Last Night's Gig: The Hives at Alte Börse in Zürich

Finally had a chance to take in a band I've been wanting to see live for about 6 years.

I first heard the Hives on their breakout Vini Vidi Vicious album (which I bought at one of those great HMV 2 for $20 sales) and since then I have been a fan. They are from Sweden but on the back of some great garage rock sounds and a great live show they are pretty popular across Europe and North America. Although they have toured in Canada before it has always been one night stops in Vancouver and Toronto, both a bit out of the way for me. So when I saw they were playing Zürich, I bought a ticket right away. It was a bit pricey (59 CHF) but when I considered what it would have cost to go to Toronto to see them play, it wasn't that bad.

The concert was interestingly scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM and I made the mistake of thinking they would be late starting. Never assume the Swiss will be anything but punctual. So when I rolled in at 8:30 PM, the bar was packed and about 5 minutes after I arrived the Hives took the stage. So I missed the opener, but thankfully didn't miss any of the Hives set.

If you know the Hives, then you know most of their songs aren't much longer than three and a half minutes, so the just under two hour set was pretty good. The band all dresses up in the same suit type black and white clothing which looked very cool. They played all their big hits (satrting with Here We Go Again) and the lead singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist has stage presence to spare. He really interacted well with the crowd and had everyone yelling and screaming and clapping their hands. They finished with Tick Tick Boom in their encore and the place was going nuts...wish I could have been closer to the stage, but my late arrival prevented that.

The only complaints I had about the concert were due to the venue. The concert was at about 10 PM (way too early) because the place becomes a club afterwards. As well, the smoking inside is terrible. Once again, I came out smelling like an ashtray and at leats a year off my life expectancy because of second-hand smoke inhalation.

Great show though and if you get a chance to see them live, go for it. You won't be disappointed.