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Great American Music Hall December 4, 2001 Review by Janet Flemer In Europe apparently these guys are being worshiped as almighty gods who are resurrecting and saving Rock. They're sure having fun doing it. The audiences are too. I was in the worst mood before they started, practically stomping down O' Farrell towards Great American, muttering to myself why do they have to have four bands anyway? well I'm still wondering about that....although I'm glad I'd called ahead and found out the Hives were playing second. The throng of indiekids outside were desperate for tickets, and I almost sold mine to a girl who looked like she was going to cry if she didn't get in. Lots of overheard, "go ahead, I want you to go" followed by insincere, " but I don't want to leave you!" The second they started playing all grouchiness and exhaustion was gone. They ran onstage and launched right into it and every move was slick and obviously rehearsed but I didn't care. The singer, known as "Howling Pelle", resembles a slightly healthier Nick Stahl (if you've been in a Landmark Theater in the last month you've seen him in the "In the Bedroom" preview) and his stage persona is a cross between Mick Jagger and Ian from the Make-Up. "Hey San Francisco, we're the Hives, we're really really cool and you're gonna love us!" He kept making "gimme" motions and cocking his ear towards us and asking us to love him and screaming "we're your new favorite band" and somehow it worked. They were just playing garage rock, but they did it really, really well. See video below. In their matching black outfits with white ascots, Howling Pelle and the lead guitarist never even seemed to break a sweat but the other lads sure did. The drummer kept standing up between songs-apparently when they play in Europe he's more front and center, and his drumming is actually pretty important. I kept thinking Howling Pelle (I just enjoy typing that so much) was going to chip a tooth throwing his mike around, but he kept catching it. I realized that the girls standing in front of me were at least half of the Donnas. The bass player didn't seem too engaged, and even got out her cell phone at one point, but the singer seemed to be enjoying it. As soon as Howling Pelle announced their last song (which really was their last), the Donnas turned around and presumably headed for backstage. But the Hives quickly changed into tee shirts with their band names like Dr. Destruction on them and worked the room. I couldn't help it, I had to buy a Hives tee shirt. What does "Nulla Salus Sine The Hives" mean? The headliners, The (International) Noise Conspiracy fancy themselves as political rather than musical saviours. And had a giant merchandise table covered with Noam Chomsky books and the like to prove it. And I think Jello Biafra spoke before the third band but I was in line for the bathroom. Yes they were passionate and the music actually sounded pretty good, but after two songs I had an "oh so what" attack and had to leave. For Hives vids and samples: http://www.hives.nu/centreringsframeset.htm Warning: big fat file (33.5 MB) |