Shihad – 31 July, San Francisco Bath House

You never expect that  when you shout “play your old stuff” at a gig, someone will actually be listening.  Well John Toogood and co have obviously heard something, and subsequently concocted a double-shot of nostalgia, to appease those souls looking for a return to the good-old-days of Wellington rock-god-ery.

So for two nights only it was back to the future at San Fran Bathhouse – With Friday 31 July dedicated to the ‘Hads’ Killjoy album, and Thurs 5 August bringing The General Electric back into vogue.

Killjoy was always going to be tops for me.  It was where things really kicked off, taking the grime and grit of predecessors, Churn and Devolve, and turning them into something truly splendid.  This was the point where our local rock scene really stood above all others, with Head like a hole, Fur Patrol and more, reaching mainstream eyeballs on the back of Shihad’s success.

Friday nights gig went beyond mere tribute to those good old days of Killjoy’s birth-era: they were reproduced wholesale.  It was wall-to-wall in the bathhouse, barely enough room to breath, let alone go concert-crazy.  But from the first thudding riff to the last Toogood wail, the audience were collectively ripped out of the present, and sent to a time that many thought that the band had long-since forgotten. 

How wrong they were.

 ‘You again’ was a flaming, ripping, riled beast of a song.   “The call” was embodied as just that, anthemic, yet non-patronizing, as so many anthems are.  Karl Krippenbergers fingers were re-woken from any slumber that the 2000’s (And THAT name change) had induced.  Toogood was throwing himself around with such abandon that it made you worry he would hurt himself past the point of no-return.  

Business as usual, really.

The single bum-note on a night of so many winners was the sheer brevity of the show.  Fact is, Killjoy ain’t no 100 minute concept album, so it was understandable.   But more from those earlier works, and the following “fish album” would have been truly appreciated.

Play your old stuff we said, play your old stuff.  Keep up the call, because sometimes they do listen.