Tick Tick Boom! The Hives blow up the Rave.

Pompous Swedish attitudes, sharp clothing, blistering punk rock songs. Who else could I be talking about but the Hives. May 18th they headlined a fantastic show at The Rave/Eagles Club in Milwaukee Wisconsin which goes into the books as one of my top favourite concerts of all time.

 The opening band Locksley came on about 15 minutes late, which pissed off a good amount of the crowd. You could hear the yells "You're late" from some of the fine gentlemen of Milwaukee. The band seemed to have a good response from the ladies though. They weren't the worst opening band in the world, but they sound way better on their myspace.

After a very long period between set ups, The Hives finally took the stage. As soon as their signature red neon sign lit up, everyone took out their camera phones and started snapping pictures. The intro music was an instrumental song from their latest The Black and White album called " A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors". They opened with "Hey Little World" which is also off of the new album. Following that was "Main Offender" from Veni Vidi Vicious.  "Main Offender" is one of two Hives songs off that Godawful Rock Band gamers are obsessed with, so you can imagine how excited the crowd got. The Hives exploded a 65-minute set including other fantastic numbers like "Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones", "Die, Alright!" "You Dress Up For Armageddon" "Walk Idiot Walk" and a slew of others. 

After finishing "Won't Be Long", Howlin' Pelle (which maybe one of the best front men of all time") stated to the audience "One, it was fantastic. Two, there seemed to be a shortage of claps. Three, I will give you another chance to clap louder". The crowed roared and clapped as loud as they could. Pelle exclaims "Okay good, everything is restored to order".

They returned for an encore which included  "Bigger Hole To Fill",  "Hate to Say I Told You So" and "Return The Favour". Pelle asked the audience after finishing "Hate to Say I told You So" "Now how the Hell do we follow up THAT?!", right before going into "Return The Favour". 

If there is one band to see in your life time, go see The Hives. Even if you only know "Hate to Say I Told You So", it's an amazing experience. They interact a ton with their crowd from Howlin' Pelle getting into the crowd singing, to Chris Dangerous throwing out drum stick after drum stick. They are still on tour so if they come to your town, go enjoy yourself.