Featured image and gallery: Ben Redshaw
The Hives perform to a sold-out crowd at Manchester Academy, as part of their current tour ‘The Death of Randy Fitzimmons’ following their 2023 album of the same name. Since their debut album Barely Legal in 1997, the Scandinavian garage rock band have released five albums.
According to band members, their songs are written by an honorary (potentially fictional) “sixth Hive” Randy Fitzsimmons (rumoured to be a pseudonym of Nicholaus Almqvist, the band’s guitarist, though he emphatically denies this).
The group are known for their energetic live performances and tonight is no different. Fronted by vocalist Pelle Almqvist, they spend the night dancing and singing along with their devoted fans.
There is a super fan in the crowd who has been to “[four] Hives shows in ten days”. She, and her sign, secure a place right at the front for the optimal viewing to rock out all night long.
When it comes to sheer energy, Almqvist is unmatched. Swinging the microphone, jumping into the crowd and climbing on the speakers is only some of what he gets up to in Manchester, giving everything he has for fans at the Academy.
The Hives are met with cheers and applause from the moment they step onto the stage, from show opener ‘Bogus Operandi’, to show midpoint ‘Hate to Say I Told You So’ and all the way through until their encore, closing the evening with ‘Tick Tick Boom.’
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