Swag!
Friday 4 November, 2005

The guy well-known as the music head of our office had just made all his CD collection rips, all 862 of them, available on his share. I feel very motivated to document my own collection sometime this weekend now! He's got a great collection too, so good that the entire network slowed down considerably as everyone tried to copy them over. Even browsing the Internet became frustrating. He pulled the plug on the share after 90 minutes, but I'd already swagged over 3 gig like the music bandit that I am! That'll seriously keep me going, especially in this slight album release lull I feel is going on at the moment. Maybe they're preparing for Christmas releases, maybe I'm just being too picky.

A Little More Hives For Little Me
Friday 21 October, 2005

I spent last Wednesday night down at The Forum on Flinders St watching awesome Swedish rock-and-rollers The Hives and very decent rock-and-rollers The D4. Both performed at the Big Day Out in 05, where The Hives were, for me, the standout of the festival.

We got there just in time to see the start of The D4, unlike the Big Day Out where we watched most of the set from the queue to get into the main pit. They were quite good and while they drew applause from the audience, not many people really got into it or answered any of the lead singer's comments. I also thought they missed out some important songs from their first album (the best $8 album I can remember buying) in favour of some new material, and shouldn't have ended on a new song either. They were almost perfectly suited to playing support for The Hives though, and I'm glad I got to see them properly live.

You can tell The Hives are a huge band from the amount of "false starts", the times where a roadie walks on stage or the lighting changes and the crowd start cheering. It'll normally happen a few times, but it just happened heaps. I was waiting in the drinks line, hoping to get back to my spot in time for the start and cursing that they had to pour every drink, even the water, into plastic cups. It's so horribly inefficient and the lines just weren't moving. I also dispute why the water in a plastic bottle had to be poured into a plastic cup.

The Hives were so good, you could have given us glass bottles, slingshots or anvils and we wouldn't have thrown anything in their direction. Lead singer "Howlin" Pelle Almqvist commanded the crowd from the start with his conversational style and witty Swedish accented remarks. They know everyone loves them and Pelle and guitarist Nicolas Arson really ham it up for the ladies. No Hives show goes without some clapping along, both impromptu and conducted by Pelle.

The setlist, the sound, the energy was all very good. Standout tracks from the night include Supply and Demand, Statecontrol, Walk Idiot Walk and the closer A.K.A I.D.I.O.T. The greatest moment was during Diabolic Scheme when they all froze like statues. They held it for quite a while while we cheered crazily and then they continued on with the song supremely. Come to think of it, they stopped mid-song and then continued earlier in the night as Pelle took off his jacket.

It was quite an experience, as I suspected it would be. Their music lets you go nuts or mosh if you want, so a lot of people do their own thing. As they gradually take off their suit jackets, it feels like the crowd lets their hair down. Their style is accentuated by their performance. The Hives are made for live music.

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