The Swedish rock band served up high-energy garage punk in Brooklyn
Swedish garage rockers The Hives took over Kings Theatre in Brooklyn on Tuesday, delivering a raucous, high-energy set that thrilled the sold-out audience. The band entered the stage to Chopin’s “Marche Funèbre” before segueing into a string of tracks off last year’s LP The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, their first album release in a decade. Midway through their set, charismatic frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist mentioned that he tore his ACL, and requested that the audience to blow on the knee to help heal it. The audience obliged, and afterwards, he asked the crowd to blow on it a second time, beforing declaring it was all better.
The band also raced through all of their early greatest hits, including “Hate To Say I Told You So,” “Main Offender,” “Walk Idiot Walk,” and more, generating some mass crowd singalongs. As always, the band was in tight, energetic form, and Almqvist’s signature banter and sense of humor was on full display as well. “”You want another one? Convince us!” he beckoned to a cheering crowd during the encore. “New York City, come on, don’t be New York Shitty!” he joked cheekily. Another triumphant show from one of Sweden’s most beloved rock bands.
Earlier in the night, Bad Nerves, hailing from Sussex, UK, warmed up the crowd with a terrific opening set of their own. You can scroll through the photos below for all the highlights.
All Photos by Edwina Hay
The Hives
Bad Nerves
