Shihad get down and dirty at Dashville

Back in April Dashville, the Johnston family farm turned festival HQ, held its first pre-sold out Gum Ball for its 11^th edition. The family-friendly event is a wonderful mix of camping and live music. While it’s about more than just music, the tunes are central to the experience.

In contrast last Saturday’s PigSty In July at times felt more like a laid-back B&S ball with music merely providing the soundtrack. Maybe it was the cold. Maybe it was the craft beers. Or maybe it was the weaker line-up of artists. Whatever the reason, throughout many of the performances the crowd was happy generally to share a laugh at each other’s ridiculous “second-hand formal” outfits and socialise around the many fires in the arena.

Outside the music there were plenty of distractions. Newcastle’s “philosophical bogan” Matty B delivered laughs from the crowd and the small audience’s attire provided the colour. Flat caps were a popular fashion accompaniment for the various wacky vintage suits on display that came in all shades of brown, beige and red velvet. The ladies weren’t to be overshadowed. There was even one woman who donned a wedding dress despite the frosty air.

Sydney rock band Lepers and Crooks deserved a later time slot than 1.30pm, but impressed with their brand of ‘70s-inspired tunes. A cover of Rage Against The Machine’s Guerrilla Radio topped off the performance.

Tasmanian blues-folk singer Claire Anne Taylor was another who starred during the afternoon. Boasting a fiery mane of red hair and a sandpapered voice, Taylor was thrilling. Songs like Judge and Devil proved there’s a real songwriter of substance at play.

Unfortunately Taylor didn’t receive the reaction her music deserved and she herself was wondering when the audience was going to kick into gear. “Is everyone gonna get buck wild and butt naked? I wanna see more nipples,” she said.

Perhaps due to the chilly winter air, the nudity Taylor urged never eventuated. However, Taylor continued to melt the hearts of many men in the audience as she swigged New Zealand whiskey from a punter’s hip flask and then finished with a rollicking version of Whiskey Woman that sounded like it was soaked in a peaty single malt.

The momentum slowed as darkness descended on Dashville. Ageing white reggae band King Tide worked hard, but their fake Jamaican singing accents sounded reminiscent of a poor man’s UB40.

Next followed Melbourne jam band Masco Sound System. The six-piece melded an interesting mix of funk, electronica and pyschedelica throughout their set but lacked any songs or beats the audience could latch onto. That resulted in the majority of the crowd huddling around the fires.

Finally the Dashville Progress Society delivered the shot of energy the festival needed. They played a similar soul-inspired set to the one they delivered at Gum Ball, with renditions of David Bowie’s Young Americans and Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run. Dashville favourite William Crighton took the vocals on an intense Get Ready For Love by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. 

Nobody could accuse Shihad of merely using PigSty as a cash cow. The Kiwi four-piece rocked Dashville to its foundations with a balls-to-the-floor dose of rock. They were the headline act and they met the expectations.

Despite being 20 years into his career, Shihad frontman Jon Toogood remained the energetic and committed performer. Toogood constantly waved his right arm between strumming his guitar to conduct the audience like his personal orchestra.

Shihad gave the audience the hits, and they came thick and fast. Home, Yr’ Head Is A Rock, Interconnector, The General Electric, My Mind’s Sedate (dedicated to the “boring” Federal Election) and Pacifier were peeled off for the first-pumping crowd.

It lured the punters from the warmth of the fires as they braved the cold to witness New Zealand’s best musical export since the Finn brothers.