Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Hives: Best in Sweden

When asked, the Hives will say that they are the best rock band in all of Sweden, maybe even the planet. For sure, they are the biggest smartasses. “First, you will clap,” singer Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist once demanded of a Street Scene audience. “Then and only then will there be music. And if there is not enough clapping, there will be no more music.”

The rock press is infatuated with the Swedish rockers. In 2006 they made #8 on Spin’s list of the 25 Best Current Live Bands, sandwiched between heavies Green Day and Prince. Two years before that, the Hives made the cover of Spin, posters of which are still available for $19.99 on eBay. Not bad for a band from a Swedish town with a population less than that of Lakeside’s. But here is where it gets weird: after all is said and done, the Hives — dapper in their matching bellhop’s suits — are in truth a smoking-hot garage band doing a parody of a smoking-hot garage band.

Sponsored
Sponsored

In 2000, the New Rock Revolution was a tense scene that dumped a lot of self-involved post-punk acts on global pop culture all at the same time. Consider the Vines, the Strokes, the White Stripes, and Jet. The Hives were two albums old by then but hadn’t yet been invited to the bigger stage. When they finally did, they were easy to tell apart from the rest: the Hives were amusing, and they played tighter, brighter, and quicker than anyone. As a rock unit, they embodied neither angst nor vices. They were badass musicians but seemed that they couldn’t care less. Most important? To have a good time, to screw with an audience, to avoid understatement at all cost. In this way the Hives, unlike their hackneyed contemporaries, grew to become larger than life — if only for brief moments, onstage.

THE HIVES: Belly Up, Tuesday, April 17, 9 p.m. 858-481-8140. $23.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Next Article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema

When asked, the Hives will say that they are the best rock band in all of Sweden, maybe even the planet. For sure, they are the biggest smartasses. “First, you will clap,” singer Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist once demanded of a Street Scene audience. “Then and only then will there be music. And if there is not enough clapping, there will be no more music.”

The rock press is infatuated with the Swedish rockers. In 2006 they made #8 on Spin’s list of the 25 Best Current Live Bands, sandwiched between heavies Green Day and Prince. Two years before that, the Hives made the cover of Spin, posters of which are still available for $19.99 on eBay. Not bad for a band from a Swedish town with a population less than that of Lakeside’s. But here is where it gets weird: after all is said and done, the Hives — dapper in their matching bellhop’s suits — are in truth a smoking-hot garage band doing a parody of a smoking-hot garage band.

Sponsored
Sponsored

In 2000, the New Rock Revolution was a tense scene that dumped a lot of self-involved post-punk acts on global pop culture all at the same time. Consider the Vines, the Strokes, the White Stripes, and Jet. The Hives were two albums old by then but hadn’t yet been invited to the bigger stage. When they finally did, they were easy to tell apart from the rest: the Hives were amusing, and they played tighter, brighter, and quicker than anyone. As a rock unit, they embodied neither angst nor vices. They were badass musicians but seemed that they couldn’t care less. Most important? To have a good time, to screw with an audience, to avoid understatement at all cost. In this way the Hives, unlike their hackneyed contemporaries, grew to become larger than life — if only for brief moments, onstage.

THE HIVES: Belly Up, Tuesday, April 17, 9 p.m. 858-481-8140. $23.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema
Next Article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.