The Hives @ Granada Theater, Dallas, TX

Words and photos by Scott Rowe

I have been covering concerts for the better part of 13 years, but I have been a life-long concert-goer since middle school; my first real concert I attended was Garth Brooks at Texas Stadium. I've seen once-in-a-lifetime house shows in Norman, OK, I helped film a portion of Paul McCartney's three-night stint at Citi Field in NYC, and I've seen almost every artist I've wanted to that I can think of. Except for the Hives. For some reason, it's just never happened. For starters, they don't tour the U.S. often and when they do, it's normally a run of northeast and west coast shows, with a few festivals sprinkled in. I don't normally venture outside of the DFW Metroplex often for concerts, so I've probably missed an opportunity to see them in Austin or possibly Lawrence, KS (back in 2019 with Refused). And I've been okay with that, because sometimes it just doesn't happen. Until it does.

When the Hives announced a date in Dallas at the Granada Theater, I wasted no time to request coverage of the show. I mean, I had it marked down months in advance. The Hives have been a bucket list band for me, so outside of an act of a higher being, I was going to this show.

Marching onstage dressed in black pants, white button-up shirts, and white blazers, the Hives looked less like a thunderous rock band and more like the servers at your local O.G. But once they jumped into the opener, "Come On!" and the following "Main Offender", you knew you were in for a wild ride. While frontman Pete Almqvist is throwing his mic all over the place and catching it, his brother and lead guitarist, 'Nicholaus Arson', violently plays his Telecaster from stage left to stage right, then back. The show was a no-frills display of unhinged rock and roll, the dream I had visioned for so many years and was finally getting experience. As you would expect, their set pinnacled when they performed their most popular song in "Hate to Say I Told You So", a song I had on repeat as a freshman in college. This segued the band into a three-song encore, finalizing the show with a stout performance of "Tick Tick Boom".

Their showmanship was remarkable, especially that of Howlin' Pete Almqvist, who touched every part of the Granada stage and beyond. He jumped off everything in sight, kicked indiscriminately throughout the set, and performed every move in the badass frontman playbook. Having taken over twenty years to see them perform at this high of level, it was a bit mind-boggling to think of them in their absolute prime, crushing festivals in the 2000's. While those thoughts can be cured with a simple dose of YouTube, I enjoyed every bit of their antics and flat-out energetic performance during their 14-song set. For most shows, 14 songs would simply not be enough, but with the Hives and their foot-on-the-gas mentality, I was not only content, but simply satisfied that I witnessed one of the best live rock bands since the turn of the century. High praise, I know, but an honest statement.

Photos of the show are below:

enjoy.