June 08, 2002 at the Opera House in Toronto, Canada; By Mike Oliveira
Canadian Press
"You all know what's wrong with radio today. This is what's right," said lead man Howlin' Pelle Almqvist to a Toronto crowd Saturday night before launching into the band's current single, Hate To Say I Told You So.
Like a Vancouver audience a week earlier, Toronto fans were enthralled by the band's charm, irresistible stage show and blistering musical attack.
After critical acclaim from the British press and a rabid following overseas, The Hives are building momentum in North America with their album Veni Vidi Vicious, and their latest release, a best-of compilation called Your New Favourite Band.
The Hives' live show is a nearly flawless anti-pop pop act: one-part loud and aggressive, one-part entertaining, engaging and ironic.
Although the band's entire set runs well under an hour because of its limited back catalogue of songs -- many which run under two minutes in length -- there were no calls for refunds Saturday as the band spit out a manic performance of each track.
The spastic guitar work and screeching supporting vocals of Nicholaus Arson were backed by the theatrics of Pelle, who oozed Scandinavian charm into every shrieked lyric, scissor kick and sprint around the stage.
Often compared to the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger in his prime, Pelle preened around the stage with confidence, and frequently leapt off the stage into the front row of the audience or perched metres above the crowd from the show's mammoth speakers.
While The Hives have been lumped in with the likes of other new rockers like The Strokes, The White Stripes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Vines, it's the band's tongue-in-cheek gimmickry, coupled with sly between-song banter, that sets them apart.
They walk on stage with trademark over-the-top, faux rock star arrogance, wearing matching black-and-white outfits and stage choreographed dance moves.
While the band's stage schtick isn't entirely spontaneous and is replayed on tour night after night, it was pulled off with enough bravado and energy on Saturday night to provoke a near-hysterical response from the crowd.
Almqvist managed to come off as even cockier than the Gallagher brothers of Oasis, and yet completely endeared himself to the audience with his ironic, deadpan delivery in his Swedish-tinged accent.
After asking, "Why are you so quiet?", during a lull between songs, the singer scolded the crowd for letting their applause die down, threatened to withhold an encore, and demanded the crowd beg for another song and chant the name of their "favourite band."
The audience obliged every request, urgently screaming for the band's approval, and chanting "T-H-E-H-I-V-E-S," like giddy cheerleaders.
Even when the show briefly strayed from the band's script and a heckler managed to distract him, Pelle didn't flinch, and quickly got the adoring crowd back on his side.
"We are The Hives, we love you and you love us and there's nothing you can do about it," he said later, before ending the show.
The Hives were to play their last Canadian date on Sunday in Montreal. They have a handful of shows left in the United States -- including an appearance on NBC's Late Night With Conan O'Brien on Thursday -- before playing the European festival circuit in the summer.
