The Hives & The Chats Put On Rock ‘n’ Roll Clinic at Fillmore Detroit

The Hives and The Chats were one of the highlights coming through the Fillmore this Spring, kicking out the jams Detroit style on March 24. The energy was palpable throughout the venue with punks, indie rockers, and non-denominational genre lovers stacked in the audience, ready to sweat and sway.

 

THE CHATS

 

 

 

First off, The Chats, who hail from Australia, yet sound like they embody UK Punk to a T. With their working-class songs like “The Price of Smokes,” “Smoko” and “Pub Feed,” the band pumped out a blistering 18-song set. Fans began crowd surfing and moshing in the audience to some of the bangers including “6L GTR,” and they even performed a new song during their set. While they don’t produce a showmanship of moving around the stage, they more than make up for it with raw aggression and what could be most respectfully called everyday topics through a punk rock lens.

 

 

 

 

THE HIVES

 

 

 

The Hives have been rockin’ since 1993, but got their big boom over in the U.S. with the 2000’s garage rock revival / indie rock wave. The band has a unique lineup with stage pseudonyms, which has always been a part of The Hives’ lexicon. We’ve got Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist (Per Almqvist) who serves as lead vocalist, Nicholaus Arson (Niklas Almqvist) who rocks the lead guitar and backing vocals, Vigilante Carlstroem (Mikael Karlsson) at home on the rhythm guitar and backing vocals, Chris Dangerous (Christian Grahn) on all forms of percussion, and The Johan and Only (Johan Gustafsson) on bass guitar (who took over for Dr. Matt Destruction).

 

We caught The Hives at Riot Fest in 2024, and at the time, Per Almqvist had a foot injury, so his signature moves were a bit more subdued. This time, however, you couldn’t hold that man down. Part of the draw of this Swedish rock band is their energy, and it was not in short supply Tuesday night. At times, Howlin’ Pete and Nicholaus Arson both hit the barricades, laying across the fans, playing directly to their faces, with high fives and energetic camaraderie.

 

The band powered through 17 tracks, kicking off their set with “Enough is Enough,” “Walk Idiot Walk,” and “Rigor Mortis Radio,” before hitting on fan favorites like “Bogus Operandi,” the ever popular 2000’s track “Hate To Say I Told You So,” and one of their most popular songs, “Tick Tick Boom.”

 

They closed out their set with the sentiment we will leave you with: “The Hives Forever Forever The Hives,” because we hope we’ll see them many more times in the future. Make sure to head to their website for additional tour stops, because you do NOT want to miss this!