The Hives, The Grates @ The Hordern, Sydney (28/07/2011)
Photo by Chelsea McIntyre
Oh how we adore this time of year!
Every year, in late July, dozens of overseas bands make the voyage to Australia to play the Splendour in the Grass festival. As a result, those of us in the major capital cities are treated to two weeks of brilliant shows by brilliant artists. Tonight, we bear witness to arguably the most attractive of this year’s bills: Swedish garage rockers The Hives, and established Sydney duo The Grates. With both of these bands having a reputation for putting on an extraordinary live show, the atmosphere at the Enmore Theatre is overflowing with anticipation.
The Grates take the stage to a remarkably sparse crowd for such a high-profile support act. Patience Hodgson and John Patterson are joined on stage by a keyboardist, as well as a brand new drummer, in place of Alana Skyring, who recently ditched the band in favour of cupcakes (can’t blame her). The band kick off their set with the jangly Carve Your Name. Patience is at her bubbly best, bouncing around the stage with vigour and a complete lack of self-consciousness. The crowd reaction is reserved to say the least. Patience’s constant attempts to spur the crowd into action seem to be falling on deaf ears for most off the set. She doesn’t appear phased though, continuing to jump around the stage, completely oblivious to the unresponsiveness of the crowd.
As the band work their way through an extensive selection of cuts from their three studio albums, one thing that becomes apparent is the energy of each and every band member. There is no doubt that these guys enjoy performing, the drummer consistently matching Patience’s enthusiasm with every thrash of his cymbals. Patience also seems genuinely excited at the prospect of the audience witnessing the Hives perform – “All the girls will get pregnant and all the guys will get boners!” she quips.
Love or hate their music, you have to acknowledge that The Grates are second to none when it comes to crowd interaction. Towards the end of the set, Patience makes a point of singling out a punter, assuring him that she will get him a free beer at some point in the evening. Sure enough, during the next song, Patience crowd-surfs her way over to the back of the room and hands the man a drink. It is at this point in the set that the crowd realises that they are witnessing one of the best live acts this country has ever produced, and suddenly, the atmosphere changes. The floor is now rampant with energy, and as Aw Yeah blasts over the PA, the Grates are finally receiving the reaction they deserve.
Closing their set with recent single Turn Me On, it’s clear that it would be difficult for any artist to top a performance like this. But if there’s anyone who can do it – it’s The Hives.
Making their way onstage in front of a rather disturbing backdrop of Howlin’ Pete Almqvist glaring menacingly at the audience, The Hives immediately send the now sizeable crowd into rapture. Opening their set with Come On, before launching into crowd favourite Main Offender, The Hives command the audience to lift their energy levels to “upwards of two-hundred percent”. And lift they do, with the theatre floor now absorbing the impact of a thousand stomping feet.
Howlin’ Pete is a frontman of the highest calibre, on the same level as the likes of Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop or Dave Grohl, constantly hyping up the crowd with sometimes comprehensible and always hilarious anecdotes. Almqvist isn’t left to do all the heavy lifting though, with his brother Nicholaus throwing himself violently around the stage – an entertaining sight to behold.
Credit must also be given to the dedicated crowd, who maintain their energy levels throughout the hour-long set of hits including Die, All Right!, Walk Idiot Walk and No Pun Intended. An atmosphere as electric as this occurs very rarely, and requires full commitment from not only the artist, but also the audience. Both parties are giving it their all tonight. They don’t even slow down when the band experiments with new material.
It’s not until the end of the set that The Hives hit their peak though. Halfway through a lively rendition of Tick Tick Boom, Howlin’ Pete yells “Shut the fuck up while I talk!”, before ordering every single punter on the Enmore Theatre floor to sit down. And when Howlin’ Pete tells you to do something – you do it! As the song reaches its climax, the audience erupt to their feet. It’s this kind of crowd interaction that sets the Hives apart from their peers.
The Hives exit to deafening applause, before returning to the stage and giving one very lucky fan the experience of a lifetime – allowing him to play bass on the band’s signature hit Hate to Say I Told You So. He does a pretty good job, and is presented with bassist Dr. Matt Destruction’s white vest as a reward for his effort.
“We’ll come back as long as you’ll have us,” Howlin’ Pete proclaims appreciatively at the conclusion of the show. It’s safe to say that we’d have them back next week if possible. As the house lights are turned back on and the almost-capacity crowd swarm out of the exits of the theatre, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single face without a smile on it. The feeling this show leaves with its audience is not one of admiration or fulfilment – it’s one of gratitude, to both The Hives and The Grates, indulging us in possibly the gig of the year.
Andy Chalmers
Check out photos from the Adelaide gig here!
Every year, in late July, dozens of overseas bands make the voyage to Australia to play the Splendour in the Grass festival. As a result, those of us in the major capital cities are treated to two weeks of brilliant shows by brilliant artists. Tonight, we bear witness to arguably the most attractive of this year’s bills: Swedish garage rockers The Hives, and established Sydney duo The Grates. With both of these bands having a reputation for putting on an extraordinary live show, the atmosphere at the Enmore Theatre is overflowing with anticipation.
The Grates take the stage to a remarkably sparse crowd for such a high-profile support act. Patience Hodgson and John Patterson are joined on stage by a keyboardist, as well as a brand new drummer, in place of Alana Skyring, who recently ditched the band in favour of cupcakes (can’t blame her). The band kick off their set with the jangly Carve Your Name. Patience is at her bubbly best, bouncing around the stage with vigour and a complete lack of self-consciousness. The crowd reaction is reserved to say the least. Patience’s constant attempts to spur the crowd into action seem to be falling on deaf ears for most off the set. She doesn’t appear phased though, continuing to jump around the stage, completely oblivious to the unresponsiveness of the crowd.
As the band work their way through an extensive selection of cuts from their three studio albums, one thing that becomes apparent is the energy of each and every band member. There is no doubt that these guys enjoy performing, the drummer consistently matching Patience’s enthusiasm with every thrash of his cymbals. Patience also seems genuinely excited at the prospect of the audience witnessing the Hives perform – “All the girls will get pregnant and all the guys will get boners!” she quips.
Love or hate their music, you have to acknowledge that The Grates are second to none when it comes to crowd interaction. Towards the end of the set, Patience makes a point of singling out a punter, assuring him that she will get him a free beer at some point in the evening. Sure enough, during the next song, Patience crowd-surfs her way over to the back of the room and hands the man a drink. It is at this point in the set that the crowd realises that they are witnessing one of the best live acts this country has ever produced, and suddenly, the atmosphere changes. The floor is now rampant with energy, and as Aw Yeah blasts over the PA, the Grates are finally receiving the reaction they deserve.
Closing their set with recent single Turn Me On, it’s clear that it would be difficult for any artist to top a performance like this. But if there’s anyone who can do it – it’s The Hives.
Making their way onstage in front of a rather disturbing backdrop of Howlin’ Pete Almqvist glaring menacingly at the audience, The Hives immediately send the now sizeable crowd into rapture. Opening their set with Come On, before launching into crowd favourite Main Offender, The Hives command the audience to lift their energy levels to “upwards of two-hundred percent”. And lift they do, with the theatre floor now absorbing the impact of a thousand stomping feet.
Howlin’ Pete is a frontman of the highest calibre, on the same level as the likes of Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop or Dave Grohl, constantly hyping up the crowd with sometimes comprehensible and always hilarious anecdotes. Almqvist isn’t left to do all the heavy lifting though, with his brother Nicholaus throwing himself violently around the stage – an entertaining sight to behold.
Credit must also be given to the dedicated crowd, who maintain their energy levels throughout the hour-long set of hits including Die, All Right!, Walk Idiot Walk and No Pun Intended. An atmosphere as electric as this occurs very rarely, and requires full commitment from not only the artist, but also the audience. Both parties are giving it their all tonight. They don’t even slow down when the band experiments with new material.
It’s not until the end of the set that The Hives hit their peak though. Halfway through a lively rendition of Tick Tick Boom, Howlin’ Pete yells “Shut the fuck up while I talk!”, before ordering every single punter on the Enmore Theatre floor to sit down. And when Howlin’ Pete tells you to do something – you do it! As the song reaches its climax, the audience erupt to their feet. It’s this kind of crowd interaction that sets the Hives apart from their peers.
The Hives exit to deafening applause, before returning to the stage and giving one very lucky fan the experience of a lifetime – allowing him to play bass on the band’s signature hit Hate to Say I Told You So. He does a pretty good job, and is presented with bassist Dr. Matt Destruction’s white vest as a reward for his effort.
“We’ll come back as long as you’ll have us,” Howlin’ Pete proclaims appreciatively at the conclusion of the show. It’s safe to say that we’d have them back next week if possible. As the house lights are turned back on and the almost-capacity crowd swarm out of the exits of the theatre, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single face without a smile on it. The feeling this show leaves with its audience is not one of admiration or fulfilment – it’s one of gratitude, to both The Hives and The Grates, indulging us in possibly the gig of the year.
Andy Chalmers
Check out photos from the Adelaide gig here!