The Hives - Webster Hall

The Hives kicked NYC's collective ass last night, and it felt great.

Obviously relishing the extended set time that the current arena support tour with Maroon 5 doesn't afford, The Hives ROCKED Webster Hall last night with a 90-minute massacre that started at 100% energy levels and never let go.



(photos by Dfactor)

Mixing in the new songs from the Black and White LP with the old faves, the band has the crowd in its hand all night. The boys and girls were upfront moshing, singer Howlin' Pelle kept up his patter about the VIPs, everyone was smiling and the band played a fantastic set. I think the only song not above 90mph was 'Diabolic Scheme".



New songs - "Try Again", early in the set, sounded OK, but it seemed ripe for a huge club dance mix, with its insistent rhythms. But late in the show during the encore, The Hives brought out two new songs from the new LP, both instant classics and both faster than f*****' fast tunes - one was called "You Got it All Wrong" and I don't recall the second one - it was the last song of the show (title, anyone? Was it 'Won't Be Long'? My brain is dead).

The sound was great, the sweat was in abundance, and damn if Nicholaus Arson rocks that guitar like no other. The band was clearly enjoying the longer set time, rather than the 30 minute sets they've been playing on the Maroon 5 tour.

See The Hives tonight at Madison Square Garden. More photos from last night at my Flickr site. Some superb (and clear!) photos from Alexis Theo Flickr site.