We are The Hives and we are the nicest band EVER!
Back in 2005 a pretty great band from Sweden came to Australia to play the Big Day Out. As they’d never toured Australia before I was pretty excited. As were my cousins Hannah and Lucy, who at the time were only 13. They announced a show at The Metro and H&Ls little smiles turned into frowns. I, on the other hand having just turned 18 in December, was pretty damn excited.
It was the day of the show and Simon (H&Ls older cousin) suggested we head to The Metro in the afternoon to see if we could catch the band doing their soundcheck.
We arrived around 3 and sat and waited outside. Lucy with her kick drum skin, Hannah with assorted CD covers, posters etc. Every time a vehicle drove past they would peer inside hoping to see the band. Eventually a car pulled up and two guys got out. Hannah excitedly went and asked if they were with The Hives and they said no they were just unloading gear for The Spazzy’s. A short while later one of them told us The Hives should be arriving soon.
Another guy emerged from The Metro and Hannah and Lucy bickered over who would go and ask him if he knew when The Hives sound check was. He could see them and laughed at them but eventually they went over and asked. He said he didn’t know but told them the band would arrive in a silver Tarago. Another half an hour passed and our hopes began to fade.
Around 4:45 we saw a van approaching. It was silver. It was a Tarago. Could it be them? As it came towards us we saw Vigilante sitting in the front. We began to, as they say, lose our shit. We all waved to them and Lucy beckoned for them to come over. The van disappeared into the carpark and we hoped they would reappear soon. Then we heard Simon say “Hey you guys over here” and we turned around and Howlin’ Pelle and Nicholaus Arson had come out. Lucy ran up to Pelle and gave him the biggest hug ever. The rest of the band came out. Chris Dangerous walked out with a cigarette hanging from his mouth and said “Hello I’m Chris, nice to meet you.” We talked to them for a while and got them to sign a few things. Simon told Nicholaus “You have very snappy jakcets” to which he replied “ehhhhhhhh?” and Simon said “Your jackets, they’re snappy” and Nicholaus said “Ahh snappy is good?” Oh those Swedes.
Pelle was quite won over by H&L’s charm and cuteness and decided to ask if they could come to the sound check. Unfortunately the staff at The Metro were not as easily won over and said no.
The band went inside and Lucy realised she had only got three signatures on her drum skin. We decided to wait outside for them to come out after their sound check so she could get the other two. We stood at the door hoping to hear something but we couldn’t really hear anything at all.
The door opened and outstepped their manager who asked “Do you want to come in and listen to zee sound check?” and we said no. Not really. We went in super excited and sat down on the ground. Pelle announced “Welcome to your own private Hives show, do you have any requests?” H&L requested Hate To Say I Told You So and a.k.a I-D-I-O-T. They played them, Love In Plaster, Lost and Found by The Saints and a few others songs. Lots of photos were taken and much clapping and screaming and jumping up and down was done by all. We thanked them very much and they waved goodbye. Chris Dangerous threw us a drumstick each and Vigilante gave the H&L guitar picks. As we were leaving Pelle said “When you’re famous we’ll come and see you play” and Lucy told him “You can come to my birthday party”.
