It’s a crisp midwinter night in Sydney, but inside the Enmore Theatre, the atmosphere is volatile. Tonight marks The Hives’ return to Australian stages after nearly a decade, kicking off their world tour in support of their forthcoming seventh album The Hives Forever Forever The Hives. But before they appear, the groundwork is laid by one of Melbourne’s most commanding punk bands.
CLAMM take the stage like they’ve been launched from a slingshot. Tight, direct, and unrelenting, the Naarm-based trio channel the momentum of their recent European run—and their third album Serious Acts—into a set that hits like a hammer. With themes grounded in structural critique and mental survival, there’s nothing throwaway here. Their presence is fully earned. The room sharpens as they play.
Then, without much ceremony, The Hives detonate.
Dressed in matching black monochrome suits and playing with the force of a band half their age, the Swedish five-piece enter like a riot with a plan. Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist remains a frontman of rare charisma—charming, chaotic, and so relentlessly in command that you forget how many of these songs are more than two decades old.
Almqvist is a force of nature, swinging his mic around his head, jumping off the drum riser—he is indefatigable. He goes into the crowd as circle moshes develop on the floor of the Enmore. At one point the band invite a girl, Gemma from Adelaide, to join them on stage when they notice she’s holding up a poster that says “Can I play bass?” And she can—and she does.
Their 2023 return album The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons—their first in a decade—marked a sharp-edged comeback, one that drew high praise from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and Stereogum.
If CLAMM represent the urgency of now, The Hives are a reminder of the ongoing thrill of rock performed with style and purpose. Every fist-pump, every screamed lyric, every staged moment of collapse is absorbed with unblinking enthusiasm. There’s no going-through-the-motions here, no coasting on nostalgia. The Hives are clearly having fun, but the control is surgical. For a band who have shared stages with AC/DC and The Rolling Stones, there’s something grounding about watching them go full throttle in a venue like the Enmore—intimate enough to feel electric, big enough to contain the chaos.
Rock and roll didn’t need saving tonight. It just needed to be reminded how it’s done.
The Hives tour moves to Brisbane next, tickets HERE.
Images Deb Pelser
