Walking on stage dressed in school boy suits, that would suggest that these five band members are in Harry Potter's entourage, we suddenly knew we were in for something special. The colors of their suits, black and white, did not match with their in-your-face, loud, rock-star sound.

Chris Dangerous (Christian Grahn), the drummer, took the stage first. With his face, but mostly his eyes (Tyra Banks would be proud), Dangerous would look at different spots in the audience and give a slightly fierce, Top Model pose which he continued throughout the night. Never have we seen a drummer actually perform; we've seen plenty play the drums, but not actually perform. Dangerous was there to perform, whether that was to hit a non-existent cymbal every few beats about two feet above him or strip halfway through the show, it was all about the performance.

Now, we can't forget the effervescent lead singer, Howlin' Pelle Almqvist (Per Almqvist), who made sure the audience knew we they were from Sweden and here to party. (Which he did quite well!) Throughout the performance, Almqvist was creating instantaneous fans by jumping into the audience and touching as many fans as he could or bringing hot girls to the stage to ask him questions. One girl asked for Dangerous' drum sticks which they happily obliged and the other asked him to marry her. Instantly, Almqvist created an entire marriage ceremony between The Hives and the concert goers - utterly hysterical but brilliant at the same time. For the last three or four songs, Almqvist requested the fans to come closer. Instantly the quasi-security-people-in-the-nasty-blue-suit-jackets had a heart attack trying to get people to sit in their assigned seats. We were suddenly pressed up against the wall between the "real" security guards and stage. We know this for sure, these Swedes know how to start a party.

Take the jump to finish reading and for more pictures of the concert...

As we hadn't heard of most of their music prior to the concert we weren't able to sing along or yell real loud when they played our favorite song. Instead we were just screaming because The Hives had created something rare - a real bona fide rock show. The strongest song was their newest single, "Tick Tick Boom" off their upcoming CD release, The Black and White Album (hence the black and white outfits). This closed their bigger-than-life show with magic that the professors at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy would be proud of.

All pictures taken by author