Live Recap: The Hives and The Chats at Salt Shed
“We are The Hives and we have played a great fucking show,” exclaimed the band’s frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist (that’s totally the name on his birth certificate, right?) near the end of their performance on Thursday night—and I, along with the sold-out crowd at Salt Shed, can agree with a resounding yes.
The performances on Thursday night may have been nothing but pure and utter rock and roll, but for those of us with strict bedtimes, the show fortunately kicked off at a school-night friendly start time of 7:15PM on the dot with a support set from Australia’s The Chats. The trio got the stage and the audience perfectly primed and warmed up for an explosive evening with a 45-minute set that managed to jam in 18 fast-paced tunes. While The Chats powered through their high energy set, the audience matched their tone and started a circle pit and crowd surfing. Near the end of the set, the band welcomed Sarah Greenwell from the band Gymshorts to perform the song “Heaps New York.” Fittingly, The Chats followed that up with their popular tune “Smoko” but introduced it as “Heaps Queensland.” When it came time for them to leave the stage, the audience chanted for “one more song,” which is a rare occurrence for an opener, but much deserved for The Chats!
The room continued to buzz with anticipation until the lights dimmed for the main act, and The Hives hit the ground running, keeping their feet on the gas for a 90-minute rousing and raucous show. The band members all donned matching suits that sported a lit-up strip, which was fitting because their energy was so electric.
As the band launched into their song “Enough is Enough” from their 2025 album The Hives The Hives Forever Forever the Hives, the fans at the front of the barricade began bouncing up and down and singing along with Almqvist. The frontman never neglected any one corner of the room for long; he worked his way up and back across the stage, at some points even hopping off the stage to join the fans in the front along the barricade. When he was onstage, Almqvist jumped, high-kicked and swung his microphone around by the cord to pump even more life into the band’s lively sound. The singer egged on the crowd saying, “We don’t do music here. We do rock and roll. I can see you as much as you can see me, and I can hear you as much as you can hear me.” He also told everyone “when in doubt, make some fucking noise,” and the audience didn’t shy away from showering the Salt Shed with cheers and screams— not to mention, moshing and crowd surfing during several points of the show.
As The Hives ventured through their seven-album discography during the set, it felt like we also got a comedy set in between songs with the colorful banter delivered by Almqvist. One of my favorite moments was when the band introduced their song “Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones” as the tune that was included in the setlist from a poll, Almqvist said “You’ve already seen all the rock and roll that we owed you for the ticket money. The rest of it is as you do in America, is called a tip. From us to you! 20% extra, or double the tax.” He even acknowledged that he has to have these talking breaks between songs to keep up the pace for their equipment because the band goes that hard on it (if that’s not an endorsement that The Hives give their all for every performance, I don’t know what is!)
Following that part of the set, the band still delivered a handful of songs, with the cherry on top moment happening during the hit “Tick Tick Boom.” While the band played, Almqvist hopped off the stage and over the barricade this time, making his way to the center of the room for a crescendoing climax of the song. After a call-and-response chant of the bridge, Almqvist catapulted his way through the tunnel path he left in the audience and ran back to the stage to wrap up the main act of the show.
Naturally, the audience couldn’t get enough a demanded an encore from The Hives, who gladly obliged and returned for three more songs; ultimately wrapping with the title track of their last album.
Needless to say, and I can’t stress this enough, if you haven’t seen The Hives, you’re missing out an essential experience in life. They’re one of those bands that set the expectations of live musical performances high and continue to hit the mark again and again for over three decades. The Hives deliver evocative and electrifying entertainment from start to finish.
If you missed out on this tour, check out photos from the show at Salt Shed below and be sure to keep an eye out for an upcoming show near you.
