The Hives Live, Commodore Ballroom

Sweden’s Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist and Band's Music, Moves & Manifesto

Feb 25, 2008 Mikala Taylor

Playing tracks from The Black & White Album, Veni Vidi Vicious and Tyrannosaurus Hives, The Hives raced through a blistering live set in Vancouver on February 22, 2008.

“February 22 is now going to be known as the Hives Day, Vancouver!”, The Hives’ “Howlin’” Pelle Almqvist bellows at the Commodore Ballroom audience – and a thousand hyper kids shriek and nod. Girls swoon, boys pump their hands in the air in excitement. One simply has no choice but to believe him.

It would be easy to dismiss the posturing, the Jagger swagger, the James Brown high-kicks, posing and “I can’t hear you, Vancouver” as another batch of contrived statements pulled from the pages of the Rock Lexicon, but on this Friday night, the Swedish meatballs from small-town Fagersta seem rather quite genuine.

Relentless Touring, Rock Manifesto

By the time local lads The Hits! and 80s-rockish girlband The Donnas leave their opening slots behind, the energy in the room blisters. The backdrop is ready: a red Hives sign hovers over black and white instruments and the kids prep for wildness. It’s the set-up for almost any rock band’s live gig (thick anticipation, obsessed fans, drunken weekend crowd) – yet rarely does a follow-through amount to so much. The Hives are simply one of the most incendiary live rock bands on tour today. Even though they’ve pilfered their music, moves and manifesto from a thousand sources (including the Misfits, Little Richard, James Brown, AC/DC), they’ve somehow managed to strike a unique chord. You get your money’s worth with the Hives – and they know it.

Howlin’ Pelle Almquist as Main Offender

Gangly Almqvist, all overbite, shiny hair and black and white band uniform, bounds on stage to start “You Got it All...Wrong” from The Hives’ newest disc, The Black & White Album – and refuses to take a breath for 17 songs. He spins, swerves, jumps, throws himself into the crowd, climbs the amps, grabs for the girls, and swings the mic as if his life depends on it. And it pretty much does. Relentless touring, critical acclaim for their brazen, short, sharp, shocked albums and an unfaltering rock-god belief in their own super-human powers, means that The Hives have justified their big-bucks signing to Interscope Records. They’re a sharp business team who understand that in order to make money, you’ve got to have the product.

Tonight, the Hives are doing what the Hives do best – nailing it to the back wall. “When we make noise, you don’t,” Pelle instructs the crowd like a blue-eyed Professor of Rockology. “And when we are quiet, that is your time to make noise!” So the screaming begins anew.

Tick Tick Boom and The Hives’ Diabolic Scheme

The band – Vigilante Carlstroem on rhythm guitar, Dr Matt Descruction on bass, Almqvist’s older brother Nicholas Arson on lead guitar, and Chris Dangerous on drums...like the Ramones and the Donnas, they have nicknames – tear through a chunky batch of tracks. A good thing, too, as most songs weigh in at two minutes per.

“Square One Here I Come”, “Won’t Be Long”, “Bigger Hole to Fill” and the stonking “Tick Tick Boom” represent the latest album, but the band does due diligence with “Main Offender”, “Die, All Right!” and “Hate to Say I Told You So” from 2000’s Veni Vidi Vicious. “Walk Idiot Walk”, “A Little More For Little You” and “Diabolic Scheme” from Tyrannosaurus Hives also make an appearance. The band is ferocious, but well-rehearsed – you know that they know that you know that you love them.

Even as Arson takes one of many breaks on a side-stage amp to glare menacingly and blow on his “burning” fingers from his own sizzling guitar work, the ridiculous posing is still entertaining. All hail the grandiose gesture.

“Well, Vancouver,” Pelle finally says, stopping mid-marathon. “This is the sad part of the evening. We only have three songs left”. And guess what? He’s right. As the last wail of “Return the Favour” dies out, and the final guitar picks are flung, one kind of wishes they would do it all over again.

The Hives at the Commodore were presented by Sealed With a Kiss Presents. The Hives' tour continues to the eastern US, Canada and Europe through until April. Check Pollstar for dates and details.

Read more about The Hives in Suite101's exclusive interview with The Hives' Nicholas Arson

The copyright of the article The Hives Live, Commodore Ballroom in Rock Music is owned by Mikala Taylor. Permission to republish The Hives Live, Commodore Ballroom in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.