The Hives, Sahara Hotnights, Reigning Sound

Monday, July 26, 2004

The Metro.  Chicago, Illinois

 

 

To those unfamiliar with Chicago, this area sucks.  First off, it's all yuppies.  Second, it's right next to Wrigley Field, so if there's a Cubs game, don't even bother going.  Third, it's a "cool" place to hang out, so you get these pieces of crap from all over coming to the neighborhood, getting drunk, and causing problems.  Finally, the yuppies who live there have made parking impossible.  Every street close to The Metro is "permit only" meaning you can't park there unless you want a ticket.  Your options--park in a pay lot, or drive around right around 7 pm and try to luck out finding a spot with a meter.

 

I've been to The Metro countless times but I honestly think this is the first sold out show I've been to there...it's definitely the most "commercial" band I've seen there.  We arrived just after seven, and Reigning Sound was already on.  It was like walking into a sauna.  The place was already packed and it was easily 20 degrees hotter than it was outside.

 

The crowd...I was expecting a bunch of 12 year olds.  I remember thinking that parking should be easy since the young ones would have been dropped off by their parents.   It was shocking to see that the crowd was, for the most part, older.  Sure there were plenty of 18 year olds, but I didn't feel as out of place as I have many times before (say, at an AFI show).  There seemed to be a lot of yuppie/preppie/jock types as well.  I suppose they're better than skinheads.

 

Reigning Sound consisted of three guys, a singer who spazzed out and shook uncontrollably.  It was honestly uncomfortable to watch.  The other guys weren't doing much, or if they were I was so concerned the singer was about to fall down and start seizing, I didn't notice.  The music was okay garage type rock.  There were points that you'd listen and the band just seemed off...it's like they weren't playing the same thing.   And since this happened a few times throughout the night, I don't think it was some intentional avant-garde type performance.  Maybe it was an off night.

 

Sahara Hotnights came on next.  In a word, mediocre.  They weren't bad, they did their rock thing for about thirty minutes and while everything was done competently, after seeing hundreds of bands live I've realized something...you can play your instruments well, you can have decent stage presence, but if your songs are ho hum, your band is ho hum.  This is what separates crappy generic rock and roll from excellent generic rock and roll.  

 

This should not be construed as sexist, but by and large, female vocalists rarely work for me.  The singer did a fine job, she snarled well, screamed well, and even carried the tune nicely with an okay voice, but here we are, she's adequate, everything is okay, but she didn't fit my tastes.  I can't criticize other than saying it just didn't work for me. The musicians were good, too.  They played the songs well and seemed tight throughout.  The drummer seemed talented and did a great job, but I found her appropriately timed hair flips to be more distracting than rocking.  

 

Some people in the crowd seemed impressed that "girls could rock"...I actually heard that said...I don't think being female should be a band's schtick, and it doesn't seem to be theirs...but to give this band more credit than they deserve because they are women is unfair.  If they were unattractive males, I'd say the same thing---"meh."  I also don't see why you'd say that when women in rock and metal aren't that rare anymore...Crisis, Walls of Jericho, The Donnas, and Bleeding Through all have double x chromosome reperesentation.  I don't know why you'd even think twice about it.  

 

You can call this next comment sexist, but of the females I have seen in music, these ladies were by far the most attractive.

 

After they were done, there was easily 30 minutes between them and The Hives.  If it's one thing that irritates me it's when a band's stuff is set up and soundchecked and the audience is left to wait.  They could've gone on 10 minutes later, but it was 30. 

 

The Hives came out at 9 pm sharp and let me tell you...if you're in a band you should check out this band live and take a few lessons on working the stage.  The rhythm section of the band seemed to stand back and make way for Howlin' Pete (vocalist) and Nicholaus Arson (guitar) who worked it well.  A friend of mine said the Howlin' Pete is a cross between Mick Jagger and Steve Martin which I think is the most accurate description I've heard....there's a bit of Iggy in there as well.  Nicholaus had a quirky stage move where between every song, he’d spend the entire time blowing on his finger as if to cool them off from burning through the blistering rock fire.

 

Strange.

 

The overwhelming majority of the material played was off the last two albums.  In fact, nothing (unless my memory is failing) was played off their first album “Barely Legal” until the last song of the night which was “A.K.A.I.D.I.O.T.”  They also only did one slower song…so take every fast/mid-tempo song from those two albums and you have the setlist.  There were no glaring omissions and no huge shocks. 

 

Overall, it was a great show, and if you enjoy the band’s music, I’d strongly recommend seeing them live.

 

 

I am a fan of “people watching” so I like viewing and pondering people’s quirks.  Here are some.

 

The guy in front of me, who seemed to be around 20, would freak out at odd points.  Like, when Howlin’ Pete would lean down into the crowd, he’d get very excited and clap.  We were nowhere near the stage, and Pete was nowhere near us…does a band member leaning into the crowd at a tiny club really bring excitement?  I also recall a look of ecstatic shock on his face when certain songs were played…songs that seemed silly to get excited about because it’s not like they’re not going to do “Main Offender.” 

 

Next to me were some people from Britain.  Every smart ass comment about Americans (“you have been looking for weapons of mass destruction—well here we are” or “as Americans, do you ever feel….OUTSMARTED”) they laughed hysterically.  And, strangely, it didn’t really seem like sincere laughter...it was forced.  As if to try to bring attention to the fact that they were not Americans and found us amusing.  If Americans are so amusing, why would you force laughter? 

 

Don’t take that as a “rah rah USA USA” type complaint…I found the comments to be funny…it’s just peculiar you’d force yourself to laugh. Who knows? Even non-Americans are dumbasses. 

 

 

Review by Chris