Glastonbury Festival 2023: The Hives attract huge crowd to Other Stage

I guess I can’t say I told you so anyway as this is the first time I’ve seen them live.

But The Hives can, and they did at The Other Stage at Glastonbury on Friday.

They had a very full crowd for their 1pm set and right from the off had the crowd purring to the eccentric rock music.

In fact at one point lead singer Pelle Almqvist said the crowd was "record breaking because over 900,000 people were in the field to watch The Hives".

Not sure about that one.

Bogus Operandi opened the set, a true crowd starter.

I, along with thousands of others, were singing (shouting), dancing and jumping along to this one.

From here they went into a range of new songs and fan favourites like Hate To Say I Told You So, Countdown To Shutdown and Tick Tick Boom.

Each of those songs got the crowd going more and more which ultimately built up to the big one.

It’s ironic in way, The Hives claim that they hate to say I told you so, but they love singing it.

And the crowd love hearing it. I’ve been to enough festivals and gigs to know a pumped up crowd and this was definitely one.

What do you think? Is that 900,000 people? (Image: Maddi Fordyce)

The showmanship, spark and talent from the entire outfit on stage was very, very impressive.

And on the topic of outfits, they looked darn cool. Suited up in black suits with lightning strikes down the lapels, the boys from The Hives looked like rock stars as well as sounding like them.

The group will certainly have left a lasting impression on the crowd, picking up new fans in the process.

I for one am convinced. They’re brilliant. The lead singer Pelle Almqvist said he and his pals are “five of the greatest rock and rollers alive”.

And I’d have to agree with him, they were pure class. A great addition to Glastonbury Festival.

And if you believe Almqvist and The Hives, they are "the best band at Glastonbury in 2023".

They were fun, entertaining and most importantly a great live band. Go and see them!