Shihad have always been one of my favourite live bands, their energy and passion for "the rock" being infectious like a virus. Born frontman Jon Toogood tonight is the wiry ball of energy he's always been and he makes the comment that he's missed playing live whilst the band have been away recording their soon-to-be-released new album 'Beautiful Machine'. The rest of the boys also appear in great spirits, Karl Kippenberger in particular grinning and grooving around his basslines all night.
Firing out of the blocks with their traditional opener, the title track of their watershed album 'The General Electric', has the crowd involved from the get-go and Toogood encourages the continuation of that involvement for the several new songs that are aired, with commendable success. The new material sees the band bringing some of the, dare-I-say, "pop" elements to the forefront of their sound without sacrificing their unique edge. It is, of course, the 'General Electric' material that receives the biggest response with the crowd arm-waving ("Pacifier"), bouncing ("Wait And See") and shouting along ("My Mind's Sedate") with great abandon.
It is brought to our attention that the band are celebrating their 20th year together ("who'd have thunk it") and so as a special treat we were given an incendiary version of "Screwtop" from the band's debut 'Churn'. This was a special moment for me having been turned onto the band with that very album and missing that material as it has been left out of the band's live set for some years.
Live favourite "Home Again" and first encore "Run" are highlights and with a performance that saw both Toogood and guitarist Phil Knight climbing on their monitors and Toogood diving into the appreciative crowd their really was not a dull moment. It's good to have them back.
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