The Hives - Stockholm Grona Lund Theme-Park - 10/5/02
4/5
By: Julian Sewell
The Hives - outside in a Swedish amusement park, in the baking sunshine, playing to thousands of indie-kids - with their reputation; are they mad?! Not quite. Gröna Lund is a pocket-sized theme park dating from 1883 situated right in the heart of Stockholm. The stage is surrounded by a big wheel, rollercoaster and uppy-downy-roundabouty thing. Perfect setting for the Hives then...
Right; we've all heard the songs by now, but - frankly - they are a bit samey after a while, aren't they? Sacrilege I know to say that, but who likes bandwagons much anyway? Live, however, this proposition is where it all seems to make sense...
The boys arrive bouncing on, dressed in mandatory black and white outfits, and launch straight into 'Supply and Demand'. It might be in the mid-20's with the grand, burning ball of heat in the sky shining straight down into their eyes, but these guys are finally home and they're gonna let everyone know about it.
Fittingly, Pelle's having the time of his life: cracking jokes and milking the crowd for all its worth; an incendiary 'AKA I.D.I.O.T' is just as euphoric in triggering a receptive response: spat out and, as you look 'round everyone, seemingly mass singalong-inducing. How much of the lyrics they understand, who knows, but - as this is Sweden - probably more than your roving reporter here...
Aside from these observations, the rest is obvious; the tunes come thick and fast and, before you know it, it's the encore, with 'Main Offender' and 'Hate To Say I Told You So' provided back-to-back, battering everyone into a sweaty submission... If we'd had hats, they would have been removed and held in the air in their honour.
So, some of us leave still not sure about them on record, but, as a live band, assured of their classic, classy and first-rate entertainment-quality; tack så mycket, Hives - du var fantastisk. Or something like that.
Artists in this article: The Hives
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