Shihad The Meanest

Jimmy Christmas to open the shows

With a catalogue of singles and hits that easily fill a double CD it’s no surprise then that as Shihad announce a tour to celebrate The Meanest, laying out a 100+ minute set to give enough time to cover the bulk of hits and favorites from their entire catalogue.

Opening Shihad on their Meanest Tour will be Luger Boa frontman – Jimmy Christmas – who’s past credits also include fronting garage rock n roll legends ‘The D4’. Christmas delivers a solid set of Luger Boa and D4 Catalogue – the hits - 'On My Mind', 'Lazy', 'What I Want', 'Paralyzed' & the Rock Radio number #1 smash 'New Hot Nights', as well as a tasty cover or two.

The tour set is drafted to present the two dominant personalities of the Shihad live experience.

The first half set sees Shihad working at close quarters front of stage in homage to the close proximity, in-your-face intensity, of the rock bars and clubs where their music was informed. This part of the story recreates the unrefined fervor of the countless early career shit-hole gigs that gave potency to the bands live performance, while presenting the raw classics from their debut EP Devolve and their first three albums Churn, Killjoy and the self-titled Shihad.

The band’s work ethic and commitment was cast in this gritty reality of hauling gear up and down stairs, in and of venues on a merry go round of one night stands from Tutukaka to Thames, and from Poland to a small town in Texas.

Reflecting the band in transition, a second stanza embraces the big stage era where Shihad grew wings and a swagger and ramped up production. Incendiary live performances followed and nothing short of a legend status bestowed as they strode the many arena stages at home and abroad - the Big Day Out, Rhythm & Vines, Rippon, Rock am Ring, Roskilde etc. Albums from The General Electric through to Ignite comprise this era and the many live favorites and radio hits within are given a thorough belting by Shihad while fittingly accompanied by aforementioned ramped up production.

Shihad – The Meanest. A not to be missed, one time only opportunity to see and hear Shihad carve their own way through one of New Zealand’s great Rock n Roll catalogues.

Listen to John Toogood talk about Shihad The Meanest on The Rock FM here