Leave it to a bunch of sharp-dressed Europeans to nearly perfect an American art form.
That was my thought when I left Showbox SoDo after witnessing the rock ‘n’ roll greatness that is Swedish band The Hives. Dressed in matching black and white suits, the five-piece blazed through a 75-minute set of their hits and new material off their new album “The Hive Forever Forever The Hives.”
The set started with an indicator of how fun the night would be with Hives frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almvqist making the playful declaration “Everyone’s a little fucking bitch,” which is the opening lyric to “Enough is Enough.” From there “Walk Idiot Walk” followed and the rest of the night was one big blast of quick-hitting rock ‘n’ roll in the form of the band’s 17-song performance.
Of course part of the fun in seeing is Almvqist’s swagger and showmanship. His banter between songs consisted of boasting about how great The Hives are and encouraging the crowd to be engaged with the rock show they are witnessing. The shtick never got old.
Some of Almqvist’s antics included leading the crowd in singing the bassline to “Hate to Say I Told You So” and later in the set having everyone sit down during “Tick Tick Boom.” He also poked fun at Seattle’s legacy of grunge and made a few mom jokes between songs. His words to the crowd were as entertaining as the music the band played.
Surprisingly, it was the encore that kept the show from being a near-perfect club gig. The rest of the show checked off all the necessary boxes. Engaged crowd. Engaged band. Great songs. Impressive showmanship. It would’ve been brilliant to include some of the group’s high-energy hits as encore centerpieces.
Instead, the band played a new song and ended the night with the title track from their new album. While the encore lacked the punch of the main set, it is still pretty genius to end the night leaving the crowd chanting the song’s refrain of “The Hives forever, forever The Hives.”
Are The Hives the greatest band alive? They’d certainly like you to think so. And until another band comes along and challenges the title they bestowed upon themselves, they may just be.
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