving away the secret sauce, but a set like this, should be built like how they’ve done it. After opening the set with ‘Tear Down Those Names’, and ‘Feel the Fire’ off their last record, Old Gods, Jon told the crowd we would be going backwards through the timeline of this legendary rock band. 37 years of music, and every album would be shown off live for a final goodbye. ‘Think You’re So Free’, and ‘Cheap As’ were the songs selected from the FVFY era, and the crowd went nuts for it.
‘Sleepeater’ got a massive reaction and a big clap along into ‘Ignite’, and ‘One Will Hear the Other’ was so sick to finally hear live. ‘Beautiful Machine’ was also amazing to see live. ‘Alive’ was introduced as part of the angry time in the band, and it was time for riffs. ‘All The Young Fascists’ was an unexpected suprise for me, but the crowd didn’t seem very into it, which sucked.
Shihad – Tivoli – photos by Tracy McLaughlan
Next up was the Pacifier era of the band, which is when I became a fan. ‘Comfort Me’ played, and I sang every word until my voice broke. ‘Everything’ played next, and I think Jon was a bit fucked after it, as he mentioned he might need to hit the hydralites after the show. ‘Bullitproof’ rounded out of the trilogy of Pacifier tracks, before we entered The General Electric.
After the album’s Intro, we were introduced to ‘My Mind’s Sedate’, with massive chant alongs to the song title line during the song. The title track, ‘The General Electric’, drew another monster reaction. The show was about 75 minutes in at this point, and despite everyone looking a bit tired, the energy stayed consistently at 11 all the way to the end. Jon asked for a hand wave to be done the whole song to ‘Pacifier’, and the crowd obliged and the band smashed through ‘Thin White Line’ and ‘La La Land’ from the fish album, which drew another massive response.
Shihad – Tivoli – photos by Tracy McLaughlan
Jon told the story of his friend Debs, and how ‘Debs Night Out’ was inspired, as ‘You Again’ and ‘I Only Said’ closed out the main set. The band returned for the encore, reminiscing about all the times they played Brisbane, talking about the fondness the band share for the city. There was a story about opening for Pantera that was especially hilarious. ‘Run’ was introduced, as the crowd sung it loud. ‘Run’ is my favorite Shihad song, so getting this as part of the encore ruled. The final three songs were the bands cover of ‘I Got You’ by Split Enz, “the really old one” in ‘Screwtop’, and the all time classic ‘Home Again’.
Tonight was more than a love letter to this legendary band’s history. It was a love letter from the band, to the fans that have been with them nearly four decades. I found the band during the Pacifier days as did many of the punters there tonight, not a single soul in that room walked out dissatisfied with an overview of a discography that spans a brilliant career.
