Etikett: Hives

Top 1 album of 2023.

It’s been long overdue, but here it is. Short, and sweet. My favourite album from last year, 2023, that is.

It came out of nowhere, from a long hiatus of music releases from the band. I wasn’t sure that they would ever release new music, since 11 years passed from their latest studio release, before the release of this album.

Alright, that’s enough beating around the bush. My favourite album of 2023 is The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons by The Hives. As written above, the album was released 11 years after Lex Hives was released.

The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons is a classic, and a perfect The Hives album. I want to preface this with saying that i’ve loved The Hives since i was a child, and i’ve had the great fortune of seeing them play live twice. Once in 2014, and another time in 2022. I still refer to the 2014 Hives-gig as the best concert i’ve been to – and i’ve been to atleast over a hundred shows by now.

So, when i saw that The Hives was releasing new music, i was excited, but also a bit scared, since it’s been so long since they released new studio music. Time passed, the album was released and i saw that the swedish music magazine Gaffa gave the new The Hives album a perfect score, 6/6, and that surprised me, and reinforced my scare of the new album – as me and Gaffa does not very often see eye to eye on new releases.

A bit worried, i decided to give the new album, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons a chance. And i was blown away. It was a perfect The Hives album. I listened to it like four times, back to back, to try and find something wrong. But i couldn’t find it.

The album is 12 song long and spans 31 minutes and 32 seconds. And it contains all the elements that makes a Hives album, a Hives album. From punk that feels like shoving your face into a brick wall, to the gentler parts, that build up to the crescendo of the tracks.

Seeing people posting their top 10 album of the year-lists, and music magazine making their lists, made me realize that i do listen to a lot of music – but i rarely listen to new releases. It’s something that i need to improve, and that is something i am going to try and do this year.

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

200822 – The Hives – Live

This will be a brief review from saturday when The Hives played a live show in central Stockholm.

Last week Stockholms kulturfestival (Stockholm festival of Culture), took place over several days within the central parts of Stockholm. There were live concerts, standup comedy, food trucks, beer tents and everything imaginable that falls under the ”culture umbrella”. And the beauty of the whole festival is that it’s free of admission.

I saw The Hives at Bråvalla 2014, and i consider that the best live performance i’ve ever been to, they put on a show like no one else does. So, when i saw that The Hives would play a free show in Stockholm i convinced a couple of friends that we should attend.

The scene was put up at Gustav Adolfs torg, right next to Kungsträdgården, in front of the Opera and inbetween The royal castle and The Parliament. About as a central of a location you can have in Stockholm. The Hives is rather interesting because they’re big in Sweden, but a million times bigger abroad, than at home.

They played a very Hive-esque set, fast paced songs, with showmanship inbetween the songs, and during the songs. The whole band is very fun to watch, as it seems as they have a good time performing. And Howlin’ Pelle might just be the most charismatic front man in the music scene.

The Hives performed all their biggest hits and it was very good. They had an encore. The show featured a lot of the same things that i partook in when i saw The Hives perform in 2014, so their performance is very tight, as they’ve perfected it over several years of performing.

I recommend anyone that has the possibility to watch The Hives perform, to take the possibility as they put on a show like no one else does. It’s very fun. I have a hard time scoring this set, but i’d give it a steady 8/10.

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.