I’m not a huge fan of ranking musical performances or other forms of art and entertainment. Identifying a show to be the best of the year or ‘in my top 5′ leaves me with the uncomfortable feeling that I’ve neglected other worthy artists and memorable performances. There are so many disparate genres and so many factors that impact how a gig comes across in the moment and the impressions it that remain after the performance has passed that it renders most comparisons or rankings irrelevant. That said, it would be ridiculous to deny that some sets hit especially hard, some performers are so undeniably accomplished and/or personally charismatic and so unique that you absolutely know that you’ll be revisiting their art in your memories for months and, perhaps, years to come. The Hives’ stop at the Showbox SoDo last night as part of their 2025 The Hives Forever, Forever The Hives Tour was one such performance.

The Hives are currently touring behind their most recent album, ‘The Hives Forever, Forever the Hives’, released in late August. The Swedish band is enjoying strong reviews for both their new release and their live performances. I will be the first to admit that I did not embrace the band enthusiastically when they began to draw attention in the US during the so called ‘garage rock revival’ of the early aughts. I (wrongly, it now seems) found the Hives, the Strokes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the White Stripes to be overly derivative of the bands that they so obviously mined for influences. I was also, at the time, rather put off by the onstage persona of their frontman, Howlin Pelle Almqvist. His swaggering braggadocio and constant trumpeting of his band’s virtues rubbed me the wrong way. 25 years later, I’m more than willing to take my lumps and admit that I was hasty in my judgement. Or, to paint a clearer picture, I was wrong.

The Hives circa 2025 have proven themselves to be one of rock’s most consistently entertaining and satisfying live acts. Pelle Almqvist is a tremendously entertaining and charming frontman, tucking into the band’s robust catalog with gusto and joy, stopping only to (good naturedly) hector his adoring audience into singing along and cheering madly in-between songs. The two plus decades that have passed since the band’s rise to prominence have done nothing to dim his physicality and endurance, as he leapt about the stage, scaled the lighting truss, and took frequent trips into the audience to press the flesh with his fans. Almqvist has lost none of his swagger or exaggerated confidence, but the years have added a twinge of obvious bemusement to his routine. The sheer effort and sweat that he puts into a show has erased any qualms that I used to harbor about his schtick. There were approximately 1,800 raging Hives fans at the Showbox Sodo Monday night and Howlin Pelle Almqvist may have been the most enthusiastic of them all.

I would be remiss to not mention the rest of the band, as they’re every bit as crucial to the Hives’ sound and live presentation as their remarkable frontman. Nicholas Arson (Pelle’s brother) and Vigilante Carlstroem both shown on guitars and the rhythm battery of Chris Dangerous and The Johan and Only were solidly in the pocket all evening. I adore the Hives’ take on pop/punk (or garage/pop or garage/punk or whatever ya wanna call it). They effortlessly manage to inject melody and tunefulness into a genre that can at times trend toward the one dimensional while somehow maintaining the aggression that’s a hallmark of the very best punk rock. It’s a neat trick and it makes for a very entertaining night out. We were singing ‘The Hives forever, forever the Hives’ as we headed out into the night after the final encore and I expect I’ll be humming the melody to that tune until the next time these rockin’ Swedes visit the Pacific Northwest.