The Fast and the Furious

When was the last time you saw a rock band so exhilarating that you wished the concert could go on all night?

The lucky ones can answer: Monday.

The Hives, a sensational young quintet from Sweden, put on a performance at the Roxy that was remindful of the joy a rock band can produce--among many other things, even inspiring smiles.

Amid the between-song cheers of the crowd early in the show, lead singer Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist--whose moves and cheekbones call to mind a young Mick Jagger--gazed down at the audience and said, “Yes, America, you love us. We’ve come to take over your country and change everything. History starts today.”

The mock arrogance was a marvelous slap at the stodginess and anti-entertainment stance that has tended to squeeze the fun out of rock in recent years.

For too long, far too many of the new best-selling U.S. rock bands have felt that the key to their artistry (and to their place in the Top 10) is to be even darker and angrier than Nirvana and the other grunge bands of the ‘90s. The resulting music is often tedious in its repetition and cartoonish in its exaggerated angst.

There are excellent young bands today, including the White Stripes and Trail of Dead, that deal with intense emotions in imaginative and inspiring ways, but the Hives assault the whole notion that rock has to be humorless to be real.

The group’s compilation album is boldly called “Your New Favourite Band,” and its song titles range from “a.k.a. I-D-I-O-T” to “The Hives Are Law, You Are Crime.”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Almqvist proclaimed during Monday’s show, “people have called me smug. But we just believe in giving credit where credit is due.”

Even their clothing stands apart. Rather than the jeans or baggy shorts that have been the fashion statement of choice for bands in recent years, the Hives salute the mod era in British rock by wearing matching black shirts and pants, set off by white shoes and white ties.

And Howlin’ Pelle isn’t the only colorful nickname in the band. There’s also Nicholaus Arson (Howlin’ Pelle’s older brother) and Vigilante Carlstroem on guitar, Dr. Matt Destruction on bass and Chris Dangerous on drums.

You’ve got to be careful when reciting the group’s history because the word from England, where the band has already become a hot item, is that the band isn’t beyond occasional fabrication--just to keep things interesting offstage as well as on.

The band claims it’s been together for eight years and that they are mostly 23 (though some members look older), and that their songs are all written by a mysterious figure named Randy Fitzsimmons (who may or may not be real).

What is most certainly true is that the Hives fell in love with the punk and garage-rock sounds they first heard from fellow Swedish bands and then traced to the British and American outfits that pioneered the approach. Those influences range from the early Rolling Stones and Mitch Ryder to the Stooges and the Dead Kennedys.

On their first two albums, 1997’s “Barely Legal” and 2000’s “Veni Vidi Vicious,” the Hives convincingly captured the impatience and exuberance of youth in crisp, dynamic, two-minute songs that celebrate the majesty of guitar power chords.

“Do what I wanna ‘cause I can,” Howlin’ Pelle boasts in “Hate to Say I Told You So,” which is propelled by a guitar riff that reflects the vitality of the Kinks’ classic “All Day and All of the Night.” In “Main Offender” he declares, “I’m on my way, can’t settle down.”

But the ultimate tribute to the power of rock as a liberating force is “Untutored Youth,” a song from the “Favourite Band” album that is available in this country on import via Poptones Records (a company started by Alan McGee, whose earlier labels were home to Oasis and the Jesus and Mary Chain).

In the song, Howlin’ Pelle declares, “If I really wanted to learn something, I’d listen to more records and I do.”

The Hives--whose “Veni Vidi Vicious” album is released by Sire/ Burning Heart/Epitaph in the U.S.--played those three songs and a dozen more Monday in a set that was so fast-paced that the musicians seemed to be hyperventilating to keep up. The show was the band’s L.A. headline debut, part of a 17-city North American tour.

Howlin’ Pelle was all over the stage, including the sound monitors, sometimes prancing like Jagger, at other times doing the scissor-kicks of Pete Townshend, and generally just hamming it up like David Johansen during the New York Dolls days.

Considering that the Hives’ albums run only about 28 minutes, it wasn’t surprising that the set lasted just 55. But the time went by so quickly, you would have sworn it was only 20. Howlin’ Pelle is right: This might just be a band we can all love.