24 July 2025 – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Bec Harbour
It’s been almost a decade since Swedish garage rockers The Hives have been in Australia. After an incredibly successful support slot, opening for ACDC in December of 2015, the return of The World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band has been long overdue. But now, they’re back in Australia for a run of shows that since they were announced, have been some of the most anticipated shows in recent memory. And not only are they returning to Australia with one new record of material, but two. The band drop a brand new record next month, and the Australian shows were some of the first audiences in the world to hear these songs live.
But before the greatest band ever could come on stage, we were gifted with an amazing support act, in the form of Sydney based punk rockers, CLAMM. Jamming 30 minutes with quality tunes, banter, and a lot of comedy, CLAMM was a tonne of fun. Lead singer Jack Summers commented on Fortitude Valley being the cultural hub of Australia, which at first I was unsure if that was a joke or not. Before he really tuned the comedy up. He continuously plugged the band’s headline show at Black Bear Lodge in a few weeks, which apparently has only sold 17 tickets. And they really want to come back. They did a cool little dedication to Ozzy Osbourne during the show too, and played some banger tracks like ‘No Idea’, ‘Disembodiment’, ‘Bear the Brunt’, and ‘Pigs Don’t Read’. If you missed them tonight, the Black Bear Lodge show definitely would be something I would recommend.
CLAMM – FMH – photos by Bec Harbour
After CLAMM left the stage, five massive balloons appeared on stage, spelling out HIVES. And as soon as 9pm hit, the self proclaimed worlds greatest rock band walked out on stage to a massive ovation. The set featured a lot of tracks from the bands 2022 record, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, with a balance of throwback classics, and even some songs from the bands upcoming release, The Hives Forever Forever The Hives. The show opened with ‘Bogus Operandi’, before blasting into ‘Main Offender’. As to be expected, the crowd was hot for the older songs. But they were just as excited and amped for the newer material, which sometimes you rarely see. The Hives fans love The Hives.
The Hives – FMH – photos by Bec Harbour
Lead singer Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist then shouted to the crowd that finally, The Hives are back in our city. Almqvist spoke about how much the band loves Australia, and bands like ACDC. More specifically, how much they love Brisbane, and the music that has come from this wonderful city, like The Saints. Almqvist then mentioned they were going to play the crowd’s favorite song from the latest record, in ‘Rigor Mortis Radio’. There was a tonne of audience participation for classic track ‘Walk Idiot Walk’, and during ‘Stick Up’, I’m pretty sure the band had a heckler. Almqvist cut an impassioned speech about how the band earned the stage they were on, and if people wanted time on the mic to talk to the crowd, to make a band and earn it like they did, before finishing the song.
The Hives – FMH – photos by Bec Harbour
Almqvist spoke about the upcoming record, The Hives Forever Forever The Hives, dropping next month. The band then launched into the first track off the record, ‘Enough is Enough’, which was my first taste of the new material. I gotta say, I love the sound of it live, and it makes me super excited for August 29th. Almqvist asked the crowd how it felt for The Hives to be back, and he mentioned he’d been waiting for this moment. Waiting for about 20 hours or so, which drew a big laugh from the crowd. The crowd did a big singalong into ‘Go Right Ahead’, before Almqvist asked “do you all know this one?” as the intro to ‘Hate to Say I Told You So’ rang out through the Music Hall. They blitzed through a run of amazing songs, like ‘Trapdoor Solution’, ‘I’m Alive’, ‘Paint a Picture’, and ‘Come On!’, before asking if Brisbane was ready to say goodbye to The Hives. Almqvist mentioned they wrote a song for moments like this, as he lead a countdown from 10, into ‘Countdown to Shutdown’.
The Hives – FMH – photos by Bec Harbour
The band left the stage, as massive Hives chants flooded the Fortitude Music Hall. They walked back out for the encore of ‘Legalize Living’ and ‘Smoke & Mirrors’. Almqvist then spoke for a bit about how all the favorite songs have been played, and now, Brisbane feels good again. He also apologized for the nine and a half year wait for the band to come back, succinctly saying “Sorry about that. That shit was fucking ridiculous”. The band then played their final song of the night, ‘Tick Tick Boom’. For a song that only goes for about 2 and a half minutes normally, the live version went for about 15, as in the middle of the show, Almqvist did band introductions, and between every member, he introduced a random member of the crowd. It was a funny bit, that every time, got funnier.
Hopefully, the apology for the length of time between tours was a promise they’ll come back soon. Because I’m already itching to see these guys again.
