It would be ludicrous to suggest that The Hives are better than ever, of course. The whole point of the Swedish garage titans is that they never change, which is actually more thrilling. Governments collapse, pandemics come and go. But the Hives always stay the same.
This is a band who can dispatch their biggest hit, the deathless ‘Hate To Say I Told You So’, halfway through their explosive live show. When every track hits like a hand grenade, what difference does it make? The Hives have been writing the same song since they formed in 1993: three chords pounded out at finger-splitting speed, complemented by gang-chant vocals and a healthy dose of irony. It’s never less than sensational, as evidenced by their recent comeback album ‘The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons’, which proved that time itself is no match for them.
Clad in their trademark black-and-white lightning bolt suits, the five-piece open with their axe-wielders in classic rockstar poses: legs apart, instruments cocked at right-angles. When frontman Pelle Almqvist demands, “Are you ready to feel the rock’n’roll coursing through your veins?” he’s at once deadly serious and lightly taking the piss; it’s like seeing the Ramones fronted by a game show host.
The pace is frenetic, the band only really pausing when they hold a freezeframe to soak up the applause and later allow the crowd to chant the bassline of their aforementioned best-loved tune. As Almqvist precedes ‘Walk Idiot Walk’ with the warning that “the rest of the show is unsafe,” the hysteria reaches a fever pitch. After all these years, the Hives constitute a precision-engineered machine designed to give you a good time.
The frontman is so determined to ensure every last person here has the night of their lives that he shouts out all conceivable demographics (“rock journalists” get a boo, though “pub landlords” receive an ear-splitting cheer, which might be final proof of this audience’s impeccable taste). In truth, the gig loses momentum in its final act, the sense of repetition a bit numbing and even Almqvist exhausted by his own schtick. “I have no idea what I’m talking about!” he exclaims towards the end. Perhaps their upcoming “franchise” covers band will fare better.
But holy hell: what momentum to lose. If the Hives aimed for the Greatest Show on Earth and came up a little short, you can’t fault the ambition. This was probably the dumbest show in town. And surely the most fun, too.
The Hives played
‘Bogus Operandi’
‘Main Offender’
‘Take Back the Toys’
‘Two Kinds of Trouble’
‘Rigor Mortis Radio’
‘Walk Idiot Walk’
‘Good Samaritan’
‘Go Right Ahead’
‘Stick Up’
‘Hate to Say I Told You So’
‘Trapdoor Solution’
‘I’m Alive’
‘Bigger Hole to Fill’
‘Try It Again’
‘Countdown to Shutdown’
‘Come On!’
‘Smoke & Mirrors’
‘Tick Tick Boom’