Hives Roll Call

wow - quite a show - any band who can get a DC crowd jumping around like that has my enduring respect - twas lots o fun at the front

good music, great showmanship - the lead singer is freakin hilarious

Great show. I had a big grin the whole time.

Did anyone else see Pelle standing at the backdoor immediately after the show, thanking people for coming?

A few of the guys were back there, thanking folks. It was a great show. Sahara Hotnights were a tad bland for my taste, but I oh so needed a good dose of loud punky music in my diet. The Hives were great.

All three bands performing last night were top-notch. Pelle is an excellent showman along the lines of Mick and JB. The Hotnights were fast and loose and sexy as all hell. The Reigning Sound were also impressive and I intend to cop one of their records.

Wow. What a show! This one was even better than their last one at the Black Cat several years ago. Unbelievable. Front and center is where i was and it was great. Got to grab onto Pele a few times too. Okay, so i got banged in the head with a few elbows and I think someone felt me up :eek: but hey, it's rock and roll right? Besides, I got an autographed post poster pre-show and Nick Arson gave me one of his picks before they left the stage. Just handed it right to me. Just wished i could have stuck around later.

I was really astounded – people kept saying they put on a great show, but I didn't think it would be that good. I'm not a huge fan; I have VVV but never listen to it. DAMN-olicious, they were great, with energy and personality that filled the whole damn club. And hilarious. "Washington, Deee Ceee…" How many times did he say that? And Nicholas – that man stands between songs with a shit-eating grin that says, "hey, I'm cool – I *know* I have the biggest dick in the room."

I can't believe Pelle was ever *more* Jagger-esque. That's scary.

And Sahara Hotnights brought nothing to the show, I thought. For a group with energetic songs, they got *one* person in that crowd moving. Granted, I was upstairs for this show (not my norm, but some friends wanted to be up there), and there was no energy whatsoever. Had me worried about the Hives set – I was ready to move downstairs by myself, but no need. The whole place rocked for nearly their entire show. Glad there was enough buzz here on the forum to get my bad self over to the club to get tickets a couple weeks ago.

Oh, and hey, who was the luckiest gal at the show? ME, I got this bitchin' Exit Clov CD on my way out of the club…

Originally posted by Bagalicious Tangster:
And Nicholas – that man stands between songs with a shit-eating grin that says, "hey, I'm cool – I *know* I have the biggest dick in the room."

<img src="http://www.hivesmusic.com/images/newsphoto_03.jpg" alt=" - " />

Originally posted by Bagalicious Tangster:
Oh, and hey, who was the luckiest gal at the show? ME, I got this bitchin' Exit Clov CD on my way out of the club…

Ah, the little things in life.

Great show, many thanks to Kosmo for hooking me up with a ticket.

I liked Reigning Sound mostly because the songs were very simple, but they came across well. The singer/guitarist looks like an average-at-best guitar player, but he pulled it off anyway. If they keep getting better, they could make a go at it.

Sahara Hotnights were pretty flat. Thing is, they all seem pretty skilled with their instruments, and the songs seem to be well constructed, but it just comes off as flat. The vocals are waaaay too screechy, for one thing. When I saw them a year or two ago as a headliner at Black Cat, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Last night, not so much.

And the Hives were great. Again, it was hard to really hear the vocals (and this was from a front-and-center balcony spot), so the new songs didn't always move me, but the hits from VVV and Barely Legal definitely came across. They're a great band, lots of fun to see, and I was also grinning and laughing the whole time.

Great way to spend 16 bucks.

The Reigning Sounds' drummer looked as if he came straight from the office to the show.

Originally posted by Random Citizen:
The Reigning Sounds' drummer looked as if he came straight from the office to the show.

My sentiments exactly. I expected him to pull out a laptop or something. Why was he the only one wearing a suit? Kinda distracting to me.

I loved the show. They are such a fun band, and Pelle's comments always make me laugh out loud. Loved the posturing. Loved the tunes (new ones included). (I had forgotten just how much I love Main Offender.) My favorite moment of the night was when Pelle said, "I've been watching the news here. No honestly, I have. I am being completely serious. So I have been watching the news, and I think you all have been (screams) OUTSMARTED!" Great, great segueway into a song. Pelle reminds me of an evangelical preacher.
I did not like Sahara Hotnights at all. I found the tunes incredibly flat. And I was disappointed by The Reigning Sound as well. I guess I was expecting something different from them. But The Hives delivered!

Originally posted by kurosawa-b/w:
[QBPelle's comments always make me laugh out loud[/QB]

I laughed out loud myself, a number of times. I loved it when Pelle looked at Nicholas and said, "Nicholas, give them some candy. Give Washington, DC, some candy…" WAAAAHHHHH, into Main Offender…

I'm assuming you were way up front, Kurosawa…?

Great show. They're great performers. Reigning Sound was good too, but sahara hotnights sucked.

i was there for the reigning sound, and i thought they totally kicked ass. 25 minutes of pure r&b-influenced, raw garage. greg cartwright, the singer/guitarist, has been doing this stuff for well over a decade, and though his abilities on guitar may be limited, he writes amazing songs and has more soul than five average garage rock bands combined. i last saw him with the oblivians on their 1997 farewell tour, and the reigning sound rarely tours, so i was completely satisfied.

i saw about three sahara hotnights songs before i left to go to the black cat. they were catchy and poppy but nothing extraordinary. at least they're superior to the donnas.

i saw the ponys over the hives, and i'm glad that i did. they proved that in the red has never signed a crappy band, and probably never will. they are a quartet comprised of two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer, and they all take turns playing a farfisa (except for the drummer). one of the guitarists played a rickenbacker, and their chord progressions mixed classic jangly folk-rock with snarling upbeat garage-rockers. my only criticism was that the drummer had a pretty weak sound.

thee snuff project opened and served up a strong set of their own style of garage-psych. those of you who like the carlsonics should do yourself a favor and see thee snuff project next time they play.

Originally posted by Bagalicious Tangster:

I'm assuming you were way up front, Kurosawa…?

No, with my injured foot, I was safely tucked away in the balcony. But front row balcony!

And Snailhook, please bring The Ponys to the Warehouse. I was really sorry to miss them!

I was up on the balcony, but middle row of the steps on the left (facing the stage) – didn't see anyone, but didn't look as I figured most of you were tucked up close to the stage…. Sorry about your foot – looks like you really banged it up! Blech…

Sounds like a bunch of us injured folks were at the show and in the balcony. I got there early enough that I got one of the bar stools (dead center) at the upstairs bar. The arm in a brace and sling would have not done well on the rail where I usually hang out.

From the Washington Post:

Sweden's Hives, Itching to Play at the 9:30 Club

Thursday, July 22, 2004; Page C10


There's one conspicuous difference between the two Swedish bands that performed Tuesday night at the 9:30 club: The Hives are showmen and Sahara Hotnights are songwriters.

The headliners took the stage in matching two-tone outfits – black shirts, white jackets, black pants, white shoes – as a neon sign proclaimed "The Hives." The quintet essentially updates the Ramones formula, playing old-timey rock faster and harder than any '50s rockabilly cat could have imagined. But where Joey Ramone was coolly detached, Hives frontman Pelle Almqvist is a hyped-up huckster, extolling his band's greatness after every number. Some of those songs – notably "Missing Link" and "Dead Quote Olympics" – were pretty catchy, but the band relied more on swagger than melody. Borrowing heavily from Mick Jagger and James Brown, Almqvist was a dynamic yet overly self-conscious presence. He kept the 50-minute show moving briskly, while carefully avoiding spontaneity.

The music of Sahara Hotnights is a dissertation in punk, glitter and classic rock, as thoroughly footnoted as that of the Hives. From pithy guitar riffs to unison choruses, however, the quartet's music is much better endowed with hooks. Paced by sprightly tunes including "Walking on the Wire" and "Difference Between Love and Hell," the band's 35-minute set never faltered.

Still, Hotnights would be livelier onstage if singer-guitarist Maria Andersson weren't so dominant. The group doesn't need identical costumes, but a little more interplay between the musicians would make them more interesting to watch.

The show opened with a Memphis trio, the Reigning Sound. In some other context, its twangy but near-tuneless retro-rock might have been refreshing, but on this bill the Sound was just more evidence that American rock inspiration has been outsourced.

– Mark Jenkins

Just watched the video for "Walk, Idiot, Walk" on Yahoo! Launch. Very cool video to check out.

I haven't seen MTV2 in a while, so I'm not sure if this is in rotation on there or not.