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The Hives + D4 Thebarton Theatre, Sat 22 Oct  "Are
you telling me that Adelaide is only okay now, now that we are here?"
eccentric front man Pelle Almqvist asked to wild cheers and applause.
Indeed, Adelaide is okay, now that The Hives have come and well and
truly conquered. The Adelaide public were treated to (one of) the
best show(s) this year as Almqvist promised, "We're going to make
it eleven out of ten; that's impossible, but we'll do it for you Adelaide."
Earlier on in the night, D4 ran through the opening act motions to a solid crowd but there was nothing worth raving about. If you're a fan of cliched rock then perhaps you got more out of it than me. It's just lucky that The Hives are so all encompassing that one can justify the steep ticket price to see, essentially, one band. The Hives opened with Abra Cadaver, sending the crowd crazy with applause, screams, dancing and laughing which didn't stop until long after A.K.A I-D-I-O-T closed the encore. It was as if every song was the one you were waiting for from Antidote and Main Offender through to No Pun Intended and Hate To Say I Told You So as Almqvist's inter-song banter became increasingly cocky, confusing and hilarious. At one point he tried to explain the inverse correlation between the quality of a city's duct tape and its people - suffice to say Adelaide has poor quality duct tape. 'You've just got to believe me, people of Adelaide!' he implored - and who were we not to trust this rock pose throwing Swedish linguist and his equally dapper and entertaining cohorts? Highlights were hard to single out but the famous freeze frame during Diabolic Scheme was exacted with Madame Taussaud perfection before Almqvist's face broke into a smile and the rock continued with Timing Touch And Broken Bones. As for the encore, I'm surprised that the crowd had any complimentary noise-making left in them for the encore call given Almqvist's constant beckoning throughout the set for more applause, more cheering and more love. The drummer returned to stage and stood smoking a cigarette as we anxiously awaited the next installment of Swedish rock bliss. Almqvist gave us another reason why he loved Adelaide: we had a balcony for men with moustaches - and sure enough, as our gaze swiveled to Thebby's balconies, there were five or more men all with bristling upper lips. It was all over too soon, even after 75 minutes, as Almqvist blew us a kiss. Never have I contributed to a band's ego as much as tonight; but it felt so, so right. Hives are law.  |
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