Shihad 30th Anniversary National Tour Announced

Quintessential New Zealand rockers Shihad are celebrating their thirtieth anniversary with a six date tour of Aotearoa in October. Originally kicking off in Wellington in the late eighties, the iconic team of Jon Toogood, Tom Larkin, Phil Knight (who joined in 1993) and Karl Kippenberger have nine studio albums under their collective belt, survived a slew of tours, a name change (and back again), and are arguably one of the most influential heavy rock bands to emerge from Aotearoa. The tour will also mark twenty years since the release of their classic 1998 album The General Electric, and will see the landmark opus being available on vinyl for the first time (the late nineties was truly the era of the compact disc). They'll be joined for selected dates by genre-bending live favourites Kora, check out the tour details here...


UPDATE 24/09/19: A new larger venue has been announced for Christchurch and Wellington's show is now sold out, here's the updated info...

Shihad 30th Anniversary Tour

Friday 19th October - The Bedford Bigtop, Christchurch (new venue)
Saturday 20th October - Shed 6, Wellington (sold out)
Sunday 21st October - The Mayfair, New Plymouth
Thursday 25th October - Claudelands Arena, Hamilton w/ Kora
Friday 26th October - Town Hall, Auckland w/ Kora
Saturday 27th October - Brewers Indoor Arena, Mt Maunganui w/ Kora

Presales available from Tuesday 28th August

Here's their singalong (and daylight savings reminding) anthem 'Home Again'…

Revisit their breakthrough single 'Bitter' from 1995's Killjoy...

Here's their crushing early single 'Derail' from Shihad's 1993 debut album Churn...

Press Release:

Picture this… 1988, David Lange is Prime Minister, Commercial TV goes 7 days a week (except Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas Day!), Dave Dobbyn wins Best Album and Male Vocalist at the NZ Music Awards (not too difficult to picture), Nintendo release the Game Boy, and in Wellington, Jon Toogood and Tom Larkin are busily creating a heavy rock band…. A monstrous band that would end up becoming one of New Zealand’s most loved, respected and successful exports.…. KIA ORA SHIHAD!

Fast forward to 2018… Jon, Tom, lead guitarist Phil Knight (who they found through a music shop notice board ad in 1989) and bass player Karl Kippenberger, who joined the band in 1993, (from being a fan) have released nine studio albums (five of which went to #1 in NZ). They survived a name change propelled by Jihad becoming a staple negative reference in the global vernacular thanks to 9/11 (Shihad became Pacifier, and returned to Shihad), personal triumphs and tragedies, travelled all over the world with endless tours, selling out headline shows and sharing stages at major local and international festivals, and touring with musical heroes like Motorhead, Metallica, Faith No More and AC/DC to name a few! In 2010 they were inducted into the New Zealand Music’s Hall Of Fame. And just like Neil Finn, Russell Crowe and every other successful person or idea to come out of NZ…. Australia quickly adopted them as their own, showering them with ARIA nominations, adoration and ownership of their global success.

To celebrate 30 years, Shihad will be undertaking a national tour, and releasing their classic LP The General Electric, also celebrating twenty years since its release, on vinyl for the first time. The General Electric was the LP that re-established their position as sonic giants of the music industry, with hit singles ‘My Mind’s Sedate’, ‘The General Electric’, ‘Pacifier’.