The Hives @ Thebarton Theatre,Adelaide (25/07/11)

Wed 27th Jul, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Times sure have changed for The Grates. It was a mere seven years ago that the band were playing to barely 20 people in three-piece mode – they’re now a completely different band to what they once were, with an additional bass / keyboardist and a new drummer joining the core duo of Patience Hodgson and John Patterson in the wake of third album, Secret Rituals.

The band have a great energy, with Hodgson a genuinely entertaining frontperson who bounds around the stage with an enthusiasm that’s infectious. By the time they unleash recent single Turn Me On at the tail-end of their brief set, the small but appreciative crowd is whooping with pleasure to cheer on a band who are seemingly set to reach new heights with a third album under their belts that expands their sound from where they were seven years hence..

The Hives haven’t changed in seven years; it’s not really changed in the fifteen years since they came hooting and hollering out of Sweden with the album Barely Legal under their belts in 1997. They’re completely rock-solid and absolutely barm-storming – dual guitarists Nicholaus Arson and Vigilante Carlstroem go hard and furious with their fretting, while the rhythm section of Dr. Matt Destruction and Chris Dangerous give a fantastic bottom end to proceedings.

But how do you fill out a set when you haven’t put out a new album in five years, and – well, let’s be honest – the vast majority of the songs follow the same template? It’s easy when you have a frontman like Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, who has all the moves and charisma of Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger down pat, and tells jokes like it’s no one’s business.

With two new songs presented this evening – Take Back the Torch is particularly strong, while penultimate number Patroling Days also is impressive – the majority of the set is given over to reliving the hits and memories of days gone by. Songs such as Main Offender, Die Alright, Walk Idiot Walk come early, while the main set finishes with Tick Tick Boom, and the encore sees Hate to Say I Told You So bringing the show to an absolutely roaring conclusion. The Hives are a rock ‘n roll band of genuine class.