The Hives are back to save Rock and Roll…again! After working away for 30 years as a band, it’s clear that the post-punk outfit are showing no signs of slowing down whatsoever. After over a decade since their last album “Lex Hives”, they are back on the road again in anticipation of their “Yet to be released, soon to be award winning new album”, “The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons”, Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist quotes throughout the night. They are currently in the middle of supporting Arctic Monkeys on the mammoth stadium tour of the UK, however Bristol are one of the very lucky cities to have an intimate showcasing from Sweden’s finest.
The 400 capacity Fleece has people squeezing their way to the front of the venue an hour before their 9:00pm start. When you have a band that uses ninjas as roadies to set up the stage, then you know you’re in for a fun time! As the lights go down an ominous death march plays over the P.A. which fits in with the gothic theme their new material suggests. They grace their stage in their newly pressed glow-in-the-dark matching suits before blasting off into “Bogus Operandi”. The new single captures that bottled energy that they’ve always possessed at their best and was the perfect way to stamp their mark back on the scene and also the perfect way to open up tonight.
“Main Offender” comes in straight afterwards, which shows Pelle waving his arms encouraging the crowd to jump along with him, of which they happily oblige. From just two songs in, it’s already more fun than most concerts that you go to. And that’s not even mentioning the fantastic banter in between the tunes as well; to be honest you can get your money’s worth from that alone. There’s a knowingly, tongue-in-cheek confidence and swagger that is just incredibly infectious. Other bands take note…this is how you earn the respect of a crowd!
“Rigor Mortis Radio” is another glimpse into what the new material from the band will sound like and that gothic horror theme is prevalent throughout all of it. The groove that fills the song reminds me of an old TV show jingle similar to that of something like “The Munsters”. “Good Samaritan” is straight up garage rock and includes their now infamous stage freeze halfway through the song, which is still always impressive to witness in person. “Stick Up” may not have a meaning behind it, or it might just be the punchline for a dick joke, either way the fun doesn’t stop at any point.
“Do you hate me yet?”, Almqvist screams out to the loving crowd. “Well we’re gonna have to do something about that that then” as the opening guitar notes of “Hate To Say I Told You So” ring out. It feels like somewhat of a national anthem here tonight and then energy goes up again ten-fold. So much so that guitar strings are broken during the opening chords, yet they still carry on. There’s not a body that isn’t jumping about or bopping their head along to it all. There’s no respite though as “Trapdoor Solution” comes ploughing through straight afterwards which is a minute of that pummelling “Hives Sound” that harks back to their very early days.
“Countdown To Shutdown”; due to be released as their next single, has to be the pick of the new songs and is sure to be a staple of their set in the future. It’s propelled by an extremely funky bass line into a chorus that’ll be stuck in the head for a long time to come. Despite the amount of work that is being done in putting on a great show, to the outfits, to the theming of the songs everything just feels effortless and most importantly, fun and isn’t that what music should be?
After leaving the stage briefly, they triumphantly return with the pounding drums of “Come On” which kicks into the final song of the night “Tick Tick Boom” and what a way to go out it is. The pin has already been pulled many a time tonight, but that vibrancy is still bouncing off of all of the walls in The Fleece tonight. We’re given a little explanation as to what a breakdown is and promised that something amazing is going to happen in about 30 seconds. And true that statement is; Pelle is held aloft in the centre of the room in such an unusually graceful way, particularly at a gig of this sort. All before the drop hits and the bodies start flying about again.
At the end of a blistering hour long set which has flown by in no time, all five of them stop to take their bows on stage and spend another five minutes shaking hands with those who have braved it at the front. They’re such an incredibly tight unit when it comes to performing on stage and these songs are just begging to be performed in bigger venues, which is why it is such a treat to see them in this capacity tonight. Based on what we’ve seen, it seems like those boys from Sheffield are going to have to work incredibly hard to up these guys!
