“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a Hives concertgoer.” — Me

This show was a long time coming for me. The Hives are a band that only puts out an album every four or five years and lives an ocean away, so I knew my chances of seeing this legendary live act were few. I jumped on my chance to see the Hives June 30, even though it required me driving five hours north to Chicago.

The Vic Theater was halfway full when me and my buddies arrived, right as openers Flesh Light (horrible name, by the way) were kicking the night off. Hives frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist’s face was peering at us from from the backdrop from the start of the show, with his puppeteering fingers extended and teasing us while we waited patiently through the opening acts. Flesh Light are a Texas trio, featuring a Rickenbacker bass and Flying V guitar, and a chick drummer. Sorry, these are the things that stuck out to me about the band. Oh, and they all took turns singing lead, which I dig. They were full of energy, I’ll give them that, but not much else stuck out to me. Young punks playing young-punk music.
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