THE HIVES + THE PILL – CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON 3.9.25 (Early show)
Today was finally the day that I got around to seeing The Hives live in action for myself. I had sorrowfully missed their previous three Brighton concerts, although we did actually review the last two. Their debut Brighton concert was way back on 16th April 2005 when they rocked Brighton Dome to its core. The second one was at the Chalk venue on 16th August 2023 (Review HERE) and the third one was back at Brighton Dome on 3rd April 2024 (Review HERE).
For those that don’t know, The Hives are a Swedish rock group from Fagersta, Västmanland, who formed in 1993 and they specialise in creating their own garage rock classics. They have only released seven studio albums to date, these being ‘Barely Legal’ (1997), ‘Veni Vidi Vicious’ (2000), ‘Tyrannosaurus Hives’ (2004), ‘The Black And White Album’ (2007), ‘Lex Hives’ (2012), ‘The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons’ (2023) and newbie (29th August) ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ (2025). The band currently comprises Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist (Per Almqvist) – lead vocals (1993–present); Nicholaus Arson (Niklas Almqvist) – lead guitar, backing vocals (1993–present); Vigilante Carlstroem (Mikael Karlsson) – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1993–present); Chris Dangerous (Christian Grahn) – drums, percussion (1993–present; hiatus 2019) and The Johan and Only (Johan Gustafsson) – bass guitar (2013–present). Interestingly, they were all born in the 1977-78 period. They show their togetherness by wearing the same gear and that’s not just on stage, but also for press conferences and the like. Clearly this has strengthened the band’s bond as they have only had a change of bassist since formation. The original being Dr. Matt Destruction (Mattias Bernvall) (1993–2013), although Joey Castillo did stand in as a touring drummer in 2019.
The Hives have performed UK album release shows in Nottingham (29th August), Liverpool (30th August), Leeds (31st August), London (2nd September) and now today in Brighton at the Concorde 2 courtesy of Resident Records. I, for one, will be checking of the Official UK Albums Chart this Friday tea-time to find out if the band have finally managed to secure their first ever UK No.1 album. They came teasingly close with the previous long-player ‘The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons’ which peaked at No.2. Such was the demand for The Hives tickets for their Brighton show, that some bright spark came up with a cunning plan to slot in an additional earlier show and it’s this 4:30pm performance that I witnessed. The latter one commencing at 7:30pm. These album release shows are actually taster events that run to around half the length of their normal shows, but boy does this afternoon’s set pack a punch!
Thankfully I’ve secured a space right on the crowd-barrier and are party to all of the action. Prior to the band taking to the stage, their instruments are soundchecked by their two roadies, but these aren’t your normal roadies, these two are clad in black Ninja gear with The Hives shield embossed on their tunics. Clearly there won’t be any aggro with these lads in the house. Despite the blustery cold winds outside, the temperature in the venue is not far off being a sweatbox. The Hives backdrop sits across the rear of the stage behind the central drumkit, and the mood is set. The houselights are low and there’s a flash of a torch from the side of the stage which is aimed at engineers Paul, Tom and their chums, who are located behind a majority of the crowd. There’s an intro sound across the loudspeakers and the punters are fully primed….
The quintet take to the stage, donning their signature black and white suits. They commence their compact 9 song set with a couple of cuts from the new LP, these being the gritty ‘Enough Is Enough’ and the fast hand-clapping ‘Paint A Picture’. Almost immediately frontman Pelle is standing atop the floor speakers at either side of the stage and then stepping across and balancing on top of the crowd barrier. Prior to the start, the Concorde 2’s Tom and a couple of other guys, had positioned two differing height black blocks with luminous orange tape on them, against the stage, thus allowing Pelle to step down from the high stage and walk along the other side of the crowd barrier. During ‘Paint A Picture’ Pelle was literally millimetres away from me and he ran his hand through my hair, just as a father would do to his son; thankfully I had washed it this morning! Pelle is very much the showman of the band and often enjoys swinging his microphone in the air or out in front of him and catching it again. He only dropped it twice!
At the end of ‘Paint A Picture’ all five band members stood motionless for what must have been 45 to 60 seconds. This allowed for mock action shots to be captured by punters on their phones and our photographers as well. This was listed as “freeze” on both of their afternoon and evening setlists. Whilst this “freeze” was going on, the crowd were really showing their appreciation. It’s surprising that it’s still before teatime and yet everyone seems up for it, whatever their age!
Selection three was ‘Bogus Operandi’ from 2023’s ‘The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons’ album and this is already clearly a crowd favourite. It’s another gritty offering, one which sees Pelle on up close barrier action again. In fact he does this on virtually every track and the punters thrive off of it. Track four was the set highlight for me, this being their ‘Hate To Say I Told You So’ earworm single from 2000’s ‘Veni Vidi Vicious’ album, which has truly been engrained in my brain since release. Although interestingly it didn’t actually chart anywhere when first released as a single in 2000, but two years later it was re-released and climbed to No.23 in the UK singles chart. I think that this is a crime as it’s got No.1 hit written all over it. Today’s rendition was blimmin’ epic and included a crowd participation section. More epicness followed with the arrival of crowd favourite ‘Tick Tick Boom’ from 2007’s ‘The Black and White Album’ album.
Chris on drums kicks off ‘Legalize Living’ from the new ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ album and I get a massive hit of early 1970’s glam rock sound that was found on top hits by (dare I say it) Gary Glitter; as well as an almost carbon copy drumbeat to Killing Joke’s ‘Tension’. The others haven’t even started playing or singing and yet I’m already totally hooked on this track! After this Pelle informs us that The Hives are coming back in November, but sadly omits to add that it’s just for four gigs in Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester and London – cue sob!
They finish their main set with the instant ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ tune, the title of which is often repeated. This too has a glam rock vibe going on, which is most pleasing. Just seven songs in and they do actually leave the stage. It might have been just a few tunes, but Pelle loves to have some banter in between most compositions, which usually revolves around him bigging up The Hives and that he’s a fan. This doesn’t come across as egotistical in any way, but just joyful play designed to make those present have a big smile on their faces.
Chris returns to the stage alone and begins churning out a real fast beat as his four chums join him. This is for the all too brief ‘Come On!’ which can’t last more than around 90 seconds. It has the vibe of Billy Idol meets that Glitter bloke again. Then before we know it, they’ve segued straight into The Stooges-esque ‘Countdown To Shutdown’ which is found on 2023’s ‘The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons’ platter. It’s a great tune! However, those that were attending the evening show, were given the added bonus of ‘Born A Rebel’ from the new record as the penultimate number. The time is only 6:43pm and the afternoon session has come to a conclusion. The venue is an absolute sweatbox and the band are dripping wet as they’ve certainly given it everything. In conclusion, it’s been a bloody epic experience and surely must be in the Top 5 Resident outstore/instore performances ever! Now there’s an idea!
The Hives………….just bloody well go and see them play live! OK got that?
The Hives:
Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist (Per Almqvist) – lead vocals
Nicholaus Arson (Niklas Almqvist) – lead guitar, backing vocals
Vigilante Carlstroem (Mikael Karlsson) – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Chris Dangerous (Christian Grahn) – drums, percussion
The Johan and Only (Johan Gustafsson) – bass guitar
The Hives setlist:
‘Intro’
‘Enough Is Enough’ (from 2025 ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ album)
‘Paint A Picture’ (from 2025 ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ album)
‘Bogus Operandi’ (from 2023 ‘The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons’ album)
‘Hate To Say I Told You So’ (from 2000 ‘Veni Vidi Vicious’ album)
‘Tick Tick Boom’ (from 2007 ‘The Black and White Album’ album)
‘Legalize Living’ (from 2025 ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ album)
‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ (from 2025 ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ album)
(encore)
‘Come On!’ (from 2012 ‘Lex Hives’ album)
‘Born A Rebel’ (from 2025 ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ album) (evening show only)
‘Countdown To Shutdown’ (from 2023 ‘The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons’ album)
(Outro tape) ‘Nobody Does It Better’ (Carly Simon song)
Support for both concerts today came from the Isle Of Wight’s best band, namely The Pill which is the brainchild of Lily Hutchings (vocals, guitar) and Lottie Massey (vocals, bass), and they are known for their energetic, rebellious and witty pop-punk tunes. They actually formed back in 2019, but it’s only over the past year that things have really started to happen for the girls. I’ve seen them live in action a few times already and lyrically they bring a big smile to my face, including between-tune-banter, and musically my whole body can’t resist bopping along to every single one of their tracks. They are a joy to behold, who have thus far dropped 5 singles and now a new EP, which consists of some of those previously released tunes, and not surprisingly it’s titled ‘The EP’. It’s a solid body of work, trust me!
This afternoon, The Pill have been allotted a 30 minute slot, but they take just 26 of them from 5:01pm to 5:27pm. Therefore, they need not have crossed out proposed tune number four, ‘Laying In Bed’, from their setlist. Maybe they were saving it for the evening session, but I doubt it. The girls are these days joined by Gavin Sullivan on drums. The band are primarily touted as just them as a duo, exactly like Brighton’s Lambrini Girls and Hastings HotWax are, and how SNAYX used to be but in reverse, as in two guys adopting a female drummer.
The mood was certainly set for some great music as the last two tunes played on the PA prior to their arrival were ‘Where’s Captain Kirk?’ by Spizzenergi and ‘Ça Plane Pour Moi’ by Plastic Bertrand, both of which are absolute classics! The same was true before The Hives set when the PA blasted such corkers as ‘Girls Like Me’ by Nikki & The Corvettes and ‘I Can Only Give You Everything’ by T.H.E.M.
The Pill commence their 8 track set with the energetic ‘Scaffolding Man’, which is one of the six songs found on their EP. It always reminds me of Panic Shack’s ‘Mannequin Man’, who The Pill actually supported a few months ago (Review HERE). As the tune begins, the girls have their backs to us with their instruments slightly raised and the lighthearted tone has been set. They turn and Lottie says “How we doing Brighton?”. Meanwhile Gavin is sitting stage left (our right) on the band’s own drumkit, which is cleared away afterwards, as The Hives have their own larger kit. Prior to the commencement of their second number, the unreleased ‘Salt Father’, Lily addresses the crowd on the subject of sugar-daddies, and then Lottie lets out a “1-2-3-4” and they are away! The track has an abrupt ending that no doubt caught out a few boppers in the audience.
Selection three was ‘Problem’ from ‘The EP’ which has a slower beat than the previous two songs, but what it does have is the repeated “A problem” earworm lyrics throughout. The yet to be recorded ‘Leo’ is given an outing next and this benefits from some meaty guitar action as well as a slower chugging drumbeat. After this the audience are encouraged to spin round, some do take them up on their offer, and haircuts are the theme next with the arrival of ‘Money Mullet’, which has some dirty gritty bass action from Lottie and some fast guitar playing from Lily. The subject then moves onto women drivers, for their comical skippy beat ladened ‘Woman Driver’ tune, which also has a sharp ending.
We are informed that there are two more tunes to go and their penultimate offering is “About being blond and ferocious”, it’s their ‘Bale Of Hay’ tune, with its start-stop beat, that gets rockin’ along nicely, and then it segues straight into ‘Posh’ which is “About being posh”. It’s their fastest tune, and I reckon it’s my favourite one as well. It reminds me of ‘No Survivors’ by GBH, but in a playful way. They gave us a twirl and then they were sadly done! I really love this band! After every time I see them I get that feel-good-factor! What more do you want? An album from them would be really nice!
The Pill:
Lily Hutchings – vocals, guitar
Lottie Massey – vocals, bass
Gavin Sullivan – drums
The Pill setlist:
‘Scaffolding Man’ (from 2025 ‘The EP’ EP)
‘Salt Father’ (unreleased)
‘Problem’ (from 2025 ‘The EP’ EP)
‘Leo’ (unreleased)
‘Money Mullet’ (from 2025 ‘The EP’ EP)
‘Woman Driver’ (from 2025 ‘The EP’ EP)
‘Bale Of Hay’ (from 2025 ‘The EP’ EP)
‘Posh’ (from 2025 ‘The EP’ EP)
