“I think the show’s going well so far, what do you think?” asks The Hives mouthpiece Screamin’ Pelle Almqvist, halfway through a 45-minute set from probably the greatest garage rock band around. 

The Hives are playing a series of album release shows at intimate venues across the UK, promoting their most excellent new long player “The Hives Forever, Forever The Hives’. 

This show was arranged in conjunction with local independent record store Crash Records, and is a completely different kettle of fish compared to last night’s amazing Bryan Adams show at the Brudenell up the road.

While both acts hit the stage bang on 8pm and are done before 9pm, The Hives choose to play oldies and newbies rather than concentrate just on the new album.

That said, the first couple of tracks are new, and they absolutely kill it.  Opener ‘Enough Is Enough’ slays from the opening bombardment of jagged riffs and powerhouse drums. Pelle is stage front, motioning at the crowd to go wild before he has even sung a note, and they respond. To his left Nicholaus performs his signature moves while bashing out punchy riffs on his telecaster. You can’t take your eyes off the pair of them.

Like The Ramones before them, the Swedes deliver song after song. 3 chord punk rock, a tried and tested style where the songs may sound the same, yet are still different, energetic and exciting. You instantly know a Hives song when it hits the radio, right?

‘Paint A Picture’ follows, the crowd go wild for the hyper energetic vibe the band create. That chorus is sublime; it’s a killer tune make no mistake. Two songs in and the frontman has the whole room in the palm of his hands; oh he makes it look so easy!

Next up ‘Bogus Operandi’ sounds like an old friend, it’s epic, nearly as epic as the following classic ‘Hate To Say I Told You So’, which is never going to disappoint at any size venue.

It’s warming up nicely, hold on, we’re only 5 songs into a Hives show, that’s about 15 minutes in real time! They jam out and extend an incendiary ‘Tick Tick, Boom Boom’ to give the hyper crowd down the front a breather between Pelle’s high kicks and DLR style stage raps. He’s in the crowd for at least the third time tonight, and you can’t take your eyes off him. 

‘Legalise Living’ is another newbie single that goes down a blast, and Strokes soundalike ‘The Hives Forever, Forever The Hives’ closes the main set in style with an audience member dragged up on stage to play the 2 chords needed. 

A one-two encore of ‘Come On!’ And ‘Countdown To Shutdown’ ends a show that went by in the blink of an eye. 

9 tracks in 45 minutes, delivered with enough raw power, humour and energy to fuel a small city. With a frontman who entertains and lights up a crowd with his humour as much as his voice, and a band who are a well-oiled punk rock machine, The Hives were never going to be anything short of amazing tonight. The Hives forever, forever The Hives indeed. 

Author: Ben Hughes