New Zealand rock legends, Shihad, will set off on their last ever tour this summer, it’s been announced.
The band of frontman Jon Toogood, Karl Kippenberger, Phil Knight and Tom Larkin, formed in Wellington in 1988 as high school students with a love for American speed metal.
To mark 36 years of making memories, the band has announced Loud Forever — The Final Tour. They’ll perform a circuit of summer festivals, including Rock The Bowl in Taranaki, Kickdown in Coromandel, and Homegrown in Wellington. Additional headline shows are scheduled at the Rhythm and Alps site in Wānaka, Black Barn in Hawke’s Bay, Trafalgar in Nelson, the Red Zone in Christchurch, and at Auckland’s Spark Arena.
The band have toured the world playing hits such as Pacifier, Home Again and The General Electric. In 2010, they were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.
Toogood, now 53, recently released his first solo album, Last of the Lonely Gods, which he wrote to make sense of a few challenging years which included the death of his mother, his brother in law, and his own health issues.
He told Music 101’s Charlotte Ryan that he had lived with a mild form of tinnitus since he was 19. But a fortnight out of long Covid he was woken up from a dream to the sound of a screeching car alarm in his head. It still hasn’t stopped two and a half years later.
“I was frightened of it ’cause it is quite alarming having that high pitch noisy ringing. It feels like a warning the whole time. So you’re always on alert. I’ve made my peace with it. It still can be overhwhelming at times,” he said during an interview last month.
Tickets for The Final Tour on sale from shihad.com.
rnz.co.nz
