The Hives – Forum Melbourne
The Hives bring swagger, chaos and unrelenting rock ‘n’ roll to night one in Melbourne.
Returning to Melbourne for the first time in a decade, The Hives delivered their signature blend of wild showmanship, razor-tight riffs and absurdist humour to a sold-out crowd, who were ready to throw themselves headfirst into the loud, fast, and sweaty madness. Equal parts rock concert and theatrical spectacle, the Swedish five-piece proved that even after years away, they haven’t skipped a beat. Melbourne may not have known it needed a proper rock’n’roll sermon – but The Hives delivered one.
Warming things up in perfectly gritty fashion were local punks Split System; kicking the night off with a no-frills, high-energy set that tore through tracks like Chemicals, Bullet, Alone Again, On the Loose, On the Street, and their set-closer End of the Night. With searing guitars and barked vocals akin to IDLES, the band laid the perfect foundation for the mayhem to come.
As the lights dimmed, The Hives stormed out and launched straight into Bogus Operandi, filled with air kicks and mic tricks, instantly signalling this would be no ordinary night of live music.
Before Main Offender, frontman Pelle Almqvist formally introduced the band with a ‘international rock sensation The Hives welcomes you,’ and carried the moment into Rigor Mortis Radio with, ‘it’s great to see us here and it’s great to see you here.’
By the time Walk Idiot Walk kicked off, Pelle was telling the crowd that they are professionals and advising ‘don’t try this at home’ as he played ‘your favourite song from [their] album The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, with Stick Up. The crowd banter from Almqvist was relentless and hilarious throughout the night. Before Go Right Ahead, Almqvist declared that they’d flown 28 hours to be there and asked, ‘anyone been to a Hives concert before? Then fucking act like it’.
They segued into Paint a Picture; keeping the energy high and the volume higher. Enjoying every moment of razzing the crowd, Almqvist told the audience with his tongue in cheek candor, ‘The Sydney crowd was better – and we haven’t even played there yet’. Reminiscing about their last Melbourne appearance opening for AC/DC, they tore through Try It Again and Hate to Say I Told You So, with Almqvist climbing onto the side bar and commanding the room like a ringmaster.
Trapdoor Solution came next. ‘This is the part of the show where the audience is stunned into submission. Push through the sensory overload!’ Almqvist challenged, and the band blitzed through two minutes of no-frills chaos. As one of our highlights of the night, I’m Alive offered a rare pause for sentiment. ‘We are very far away from home… but we feel at home. So happy to be back in Australia.’ After a perfectly timed freeze during Come On!, Almqvist teased the finale: ‘Do you want us to play more? Money will not work. You’re going to have to start paying us in applause and screaming!’ The main set closed with Countdown to Shutdown, complete with a shouted countdown and a final rally cry of ‘Are you ready?!’
After a short break, they returned to close the night with Legalize Living followed by Smoke & Mirrors. The ultimate closer came with Tick Tick Boom, with a mid-song band introduction. Closing the night, we were told ‘Look at us. Who knew it could feel this good? We knew. And now you know’. Describing the show as a three-hour show played twice as fast, the night ended on a high.
The biggest hype men for The Hives… are The Hives. And they’ve earned every bit of it. Melbourne won’t forget this one for a long, long time.