The Hives @ Montreux

Last Friday it was The Hives in concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Knowing how well these guys entertain I was really up for it.

At exactly midnight, the lights turned off, the exact time we got into the concert room. Without any hesitations, these five blokes from Sweden just hit it off. Rif after rif with explosive rhythms and Howlin Pelle Almqvist as if he fell into a tub of RedBull when he was a kid.

They were all dressed up as usual. 50's black and white boots, black pants, black shirts, white jackets and a white bootlace tie. And of course some grease in the hair. Drummer Chris Dangerous even had a comb for which he combed his hair in between songs. During the show these attire were taken off one by one until they were all just in their black shirts, untucked from their trousers.

The amount of energy they put in the show is amazing. Having energetic songs helps of course. It was just one guitar riff after the other. Songs like Walk Idiot Walk and Hate To Say I Told You So made the crowd go wild. And the pace was frenetic!

Too bad they didn't play Supply And Demand, but they played almost every other songs. With their pace it wasn't surprising that after one hour they have finished their set and encore.

After that everyone was on a high from The Hives.

"Welcome to our show tonight. We are the Hives" - Howlin' Pelle Almqvist