The Hives' frontman apologizes for dedicating bomb song to Boston

The Hives frontman Pelle Almqvist has issued a public apology to fans in Boston, Massachusetts after "unintentionally" dedicating a song about "stuff blowing up" to the city, eight months after the Boston Marathon bombings.

The Swedish rockers hit the stage at the local TD Garden as the supporting act for pop star Pink on Thursday night (05Dec13), but singer Almqvist left concert-goers stunned when he declared he was performing the track Tick Tick Boom in their honor.

He announced, "This song's for everyone in Boston. It's about stuff blowing up."

Shocked fans immediately took to social networking websites like Twitter.com to voice their disgust, and now Almqvist has issued a statement, insisting he didn't mean to cause offense.

In a message posted on the band's Facebook.com page on Friday (06Dec13), he writes, "About last night: I wanted to dedicate a song to the Boston crowd because they had been so great throughout the show, and unfortunately Tick Tick Boom was the next song in the set.

"The tragic Boston Marathon bombing never once crossed my mind while on stage, and of course it should have. My most sincere apologies to the people of Boston for this unintentional but serious mistake."

Three people were killed and over 250 were injured when brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev allegedly planted two pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the annual race in Massachusetts on 15 April (13).

Tamerlan was shot dead during a stand-off with police following a massive three-day manhunt, while 20-year-old Dzhokhar is currently in custody. He faces a total of 30 counts, including bombing a place of public use and malicious destruction of property resulting in death and conspiracy. A number of the charges carry punishments of life imprisonment or the death penalty.

He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.