When Yard Act headlined the O2 Academy in Glasgow back in 2023, they might have thought returning there as a support act would indicate a career that had taken a wrong turn.
Not that the Leeds quartet seemed affected by it. Singer James Smith was typically verbose as ever, praising his band, their music and Glasgow itself before cavorting around the stage. Stripped back to a four-piece, and therefore shorn of keyboards and backing vocalists, there was a brutal intensity to their approach, ripping through the punk chanting of "A Witness" and a thrashy "The Overload" with equal fervour. There was time to drop in a few tracks of new material from a forthcoming third album too, but the set mostly served as an enjoyable reminder of the group’s potent back catalogue.
For all Smith tried, though, he was never going outshine Howlin Pelle Almqvist. Quite literally, in fact, given the Swedish five-piece walked onstage clad in suits with light-up piping wrapped around them. Those outfits were still not as bold as some of Almqvist’s claims throughout the gig, which – as usual – involved telling the crowd they were having the best night of their lives, asking if they were ready yet for the Hives and bringing up how good his band are.
And they are very good. For all the band’s musical tastes are steeped in garage rock and punk, they have always possessed pop showmanship, and this set was slick and well-honed throughout, right down to sudden freeze frames during songs, where each member stood stoically as the crowd noise increased. Ironically, the decrease in venue size favoured them, for such a high-energy show works better in relatively small surroundings rather than bouncing around an arena.
Almqvist still high kicks and microphone points with gleeful abandon, and the rest of the band – particularly guitarists Nicolaus Arson and Vigilante Carlstroem – career about the stage in sweaty, head banging stage. Musically, material from a career spanning set mostly blended together, whether from the group's early days in Sweden or from this year's "The Hives Forever Forever The Hives" release.
These were loud songs to pogo, dance and clap your hands to, something Almqvist encouraged repeatedly. That isn’t a bad thing, as from “Walk Idiot Walk” pinching the tune from the Who’s “I Can’t Explain” to the Ramones styled “Paint A Picture”, the early portion of the set flew by.
There was no time to catch your breath, with a full-throated “Bogus Operandi” letting Almqvist roar, the excitable “Come On!” fizzing with simple, straightforward energy and a delirium inducing “Hate To Say I Told You So” making everyone party like it was the early Noughties all over again, when compilation album Your New Favourite Band brought them popularity beyond Sweden.
There were limits to it, though. By the time of the encore, which followed a main set-closing big hit in “Tick Tick Boom” that saw Almqvist among the crowd, the energy started to wane a little, even if the band proved relentless. Neither new track “Legalise Living” nor old number “Bigger Hole To Fill” could kick-start the night again, and a finale of the new album's title track was better at self-mythologizing than at being a rousing tune.
Still, for all that it is mostly one trick the Hives have, they do so with such exuberance and noise that they remain compelling. They may not be new anymore, but in the sweaty heat of the moment they remain worthy of being your favourite band.
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