The Hives pull first massive crowd of Glastonbury 2023 with banter and bravado
The Hives played an early set on The Other Stage at Glastonbury 2023 today (Friday June 23), pulling in the first massive crowd of the weekend.
The Swedish indie icons were first on the stage, which will later see performances from the likes of Krept & Konan, Chvrches, Fred Again.., and headliner Wizkid.
After opening with recent single ‘Bogus Operandi’ from upcoming album ‘The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons’, frontman Pelle Almqvist told the packed out field: “Put your hands up for The Hives. Looking good, Glastonbury.”
Introducing ‘Walk Idiot Walk’, he said: “Ladies and gentlemen, it sure is a pleasure and privilege to be playing for you wonderful people tonight… or is it this morning?” After a brief pause, he continued: “Did you guys just wake up? We’d like to thank all the bands who warmed Glastonbury up for The Hives, and all the bands who will cool you down offer.”
Noting the huge audience gathered, the frontman joked that there were “900,000 people attending The Hives concert. Never before has this happened in the history of man”.
Best. Live. Band. Ever. @TheHives @glastonbury #TheHives #Glastonbury23 pic.twitter.com/kUGwh8CfWH
— Sunta Templeton (@SuntaTempleton) June 23, 2023
“You are welcome, Glastonbury,” Almqvist offered after ‘Rigor Mortis Radio’. “It’s a pleasure to have us. Did you people get wrecked yesterday? Are you getting wrecked by the rock n’ roll of The Hives?”
It seems so. Later, partway through the highlight and “international rock hit” ‘Hate To Say I Told You So’ (with the promise of potential “human sacrifices” to mark Midsummer) he told the packed-out field: “I noticed something spectacular when we started this song. You guys were humming the riff. Do you wanna hum the riff right now?” The crowd duly obliged, and were more than up for a little audience anticipation.
“We’ve got one of the finest compositions in rock’n’roll come up,” Almqvist said before ‘Come On’. “It has some very profound lyrics in it. It’s all about the self. That is very important.” The only lyrics were of course the words ‘Come on’ on repeat, but Glasto gave it their all, later following his orders to slap themselves in the face, sit down, and jump up.
Praising his band as “fine fucking specimens”, Almqvist rolled to the end of the set: “The time has come for the last song of the morning. I agree, it sucks, but other bands want to play. Do you think we should let them? Do you agree Glastonbury should be The Hives all weekend?”
Many in the audience were expecting an encore of ‘Die, All Right!’, but the band gave a grand finale with a long bow and inviting their roadie dressed as a ninja to soak up the applause with them. “Everybody have fun for the rest of the festival,” Almqvist ended, “but it may be all downhill from here.”
The Hives release ‘The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons’ on August 11, before a full 2024 UK tour.
Check out all the latest from Glastonbury 2023 on the NME liveblog here, and see more news, reviews, photos, interviews and more here.
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Andrew Trendell
NME
