Irish Times critics review The Hives at the Ambassador in Dublin and John O'Connor at the NCH in Dublin.
The Hives
Ambassador, Dublin
That ker-ayzee quintet from Fagersta, Sweden, are back, like a recurring rash, and we're going to need an ocean of calamine lotion to keep them from getting under our skin again. They're at the Ambassador, strutting like punked-up Teddy boys, and the joint is shaking, rattling and rolling to the sounds of Abra Cadaver, Die, All Right! and Main Offender. Oddly enough, though, the building hasn't crumbled beneath the weight of these Scandinavian rock monsters.
Perhaps their strength is waning, or maybe they're no longer our new favourite band, but The Hives' plan for world domination appears to have hit a glitch.
Dressed in their regulation black shirts and white ties, and wearing spats on their shoes, The Hives - Howlin' Pelle Almqvist, Chris Dangerous, Nicholaus Arson, Vigilante Carlstroem and Dr Matt Destruction - are looking and sounding as sharp as ever, and the backdrop blindingly reminds us that we are in the presence of greatness. Or at least great showbiz.
Vocalist Almqvist leads the assault on our resistance, and it doesn't take him long to whip the loyal disciples into a mosh-pit frenzy. Scissor-kicking, duck-walking, climbing on the speakers and goading the crowd at every turn, Almqvist howls and whoops through the band's quick-fire repertoire of short, snappy, itchy and scratchy pop-punk tunes. The crowd whoop along, particularly to such classic Hives tunes as Hate To Say I Told You So, Supply and Demand and a.k.a. I-D-I-O-T.
When The Hives introduce songs from their new album, Tyrannosaurus Hives, however, you begin to see where the master plan might be going a bit pear shaped. Their major-label début just doesn't have the same brain-fizzing force or infectious itch as their earlier tunes. Diabolic Scheme sounds like a bad B-movie theme, while Dead Quote Olympics seems like an inferior remake of the music from The Italian Job. The Hives, however, are a self-preservation society who are not about to let an underwhelming album stop them in their tracks, and they deliver a short but slap-happy show, packed with fun, frolics and flamboyance. If they do achieve their stated goal of being the only band anyone ever listens to, and their story is turned into a blockbuster, then Jim Carrey will of course play Almqvist, using his best Elvis-meets-Andy- Kaufman voice. Until then The Hives remain simply another cool crossover garage band, and although they're more than willing, they still haven't proven themselves able to rule the rock 'n' roll roost.
Kevin Courtney
John O'Conor (piano)
NCH, Dublin
Beethoven - Sonatas Op 2
Exactly 20 years after John O'Conor played the complete Beethoven piano sonatas at the National Concert Hall he is doing so again. On Monday evenings between now and May, eight recitals present the sonatas in the order of their opus numbers.
Even with O'Conor's long intervening experience the task is formidable, for Beethoven's sonatas have always been the touchstone of a pianist's musical and technical mettle. From the start they broke every mould the composer inherited, and they thereby catapulted serious piano playing out of the world of domestic music making for aristocrats and into the public concert hall.
As O'Conor explained in the first of his pre-concert talks, Beethoven had a sense of humour; it is evident in many parts of the three Op 2 sonatas. The way he played No 1 in F minor and No 2 in A showed a humour rather more suave than he had suggested, however.
That's one of the miracles of this music: it can be played in so many ways. Largely because of even pacing and long-range phrasing, Op 2 No 1 did not startle as much as it can. But it is a long-range piece, and it worked. The second sonata was wider ranging, and the finale, a pinnacle of the rondo grazioso style, was a delight in its calculated sequences of animation and relaxed eloquence.
But the highlight was Op 2 No 3 in C, and not just because it is the more extraordinary and virtuosic piece. A gritty, engaging performance displayed it as an iconoclastic work that stretches the mind as well as the fingers. From beautiful cantabile playing to stormy energy, it featured some of the most secure, profound and persuasive solo playing I have heard from this musician in a long time.
Martin Adams
