The Hives - Hammersmith Apollo, London - 23/11/07
3/5
By: Alex Lee Thomson
The last time we saw The Hives, they were playing two of London's smallest clubs and tonight were gracing the stage of one of the city's biggest music venues, and while they remain the same enigmatic ball of rock n roll steel, the two experiences are so different they're almost incomparable.
In a small venue, even up to a thousand people or so, The Hives work. They're a band who fly over the normality gap between crowd and band with their distinctive on-stage style and genuinely incredible rock songs, but when you're perched atop a balcony looking down at them with frustration at being so far away they seem rather silly, prancing around stage singing out of tune (if singing at all) and looking generally out of place.
But The Hives are fantastic - I personally rate them potentially the worlds best live band, bold statement I know, but one I've so unequivocally believed for a long time. Yet seeing them in this big venue, removing a third of their audience from the show in many ways, they didn't seem like the same band. They seemed like any other unobtainable and overestimated rock band.
The songs are as unyielding as ever though, and this show was a great chance to hear new 'Black And White' material, the best moment being an unexpected unleashing of 'T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S' which opened the encore. Their new album is their best body of work to date and the chance to see the songs live was a worthwhile experience, though as much as you can believe in the solidity of the set-list which clapped both new and classic issues together into sex-fuelled musical sandwiches, not being part of the atmosphere makes you realise how far on the knife edge The Hives live between genius and insane.
There's so much about them that shouldn't work; the James Brown meeting Mick Jagger front man styles and the AC/DC spinning The Who melodies of their music, it shouldn't work but in the Hives rare and exciting universe it does... but only when you're part of that universe. That's the only way you can explain how so many people worship the ground they walk and spit on while others fob them off as novelty.
With songs like 'Main Offender', 'Two Timing Touch' and 'T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S' they of course are not a novelty act, rather a unique take on a rock show. Down to the traditional dress sense of their onstage personas The Hives have been about flicking that established view of live music on its head. In that regard, this was good a Hives show as ever and for the many within the dancefloor walls would have without question been an occasion to remember as Howlin' Pelle Almqvist laid more eccentric inter-song banter with beyond doubt dynamically grand vocal feats that comprised the richest set list the band have ever had by a long way. No room for the traditional 'A.K.A.I.D.I.O.T.' but nevertheless a completely enthusiastic and sweat stirring show that for a change the whole family could enjoy without being in danger of ending up in hospital.
A real band with real songs to play is always a good thing and while we for once experienced them from a different, and massively maddening angle, we can't deny that their music squeals for itself.
Artists in this article: The Hives
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment