Live Review: The Hives & Dune Rats

The Hives are a hard band to review, for a few reasons. For starters, the energy in the Forum tonight is so out of control that all attempts to take notes have to be abandoned one song in. Secondly, lead singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist is basically reviewing the show for us as he goes anyway – at one point he gives it 17 out of ten. He also keeps saying “crowd goes wild”. Thirdly, we have a new editor at Inpress, and any negativity here (there won't be any) would almost definitely result in a flood of angry emails to HQ, such is the ferocity of their army of fans – and we wouldn't want to do that now would we? The main reason it's hard to review a Hives show, though, is because you could easily sum them up in just one word: untouchable.

Opening duties go to Brisbane's Dune Rats, who seem to be the support band of choice at the moment after picking up similar slots with Best Coast and Children Collide. They deal in deliberately sloppy grunge pop and their lead singer is dressed a bit like an eight year old. It's somehow simultaneously of its time and strangely archaic, but infectious radio staples Pogo and Fuck It manage to get them over the line.

After a short wait, the lights dim, the creepily huge backdrop of a deranged looking Almqvist is dropped and the five Swedes bound onto the Forum's stage wearing tuxedos and mischievous grins. They launch into Come On, which doubles as the opener from their latest album Lex Hives. By song's end only one top hat remains, fittingly perched on Almqvist's capable noggin. As our host, he lets us know in no uncertain terms that he owns us for the next 90 minutes. Does he ever. Try It Again gets an early airing, as does the one-two punch of Main Offender and Walk Idiot Walk which sees beer cups and fists go skyward in unison. Guitarist Nicholaus Arson stalks the stage in his now signature predatory manner and everyone is going suitably nuts until an unlucky crowd-surfer knocks himself senseless during Wait A Minute. Almqvist calls an immediate halt to proceedings and the whole band (as well as their percussion toting ninja roadies) rush to the front of the stage in a heartwarming show of concern for some bloke named Adam. Presumably, old mate Adam missed the rest of the show, and he'll be kicking himself because things only got better from there. Hate To Say I Told You So, Two Timing Touch And Broken Bones and Patrolling Days are all met with pandemonium and as Almqvist parts the crowd and sits us all down during closer Tick Tick Boom, he takes the time once again to review his own show, humbly giving it 1000 out of five. No arguments here.