Photo Credit: Joe Oates
THE HIVES made sure their day off wasn’t wasted when Storm Kathleen shook the Irish Sea and forced a few bands to postpone their journeys across, leading to the cancellation or rescheduling of live events. The iconic venue The Leadmill played host to a one-off last minute performance from the Swedish rock ‘n’ rollers for an intimate set in Sheffield. It has been 22 years since they last performed there and not only will they be displaying their usual incredible show, but also will treat fans to a number of brand-new songs from their most recent album, ‘The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons‘.
The men in suits marched onto the stage, and the Swedes were greeted with a thunderous roar, fitting for such a historic event. The packed out room went crazy when they opened with their current record’s lead single, ‘Bogus Operandi‘ to kick off the night. The crowd went wild when ‘Main Offender‘, made an early appearance in the set, which cranked up the heat even more to get everyone dancing.
The infectious camaraderie of leader Pelle is a major source of entertainment value for every performance THE HIVES undertake worldwide, and this particular night was no exception. Even though it was a humorous comment, he was absolutely correct when he said, “we haven’t played here in 22 years, that is because we got too big for these venues and went on to take the world.” The remainder of the show featured a combination of ‘Randy Fitzsimmons‘ songs and other cult favourites, with ‘Good Samaritan‘ standing out as a highlight towards the middle of the evening to keep the crowd energised.
Photo Credit: Joe Oates
In addition to staring down every member of the audience and hurling guitar picks whenever he could, guitarist Nicholaus Arson alternated between the stage and the ideally positioned flight case in the photo pit. Throughout, he maintained his customary high-energy stage presence. When THE HIVES‘ debut single ‘Hate to Say I Told You So‘ made an early appearance on the night, it was greeted with a tremendous scream, constant sing-alongs, and plenty of movement around the pit. Howlin’ Pelle continued strutting around the stage, jumping and kicking at every possible moment.
The band exited the stage after concluding their set with ‘Countdown to Shutdown‘ and it wasn’t long until the Yorkshire chants came flooding in. However, THE HIVES performed better, delivering three more songs. Their wishes were soon granted as Chris Dangerous emerged from the wings to urge the Sheffield crowd to keep chanting, whilst the remaining members gradually re-appeared to deliver three more songs.
The encore kicked off with ‘Come On!’ and the crowd picked up exactly where they left off as the continued jumping across the dancefloor. THE HIVES quickly moved onto ‘Tick Tick Boom‘, which was extended in the customary way to let Howlin’ Pelle introduce the band and part the room like Moses did with the Red Sea, sprinting through the middle as the chorus kicked in one last time.
Although THE HIVES may not play in Sheffield again for quite some time, many people will never forget this one-time, spontaneous concert.
Taped Magazine 