Gig 20030322 Journal

Source: Shihad.com (circa 03)

Date Published: Unsure

Who: Shihad.

Where: Portland, OR, USA

When: 22 March 2003

Reviewed by: Shihad (Jon Toogood)

Portland, Oregon is the home of the Dandy Warhols and is a fuckin' cool city that reminded me heaps of our home town Wellington, NZ. lots of weird little bars, yummy places to eat and people who love music (oh yeah. hills and rain to.) in other words, a very good little scene and the perfect place to make and appreciate ROCK'N'ROLL! On the day we arrive there are riots taking place caused by clashes between war protesters and the pro-war testers and the atmosphere in the city is charged. the Roseland a fuckin' beauty and perfect for what we do so can't wait to play tonight - especially after being stuck on our tour bus for 2 days with no shows to play (Seattle was cancelled after we got caught in a HUGE snowstorm in Boulder and couldn't get out - bummer. no home of grunge.) I am gagging to play my guitar. A girl called Melissa won a radio contest to play a song with us at soundcheck. the radio station gave her a guitar to play but she only knew the first 2 notes of a Deftones song so we plugged her into Phil's guitar rig and got her to hit the guitar while we took turns playing with Phil's effects pedals and didn't stop 'til she started sounding like Jimmy Hendrix. we got close and I'm pretty sure she enjoyed her lesson in feedback. at the very least she was in control of the loudest thing she'll probably ever be in control of and she learnt how to do the 'Status Quo' guitar move. show's a pearler. kids go nuts. sounds good (and LOUD) and we all get high from playing music. yum. go out afterwards and see 'Sahara Hotnights', a very rockin' all-girl band from Sweden, at a place called 'Dantes' which reminds me more than a little bit of 'the Valve' in Wellington. I reckon I could live here.

-Jon.X