Swedish bite, sharp suits
The Hives sprang from Fagersta, Sweden in the 90s, mixing garage bark with sharp hooks and loud suits. After an 11-year gap between studio albums, their 2023 return with
The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons is the key frame for this run. The myth of Randy Fitzsimmons as their phantom manager and songwriter has long been an in-joke, now folded into fresh songs and stage patter.
Songs built to shout
Expect a sprinting set built for call-and-response, with
Hate To Say I Told You So,
Main Offender, and
Tick Tick Boom almost certain to shake the room. Crowds skew mixed in age, with longtime fans in monochrome fits next to newer faces who found the band through viral clips and the new record. You might notice
The Chats diehards up front, adding pogo energy that pushes tempos without turning careless. Lesser-known note: they often stretch the 1-minute album cut
Come On! into a longer tease live, using silence-and-shout games before the drop. Consider these setlist and production notes as informed guesses, not confirmed plans.
The Hives Crowd: Checkerboard and Good Humor
Monochrome with scuffs
You will see black-and-white outfits, skinny ties, and checkerboard socks echoing the band's stage look, mixed with faded punk tees and scuffed sneakers. The front rows swap smiles more than elbows, with quick hand-ups when someone stumbles and space made for shorter fans between songs. Expect a loud clap pattern before the last chorus of
Tick Tick Boom, plus a roof-raising call on
Hate To Say I Told You So where the mic goes to the crowd.
Chants, claps, and grins
The Chats pockets add hi-vis work shirts, mullets, and a cheeky chorus of
Smoko somewhere in the night. Merch trends lean bold and simple: big block text, monochrome prints, and a few pieces nodding to
The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons. You might catch homemade zines or buttons trading hands, a small reminder that this scene still likes DIY touches. The overall mood is joking but respectful, with strangers trading set predictions and stories about first seeing the band in small clubs.
The Hives: Tight Riffs, Tighter Turns
Riffs like sirens
Pelle Almqvist's vocal is bright and barky, landing right on the beat so the audience can yell the hooks back. Guitars stay treble-forward, with tight downstrokes and quick mute breaks that make the drums snap harder. The band likes stop-start cues where Pelle freezes the room and then kicks the song back at a faster clip. Live,
Tick Tick Boom often gets a breakdown with all instruments cutting while claps and a count build suspense.
Black-and-white flash
Bass holds simple root patterns, which leaves air around the snare and keeps the groove dancing rather than grinding. A small but telling habit: Nicholaus Arson sometimes plays octave lines high on the neck to double the vocal rhythm, which makes choruses pop without adding more chords. Lights are high-contrast and strobe-prone, echoing the black-and-white suits, but the focus stays on the punch of the music. Tempos run quick, yet they leave one or two mid-paced numbers to let the room reset before the finale.
If You Like The Hives, You Might Gravitate Here
Neighboring noise, smart hooks
If you ride for
The Strokes, the tight, catchy guitar lines and clipped rhythms will feel familiar, even if the energy here is rowdier. Fans of
Arctic Monkeys who like their early, fast material will find similar snap, with banter that moves the show along.
IDLES supporters cross over for the communal shouts and the sprinting drums, though
The Hives keep it more playful than bruising.
Fans who like sweat and wit
Amyl and The Sniffers share the Aussie pub-punk crackle that
The Chats bring to this bill, making the night feel like one sweary backyard party. Listeners into
FIDLAR will catch the same jump-ready tempos and singable choruses built for big rooms. All of these acts prize simple parts played with commitment, which suits short songs that hit hard and leave space for crowd noise. If those names read like your playlists, this show sits in that lane without sounding like a copy.
