Palladium, Cologne, Germany1st December 2025
The Hives - “The Hives Forever Forever The Hives - World Tour 2025” - Support: Spiritual Cramp, Yard Act
On a cold December night in Cologne, the Palladium found itself transformed into a pressure chamber of sweat, riffs, and beautifully unhinged showmanship. THE HIVES, long regarded as one of Rock’n’Roll’s most reliable detonators, arrived not merely to promote a new album but to reaffirm - yet again - their rule as the world’s most gleefully chaotic live band.
Flanked by two stylistically distinct but equally compelling support acts, the evening moved like a three-act lesson in how to prepare, provoke, and ultimately pulverise a crowd of about four thousand. What followed was a whirlwind of noise, humour, precision, and pure physical release - proof that guitar music is alive, kicking, and wearing a sharply tailored suit.
Spiritual Cramp
Opening the night were San Francisco’s SPIRITUAL CRAMP, a band whose musical DNA reads like a crate-digger’s fever dream: classic Punk welded to New Wave, flecked with Reggae undertones and the scuffed melancholy of 90s Alternative Rock. Frontman Michael Bingham led the charge with wiry intensity, backed by Mike Fenton (bass), Jacob Breeze (lead guitar), Nate Punty (rhythm guitar), Julian Smith (drums) and Jose on keyboards—an ensemble that functions like a single restless organism. https://spiritualcramp.com / https://www.facebook.com/spiritualcramptv
Music & Performance
Fresh from releasing their sophomore record ‘Rude’ (2025), the band played a sharp, tightly-wound set that showcased the album’s urgency. With ‘Slick Rick’ as the opener, they immediately set a jagged tone, moving through ‘Go Back Home’, ‘Dog in a Cage’ and ‘Catch a Hot One’ with a sense of swaggering defiance. ‘Young Offenders’ and ‘Better Off This Way’ saw the first pockets of movement in the crowd, while ‘Automatic’ and ‘You Got My Number’ revealed their knack for writing choruses that feel both nostalgic and stubbornly modern.
By the time they closed with ‘Talkin’ on the Internet’ and ‘Blowback’, it was clear that SPIRITUAL CRAMP weren’t here as polite warm-up guests - they were here to announce themselves, and the Cologne audience took note.
Setlist
01. Slick Rick
02. Go Back Home
03. Dog In A Cage
04. Catch A Hot One
05. Young Offenders
06. Better Off This Way
07. Automatic
08. You Got My Number
09. Talkin’ On The Internet
10. Blowback
Yard Act
Where SPIRITUAL CRAMP dealt in jagged edges and rhythmic bite, Leeds’ YARD ACT brought their now-signature blend of spoken-sung sarcasm, melodic wiriness and sardonic northern charm. Since their breakthrough with ‘The Overload’ in early 2022, the quartet - James Smith, Ryan Needham, Sam Shipstone and Jay Russell - have evolved from pandemic-era experimenters on their Zen F.C. label to full-blown festival regulars. With their 2024 album ‘Where’s My Utopia?’, they sharpened their commentary while polishing their grooves. https://www.yardactors.com / https://www.facebook.com/YardActBand
Music & Performance
Tonight, however, they made a bold, mischievous choice: an absurdly skewed setlist that omitted three of their four most famous songs, prompting equal parts amusement and admiration. They opened with ‘Tall Tales’ before pivoting into ‘Dead Horse’ and ‘Dream Job’, establishing a wiry, kinetic pace. ‘Land of the Blind’ and ‘Petroleum’ drew significant cheers, but it was the mid-set one-two punch of ‘Dark Days’ and ‘Thrill of the Chase’ that truly lit up the room.
‘Fixer Upper’, ‘The Overload’, and ‘New Beginnings’ showcased the band’s sardonic bite, while ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’ served as an oddly triumphant closer - proof that YARD ACT can command a crowd even when wilfully dodging expectations.
Setlist
01. Tall Tales
02. Dead Horse
03. Dream Job
04. Land of the Blind
05. Petroleum
06. Dark Days
07. Thrill of the Chase
08. Fixer Upper
09. The Overload
10. New Beginnings
11. The Trapper’s Pelts
The Hives
Then came the reason everyone had braved the winter evening: THE HIVES. Few bands can claim such longevity with such sustained velocity. Formed in 1993 in the unassuming Swedish town of Fagersta, the quintet - Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, Chris Dangerous, The Johan And Only, Nicholaus Arson and Vigilante Carlstroem - have spent thirty years refining a style that is equal parts precision and pandemonium.
With millions of albums sold, shared stages with AC/DC, THE ROLLING STONES, ARCTIC MONKEYS and FOO FIGHTERS, and awards from Grammys to NME, their legend hardly needs repeating; even Joe Strummer once credited them with nothing less than saving Rock’n’Roll. Now entering a fresh era with ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ (out 29 August 2025, via Play It Again Sam), the band have again sharpened their claws.
Recorded at Yung Lean / YEAR0001 Studios and ABBA’s fabled Riksmixningsverket, produced by Pelle Gunnerfeldt and featuring contributions from Mike D (Beastie Boys) and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), the album promises a new chapter of swaggering maximalism. Its first single, ‘Enough Is Enough’, arrived with a gloriously sweaty boxing-ring video, a reminder that The Hives have no interest in subtlety - only spectacle. https://thehives.com / https://www.facebook.com/hives
Music & Performance
When the lights dropped and the opening riff of ‘Enough Is Enough’ hit, the Palladium responded like a compressed spring finally loosed. Hands shot up across the floor and balconies, and Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist strutted onstage with the shameless confidence of a man who has spent decades proving - and reproving - his claim as the greatest frontman alive.
Within minutes he had the room eating from his hand, barking encouragement in English before slipping into magnificently broken German (“Jetzt mussen wir machen, viele fantastische Rock’n’Roll zu spiele!”), all delivered with a grin that dared the crowd to try harder. The early-set run of ‘Walk Idiot Walk’, ‘Rigor Mortis Radio’, and ‘Paint a Picture’ delivered the familiar HIVES cocktail: relentless tempo, razor-cut riffs, and the band’s immaculate black-and-white aesthetic gleaming under gold LED accents.
‘Main Offender’ triggered the first large-scale pogo surge of the evening, sending waves through the packed hall. Throughout the night Pelle repeatedly ventured into the photo pit, leaning into the front rows, shaking hands, shouting directly into delighted faces - an almost old-fashioned gesture of physical closeness that sent the crowd into frenzy each time he re-emerged.
The new material - ‘Born a Rebel’, ‘Stick Up’, ‘O.C.D.O.D.’, and ‘I’m Alive’ - landed with the authority of instant staples, while ‘Bogus Operandi’ from ‘The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons’ kept the energy feral. A highlight came mid-set, when the band executed their now-traditional freeze: sixty seconds of absolute stillness, every musician locked in place like a black-and-white wax sculpture. The effect was electric; the silence primed the crowd like a held breath before another explosion into the next chorus, another circle pit, another mass bellow of “Oh, let me paint a picture!”
The historical nod came with ‘Here We Go Again’ - a 1997 track resurrected from ‘Barely Legal’ - introduced by Pelle with a reminiscence of playing Cologne in 1998 before just eighteen people. The set barrelled through classics as well: ‘Hate to Say I Told You So’, ‘Countdown to Shutdown’, ‘Come On!’, and main set closer ‘Tick Tick Boom’, each delivered with an intensity that outstripped even their studio incarnations.
During ‘Hate to Say I Told You So’, Pelle even staged what he gleefully described as “a Christmas sing-along”, conducting the entire Palladium in loud, jubilant “ohohoh”-chants - part carol service, part riot, entirely HIVES. As ever, Pelle’s between-song monologues veered delightfully between self-mythologising (“We have been getting two per cent better every year for thirty years!”) and surreal nonsense (“On three, shout your names!”).
The encore sealed the deal. ‘Legalize Living’, ‘Bigger Hole to Fill’, and the triumphant ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ brought the night to a roaring close, leaving the Palladium drenched, dazed, and deliriously satisfied. No fancy stage design needed - just five suited Swedes, some globes with the band name on, a fistful of riffs, and the kind of showmanship that borders on alchemy.
Setlist
01. Enough Is Enough
02. Walk Idiot Walk
03. Rigor Mortis Radio
04. Paint a Picture
05. Main Offender
06. Born a Rebel
07. Stick Up
08. Bogus Operandi
09. Hate to Say I Told You So
10. O.C.D.O.D.
11. I’m Alive
12. Here We Go Again
13. Countdown to Shutdown
14. Come On!
15. Tick Tick Boom
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14. Legalize Living
15. Bigger Hole to Fill
18. The Hives Forever Forever The Hives
All Pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
