Motor Ace were the next act to take the altar, but there was no way they were going to allow themselves to be sacrificial lambs to the oncoming assault of Shihad and The Jeb. Rather then try and beat the headliners at their own game, Motor Ace took a far more pop-rock approach, opening with their best known songs "Chairman Of The Board" and "American Shoes" and drawing plenty of squeals of approval from the crowd gathered front of stage. The harmonies of the lads were immaculate, but there was something about the frequencies generated by the lead singer's screams which weren't reacting too well with the PA, and when pumped out at ear-bleeding levels it was quite painful. Still, their set was much better than I had anticipated and bodes well for their forthcoming debut long player.
	I've said it before in these pages, and I'm not afraid to say it again - Shihad Rock!!!!! Since relocating to Australia these Kiwi lads have been on a seemingly never-ending Tarago journey around the country, stopping only briefly to plug their amps in at the local pub, blow everyone away with the hardest set of riffs this side of early Metallica, then pack up and move on to the next destination. The pit had swelled considerably by the time Shihad hit the stage, and as soon as they launched into the fist-pumping slab of rock that is "My Mind's Sedate", it was clear that all and sundry were prepared to flail their bodies around regardless of the consequences. All the hits were there, with the synth-laden anthem "Wait and See" and latest single "Pacifier" working the crowd into a lather (although a couple of young girls beside me were screaming for Jebediah at any available opportunity - grrr!!). But the highlight of the evening came during their final song, the early classic "Home Again". In what surely must rate as one of the most surreal rock and roll moments of all time, Dreamworld figurehead Kenny Koala joined the guys on stage with a Fender and proceeded to do his best Angus Young impersonation while piggy-backing Shihad frontman Jon Togood. The rest of the band dropped their instruments and stage dived into the waiting arms of the young crowd (how they manged to hold them is beyond me). And then, at the shouted request of Togood, Kenny smashed his guitar on stage ala Pete Townshend and threw the shattered remains into the photographer's pit. Like I said, surreal.....
Jebediah were always going to struggle to match Shihad for intensity - and quite frankly, The Who themselves would have found it difficult to top the antics of Kenny Koala and co. And considering this was their first gig back after a well-deserved three month holiday, they were up against it from the start. But The Jeb put up a pretty good showing, and even managed to convince this dedicated non-believer that they are a class act without totally converting me to the cause - a good effort considering that not so long ago I considered them to be not far removed from the spawn of Satan himself! Their time off the stage showed early on, but once they got warmed up it was like they'd never been gone, and the kiddies were loving every minute of it. I'm still not a big fan of Kevin's voice, but their songwriting skills have gone through the roof in the last year or so, and on the evidence of the track previewed for the first time tonight there is still a lot of improvement in them. Songs like "Harpoon" and "Animal" with its clever vocal harmonies and refreshingly honest lyrical approach are top tunes in anyone's language, and even had this jaded hack singing along with glee.

But the rigours of a hard day of thrillseeking (not to mention the hardcore dancefloor action of B(if)tek the night before) had begun to take their toll, so Reddog and Little Dog made their way to the carpark to the strains of "Jerks of Attention", still shaking our heads at the ludicrous image of a person in a bear suit smashing a perfectly healthy guitar.....