Hives frontman Howlin' Pelle Almqvist was a bloody mess after run-in with wayward mic

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The Hives' singer accidentally cuts open his head and powers through to finish show despite blood pouring from wound

Pelle Almqvist onstage in 2022
Pelle Almqvist onstage in 2022 (Image credit: Xavi Torrent/Redferns)

The Hives frontman Howlin' Pelle Almqvist was left with blood pouring from his head after accidentally hitting himself with his microphone.

The band were opening for Arctic Monkeys at the first of two shows at Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester, England, last night (June 2) when the incident happened.

Almqvist was swinging his mic around when his brother Niklas, aka Hives guitarist Niicholaus Arson, stepped on the cable and inadvertently caused the mic to smack into the vocalist's head.

Despite blood seeping from the wound, Howlin' Pelle powered through the set and later promised fans he'd be fine for tonight's second show.

He says: "I’m ok! Was swinging the mic at the show and Nicholaus accidentally stepped on the cable sending the mic into my face. The blood looked really cool but it wasn’t too bad. I’m taped up and its just a bump now. Let’s do it again tonight! Wohoo!!!"

The Hives recently released their first new music in over a decade, along with an entertainingly far-fetched story which they hope will explain exactly why they've been out-of-action.

New album, The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons, will be released on August 11, and was announced with the release of a video for new single Bogus Operandi.

On what fans can expect from the album, Almqvist says: "Who the fuck wants mature rock’n’roll? That’s always where people go wrong, I feel. ‘It’s like rock’n’roll but adult,’ nobody wants that!

"That’s literally taking the good shit out of it. Rock’n’roll can’t grow up, it is a perpetual teenager and this album feels exactly like that, which it’s all down to our excitement — and you can’t fake that shit."

Stef Lach

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.