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July 2002
The Black Cat, Washington, DC
The Pattern had the difficult task of being first. As they tore through their 30-minute set, audience members stood in silence with little or no reaction. One drunk 30+ bonehead yelled "It would be better if you were the New Bomb Turks". Even an attempt to get the people to clap along failed. However, the antics of lead singer Christopher Appelgren did entertain some of the more enlightened kids of the crowd. Sucking his thumb and smacking his booty, the bratty frontman made the best of a sour situation and seemed to ignore the naysayers. The Mooney Suzuki had better luck as their frenetic super-charged performance woke up exactly half the crowd. Maybe it was their all black beatnik mod-rock star stage gear or guitarist Graham Tyler's monkey-like climbing of the ceiling pipes that had something to do with it. Or quite possibly it was the band's overall energy that started to infect the audience. Whatever it was, it was working. Songs like "Oh, Sweet Susanna" and "Electric Sweat" were delivered fast and furious by a band that has been around since the mid-90's but is just starting to receive some much-deserved buzz.
Photos- John H.
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One would think that the superb line-up of this show would have had the sold-out crowd more excited to be there, but inexplicable forces kept most of the audience dazed and confused for the greater part of the evening. Dressed in flip-flops, khakis, and baseball caps, it was clear that this lot of frat rats and mall chicks simply hadn't a clue as to how lucky they were to be checking out the best garage rock line-up so far this year. They only knew that The Hives were some band they've begun hearing on modern rock radio.
By the time The Hives took to the stage, the people should have certainly been primed and ready for the Best Live Band in the World Today. And although there was a core group of fans in attendance, there were still way too many folks watching arms crossed and looking miserable. Howlin' Pelle kicked and screamed as he belted out songs like "Die, Alright!", "Knock Knock", and crowd pleaser "Hate to Say I Told You So". He periodically counted down the minutes until the end of the show ("There are now 35-minutes left!") and pranced around the stage boasting how "The United States of America loves the Hives". And when an audience member flipped him the middle finger, Pelle flipped one back and said, "Yeah, that's very clever. This next one is for you", and proceded into "Main Offender". The fivesome's tight polished set more than pleased the true fans in the house but seemed to leave the squares wishing they were back at home watching their MTV. Pelle promised to be back the US in 2003. Let's hope some of these people don't show up next time.
