It is official: The Hives are the greatest live act going around. It wouldn’t matter if you had just lost your genitals in an unfortunate smelting accident, you would still have the best night of your life watching the self-proclaimed “greatest rock band in the world!”
True to form, The Hives came out one-by-one dressed in black and white tailcoat suits and top hats. The suits, much like their live shows, were well-refined and in a class of their own.
Drummer Chris Dangerous led the pack, slowly building up to the arrival of everyone’s favourite leading man, Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist.
They kicked off with the very short but very sweet Come On from their latest album Lex Hives. Not surprisingly, most of the new album was played amidst their other big hits.
Between songs Almqvist entertained with his outlandish behaviour, constantly reassuring us that “Your arses are mine for the next hour and a half!”
He also had methods for whipping the crowd into an absolute frenzy, getting us to participate in a variety of clapping, stomping, jumping, sitting, screaming and frequent sing-alongs. Never in my life have I wished I were born with three arms, just so I could clap along with a drink still in my hand.
Main Offender and Walk Idiot Walk kicked it up another notch, with one of the ninja-clad stage crew banging the tambourine like an absolute motherfucker.
Almost at full-speed, the crowd were getting ready to sing along with Wait A Minute until some crowd-surfing DICKHEAD fell head-first into the stage, causing the band to stop the show until he regained consciousness.
But that little set-back aside, it only took until Die, All Right! for the band and audience to return to full-blown craziness. They then delivered “The gift that was missing from your Christmas stockings” with Hate To Say I Told You So, and ended the set with Two Timing Touch and Patrolling Days.
New songs Go Right Ahead and Insane (both from Lex Hives) were a little disappointing choices for encore, but closing with Tick Tock Boom provided the big high we all wanted to end on.
BY CHRIS BRIGHT
LOVED: Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist’s on-stage antics
HATED: The dickhead who knocked himself unconscious and stopped the show
DRANK: Miami Iced Teas
