Shihad Announce Loud Forever - The Final Tour

The group that has defined heavy rock in Aotearoa for more than three and a half decades, Shihad today shake our foundations with a major announcement. First emerging from Wellington in 1988 (and maintaining the same unchanged lineup from 1991 onwards), the legendary team of Jon Toogood (The Adults), Karl Kippenberger, Phil Knight and Tom Larkin have revealed nationwide dates for Loud Forever - The Final Tour, inviting fans to join them in celebration of their resounding impact on NZ music culture.

Shihad will play send-off headline events with special guests at Auckland's Spark Arena, Robrosa Station in Wānaka, Black Barn in Hawke's Bay, Trafalgar in Nelson and Sector 7 in Christchurch, alongside summer festival dates at Rock The Bowl in Taranaki, Kickdown in Coromandel, and a triumphant concluding performance at Homegrown in the capital.

Subjects of director Sam Peacocke's 2012 documentary Shihad: Beautiful Machine, Shihad were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2010 and have received seemingly every local music award going. Their ten studio album oeuvre began with the bone-crushing metal of 1993's Churn (revisited by the group live in 2023), attracting a fervent fanbase with Killjoy (1995), Shihad (1996) and The General Electric (1999), and achieving Billboard hit singles with 2002's Pacifier (retitled with 2023's vinyl reissue as The Pacifier Album). Consistently releasing chart-topping records ("they share the honour for most number-one records for any New Zealand artist with Hayley Westenra" according to Stuff in 2015) and touring the globe together, Shihad's last official long player is 2021's Old Gods, while frontman Toogood continued in that mythic vein with his new solo album The Last Of The Lonely Gods. Read Nick Bollinger's in-depth profile of Shihad for AudioCulture HERE, throw your goats and get amongst at these historic shows — here are the details...

"We need to pay homage to the legacy of this band and also to the people that have supported us. We’re gonna fucking hit it!" - Jon Toogood

Loud Forever - The Final Tour

Sunday 29th December - Rock The Bowl, New Plymouth
Saturday 4th January - Robrosa Station, Wānaka w/ Kora, Dick Move, Fiona & The Glow
Friday 31st January - Black Barn, Hawkes Bay w/ Jakob
Friday 7th February - Trafalgar, Nelson w/ Mim Jensen, Con Carne
Saturday 8th February - Kickdown, Coromandel
Saturday 1st March - Sector 7, Christchurch w/ The Volts, Mim Jensen, Con Carne
Friday 14th March - Spark Arena, Auckland w/ The D4, Dick Move
Saturday 15th March - Homegrown, Wellington

Tickets on sale from www.shihad.com

Sing along with Shihad's 'Home Again' from their 1996 self-titled album...

Smash play on 'Think You're So Free' from 2014's FVEY...

Experience the classic video for 'Debs Night Out' from 1995's breakout Killjoy...

Watch the lockdown-era clip for 'Feel The Fire' from Shihad's 2021 album Old Gods...

Dial it back to 'Stations', from Shihad's 1993 debut album Churn...

Press release:

Forged in the fires of 1988’s thrash metal scene, Wellington’s SHIHAD quickly evolved into one of Aotearoa’s most beloved bands.

Their story begins with Devolve (1990), a high-octane four-track EP of Metallica-inspired thrash. A year later bassist Karl Kippenberger joined Tom Larkin (Drums), Phil Knight (Lead guitar) and Jon Toogood (Vocals and guitars) to solidify the line-up that would change the face of New Zealand music and earn the enviable reputation as Aotearoa’s most formidable live band.

The group broke through with its second album Killjoy (1995), which blended the colossally heavy riffs of debut album Churn (1991), with a newfound pop sensibility. This potent mix would become the signature SHIHAD sound.

Killjoy spawned two Top 20 singles, ‘You Again’ and ‘Bitter’, and won four Aotearoa Music Awards (AMA’s), to begin a winning streak that would see SHIHAD collect 18 AMA’s throughout their career and be inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2010.

Nine of SHIHAD’s 10 studio albums powered into the New Zealand Music Charts Top 10, with six (The General Electric (1999), Beautiful Machine (2008), Ignite (2010), FVEY (2014) and Old Gods (2021)) hitting the top spot, a feat unrivalled by any other local act.

Powering those albums are iconic songs, like ‘Run’, ‘The General Electric’, ‘La La Land’, ‘Pacifier’, ‘My Mind’s Sedate’, and instant classic ‘Home Again’, a signature anthem not just for SHIHAD, but for all Kiwis abroad.

Along with these soaring highs, SHIHAD experienced heavy lows; the fatal drug overdose of first manager Gerald Dwyer in 1996, drug abuse and alcoholism, and 2001’s reluctant but necessary rebranding as Pacifier after the 9/11 terrorist attack made cracking America all but impossible with the name SHIHAD. But no setback could withstand the crushing power, purpose and propulsive momentum of the band.

Live, SHIHAD were truly an oversized presence. 2005’s free gig at Auckland’s Aotea Square is legendary, they owned the prized sunset spot at music festival Big Day Out for years, headlined major festivals like Rhythm and Alps and toured with metal icons like Faith No More, Black Sabbath, Motorhead and AC/DC.

But with gaps between albums increasing, growing commitments outside the band and the member's inability to give SHIHAD the time, focus and dedication it needed and deserved, the group made the hard call to conclude the band. While opinions within differ, the group are united in agreeing that half-assing SHIHAD was never an option.

<>But SHIHAD’s story is not over just yet. The upcoming LOUD FOREVER tour offers both the band and its nation of fans the opportunity of a fittingly loud and raucous farewell.